Kevin Costner claims estranged wife Christine spent $188K a month on plastic surgery last year

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kevin Costner does not want his child support payments to cover his soon-to-be ex-wife’s cosmetic surgery procedures.

Ahead of hearings on July 5 and July 12, the Yellowstone star and his second wife, Christine, filed court documents obtained by Yahoo making their cases for how much temporary child support Christine should receive in order to raise their three children as they hash out their divorce. Attorneys for Kevin — who wants Christine out of his Carpinteria, Calif., beachfront compound, per their prenuptial agreement that she has 30 days to move — made it clear they’re playing hardball, accusing the former handbag designer of trying to squeeze Kevin for an “astronomical amount of child support” to cover her own expenses, not those of the kids.

Christine, who filed for divorce on May 1 after 18 years of marriage, has said she wants $248,000 a month to keep Cayden, 16, Hayes, 14, and Grace, 13, living at the lifestyle to which they’ve grown accustom, claiming the actor made $19 million last year and is worth an estimated $400 million. Kevin rejects the amount, claiming Christine is asking for more than the guideline support of $123,620 a month to fund her own lifestyle, including “plastic surgery expenses of $188,500/month.”

“Christine’s list of the minor children’s ‘needs’ for purposes of child support is inflated and grossly inaccurate,” wrote Kevin’s attorney, Laura Wasser. “Christine fails to meet her burden to establish that child support above guideline is necessary to meet the children’s reasonable needs.” It calls her “fundamentally dishonest” in her calculation of the children’s “reasonable” needs — and claims she included in “her own personal, non-child related expenses, such as extensive plastic surgery for herself in 2022.”

It goes on to say Christine’s list of expenses “have no basis in reality” and are “quite misleading,” listing her “private trainer … and her plastic surgery” under expenses for the children. “The children do not use the services of private trainers, only Christine does. The plastic surgery expenses of $188,500/month belong to Christine – not the children.”

Kevin also claimed that besides the plastic surgery, Christine — who is entitled to a $1.4 million divorce settlement, per their prenup —”spent considerable amounts of money on herself and on persons other than our children and for purposes that have nothing to do with our children. This would include, for example, Christine’s clothing and jewelry purchases, spa treatments and personal care and gifts to friends and family members.”

Kevin also called out Christine for revealing in her previous filing that he told their children about the divorce during a “10-minute Zoom call” from “his hotel room in Las Vegas” when she was not present. Kevin says “what is most upsetting to me” in this process is feeling her motivation had “nothing to do with her support or fee requests.” He feels it was purely to “paint me in a negative light and to create a sound bite for the media to pick up. The media did pick it up, for our children to read.”

Kevin — who will pay 100% of the children’s tuition, extracurriculars and health care costs — said he would “briefly respond” the claim that he refused to tell the children in person together with Christine. He said that one month before Christine filed for divorce is when she told him she wanted to end their marriage. Kevin, who didn’t want the divorce, agreed to tell their children together, but wanted them to be “aligned” as to what they would say because he knew they’d ask about the new living arrangements and, per the prenup, it meant Christine had 30 days to move out. Kevin claimed Christine “would not commit to saying to our children that she would be moving out” of the compound she estimates is worth $100 million. He said weeks passed and he hated being “in limbo” about the state of their marriage, so he instructed his lawyer to file for divorce on May 2. His attorney informed Christine’s as a courtesy. Kevin also made arrangements to call the children three days before filing to tell them about the divorce himself.

“I did tell them via Facetime … from St. George, Utah (not Las Vegas as Christine states), where I was filming,” he said. “This was not ideal, but this is the only way I could think of to avoid a conflict between us in front of our children.” The next day, “Christine filed for divorce,” beating Kevin to the punch.

