Kevin Costner Can’t Pay Child Support Demands Without ‘Yellowstone’
Kevin Costner claimed he cannot afford to pay his estranged wife Christine Baumgartner $248,000 a month in child support now that he is no longer “under contract”. Yellowstone.
“I will earn significantly less in 2023 than I did in 2022. This is because I am no longer under contract to Yellowstone, the main source of my income last year,” Costner, 68, stated in documents filed Wednesday, June 28. and obtained by Us weekly the next day. “The fixed amount ‘pay or play’ and the periodic compensation that I received have been abolished. Now, any compensation I deserve Yellowstone will only arise from my back-end contractual participation rights, the amounts of which are not fixed.”
Costner, who has starred as patriarch John Dutton in the family drama since it premiered in 2018, added that a “recent report from the producer for Yellowstone showed that he owed no participation fee” – an assertion he has since “disputed” – and That he has yet to receive any compensation from the series this year.
Paramount Network officially announced this in May Yellowstone will end with its fifth season, the first half of which ended in January. The second batch of episodes was initially set to premiere in the summer, but was pushed back to the fall. The news came after months of speculation about a maker split Taylor Sheridan and Costner, who reportedly wanted out of the series. The extent of Costner’s participation in the final episodes of Yellowstone has yet to be confirmed. (Paramount has yet to respond to a request for comment from Us weekly.)
Last week Baumgartner, 49 – who filed for divorce from Costner in May – claimed in documents obtained by Us that her estranged husband earns an estimated $1,537,000 a month from his various jobs as an actor and director. She listed their monthly expenses — which were paid in full by Costner — as over $550,000, noting that she didn’t have the money to maintain the family’s current lifestyle. (She filed the paperwork after Costner filed legal action to drive her away their shared home.)
However, Costner stated in Wednesday’s filings that his estranged wife “did not give a true picture of my cash flow” by “looking only at last year’s income.” Due to the nature of his career, Costner said how much he earns “is variable and can change quite dramatically” depending on the year. He called her request for $248,000 a month “amazing” and something he can’t afford. “I also cannot afford to pay those amounts and pay for my living expenses and business expenses without liquidating assets,” he added.
Costner, who shares children Cayden, 16, Hayden, 14, and Grace, 13, with Baumgartner, also noted in his filing that he told his estranged wife that 2023 was “going to be a tough year financially” if he wasn’t working Yellowstone and he should probably “defer my salary on the Horizon movie projects to the back-end (which I did). Christine told me she understood.
The Horizon saga – co-written, produced and directed by Costner – is an upcoming American epic western film starring Siena Miller, Sam Worthington, Luke Wilson And Thomas Haden Church. Three sequels have already been greenlit, with the first set to begin filming in August 2022. In May, Costner confirmed filming was underway for the second film.
To counter Baumgarner’s request for $280,000 a month, Costner — who said Baumgartner reportedly “allocates 60 percent of spending” for personal needs such as “a private trainer” and “plastic surgery” — offered Thursday at $51,940 a month keep paying plus 100 percent of the children’s health insurance, their extracurricular expenses, daughter Grace’s school fees, and Cayden’s car expenses.