There are many other claims in the court documents, in which Christine makes the case for why she should get $248K a month in child support and Kevin disagreeing and playing down his earnings. Here are highlights in the he said, she said…

Kevin says “Christine’s assertion that our three teenage children ‘need’ $248,000 … a month to live is astonishing to me and … not accurate. Nor can I afford to pay those amounts and pay my living and business expenses without liquidating assets.” While Christine said they live on a $100 million compound and she needs a similar new home to maintain that lifestyle, Kevin says they actually live in one house on a three house property and they rent out the two guest houses for $65K a month each. She said his Aspen home is worth $250 million, but he says the three homes on that property are also rented out. Plus, their kids visit just two weeks each year. Kevin also denies owning a private plane — another thing Christine pointed to as part of their lifestyle. He says she listed their children’s private school tuition as something they pay for, but two of the three actually now attend public schools. He also says it was Christine who recently signed them up for a second golf club membership when he didn’t think they needed to be members of two.

“It appears to me from Christine’s Declaration that, in the guise of asking for child support, she is really looking to replicate her own lifestyle,” he writes. “There is much discussion about our ‘marital lifestyle’ but little focus on or analysis of the actual expenses of our children.”

Kevin says he’s no longer making Yellowstonemoney. Their financials from last year state Kevin made $19 million. However, “I will earn substantially less in 2023 than I did in 2022 … because I am no longer under contract for Yellowstone,” he writes. While Christine asserted that their homes were owned without any debt, he says there “are lines of credit/loans secured by my Aspen Ranch, my principal residence and [another on the compound that] total almost $30 million.” (He has talked about mortgaging his other waterfront property to make Horizon.) Further, he makes the point that “we own no homes together,” saying he owned all of them before he met Christine.

Christine says she’ll move out of their beachfront house no “later than August 31” — if she gets the child support from Kevin. “I have not refused to move out and have tried to resolve child support,” she insists, but she wants the order in place before she goes. She adds that she’s trying to “handle this amicably and expeditiously, but my multiple requests and proposals … [have] been met with only stonewalling, rejections, and one inadequate offer.”

Christine claims she’s tried to move to a rental property in posh Montecito, but she couldn’t get a lease without a child support order showing she has income because she has no job or source of income. She accuses Kevin of being “aggressive” in getting her out of the house, especially as “the mother and primary caretaker of our three children… This behavior is unfortunately consistent with Kevin’s attitude about this divorce, which has quickly taken litigious turn, despite my efforts to keep this process as amicable as possible.”

She says it’s “in the children’s best interests to remain in proximity” to the beachfront home — “to promote ease of exchanges… This limits our housing options to Montecito and Padaro Beach.” However, “the cost of living is extraordinarily high in Santa Barbara. As of mid-May, there was only one (1) property (excluding mobile homes) on the market … for under $1,000,000,” she wrote. That property — a 1,300 square foot condo 45 minutes away — was insufficient.

Kevin claims Christine bought four cars prior to their split and didn’t tell him until later. He said they always lease cars, but at the end of 2022/early 2023, she purchased four cars in total — two for her parents, one for herself and one for Kevin — in cash and he wasn’t told about it until “after the fact.”

Christine claims he’s limiting her current spending.She says he “canceled one of my credit cards, and substantially reduced my credit limit on my second credit card far below the status quo levels, all without any advance notice to me.”

Christine claims she’s been taking care of the children since March while Kevin is away making Horizon. She says he’s typically on location for about four months out of the year and also travels with his band while she’s home with the children.

Kevin says that in addition to paying Christine’s new mortgage, insurance and taxes when she moves (per their prenup), he’ll allow her to take the kids to the Aspen house each year. Only for one week, but she can stay in the main house (there are three houses on the property) rent-free. He also says she can visit their golf clubs with their children and he’ll pay her expenses when she’s there (green’s fees, food, merchandise).

Kevin came home once post-split — and stayed in the house with Christine and their kids. Their son Cayden’s birthday was in May, so Kevin returned from Utah to celebrate. Because Kevin and Christine are fighting over her moving out, the exes stayed under the same roof — she just moved out of the master bedroom for those few days. By both accounts, they were cordial toward each other.

The next hearing, a case management conference, will be Wednesday, July 5 at 1:30 p.m. There will be a hearing on the child support on July 12.

(Yahoo News)