Kevin Costner’s ex-wife Christine Baumgartner enjoyed her first PDA with new man Josh Connor just days after her former husband said he ‘took a beating’ from Yellowstone bosses amid their ugly divorce.
The 50-year-old actress looked content as she walked hand-in-hand with new financier boyfriend in Santa Barbara, California on Monday.
She couldn’t keep her hands off the banker as they wrapped their arms one another on the romantic outing weeks after being seen on a lunch date.
It seemed like the new couple had just finished up a workout as they both rocked athleisure in the affluent beachside town.
Christine rocked a white quarter-zip jacket over black leggings and white On running sneakers.
Her blonde locks were worn down as she accentuated her natural looks with complementary make-up on her face.
Josh was dressed similarly in a black jacket over matching sweatpants and white On sneakers.
He accessorized with a black Los Angeles Dodgers baseball cap and matching scarf wrapped around his neck.
She finalized her divorce from her A-lister husband in February after 18 years and three children together.
Christine was spotted with her new man just days after her 69-year-old ex-husband Costner got candid about how his highly-popular CBS show had ‘imploded’ amid their ugly split.
The veteran actor, who plays John Dutton III in the Taylor Sheridan series, claims he honored his contract despite ongoing rumors and discusses the delay of the show’s finale, as Season 5 ended prematurely.
Allegedly, a feud between Costner and Sheridan caused the hold up. Paramount claimed Costner refused to shoot more episodes, instead promoting his new film franchise, Horizon, while Costner asserts Paramount sought contract amendments due to Sheridan’s delayed scriptwriting.
‘There was no script,’ Costner told Deadline on Tuesday. ‘And then things imploded. You’ve been reading one version [of the show’s drama] for a year and a half.’
He added: ‘I have taken a beating from those f****** guys and I know a lot of times where it’s coming from. I just elected not to get into that. But if you know me well enough, I made Yellowstone the first priority, and to insinuate anything else would be wrong.’
Costner, who revealed he has not filmed the remaining episodes of Season 5, also defended Sheridan, claiming, ‘I did not initiate any of those things. They did. They were doing a tap dance and this poor guy was also having to write so much. And I don’t know why they didn’t stick up for me.’
After the first half of the fifth season of Yellowstone aired late last year, the show went on hiatus for the holidays. Their return to filming, originally slated for the beginning of the year, was postponed to sometime this summer, with no announced premiere date.
Since Yellowstone went on hiatus, Costner has borne the brunt of the blame.
‘I didn’t have to answer the slings and arrows over the last year and a half, because I’ve just been busy working. They’ve been pretty slick about keeping their hands off; nobody was ever on the record.’
However, rumors claimed he only wanted to work for one week to film the rest of the episodes. Costner contends that Paramount deceived him.
‘I haven’t felt good about it the last year, what with the way they’ve talked about it,’ he told Deadline. ‘It wasn’t truthful.’
‘So now I’m talking a little bit about what the real truth of it was. I made a contract for seasons five, six and seven. In February, after a two- or three-month negotiation, they made another contract. They wanted to redo that one, and instead of seasons six and seven, it was 5A and 5B, and maybe we’ll do six. They weren’t able to make those.’
Earlier this year, DailyMail.com exclusively revealed Baumgartner had moved on with Costner’s banker buddy Connor – just four months after her bitter divorce from the star.
Since getting together, the couple moved fast.
They traveled together at Christmastime – her new banker beau flew her to Hawaii on a private jet, sources told DailyMail.com.
Connor, himself a divorced father of three, became legally single on January 3, 2023 – just five months before Baumgartner blindsided Costner by filing for divorce.
The financier is a managing director and co-portfolio manager of Oaktree Capital’s Infrastructure Investing strategy, specializing in the transportation sector.
He has worked for the asset management company since 2017 – after serving as a strategic advisor to the firm’s Infrastructure Investing team since September 2015.
The father-of-three has worked as an investor, key strategic advisor, lender, and an investment banker to transportation companies around the world.
Before joining Oaktree, he founded Connor Capital SB, an investment firm that focuses on equity investments in transportation companies.
He joined Barclays in 2011 from Morgan Stanley, where he spent 15 years and was the global co-head of the Morgan Stanley Transportation & Infrastructure Group, a member of the Morgan Stanley Investment Banking Management Committee, and on the Board of Trustees for the Morgan Stanley Foundation.
Connor currently serves on the boards of directors of Frontier Airlines and Copa Holdings (NYSE: CPA).
Earlier this year, both Christine and ex Kevin Costner settled their divorce after she filed last year in May following 18 years of marriage.
While the specific settlement details are undisclosed, TMZ reported that the couple’s prenup was upheld by the judge.
Both ex-spouses pursued joint custody, and Christine is granted $63,209 monthly in child support. The settlement was signed by Costner, Baumgartner, and their lawyers Laura Wasser and Marisa Beuoy.
They decided to forgo co-parenting classes, typically mandatory in such cases. The former couple share children: Cayden, 16, Hayes, 14, and Grace, 13.
However, it has since been reported that Costner had suspected that ‘something was going on between Christine and Josh,’ a source informed Us Weekly.
The insider also added that the new couple’s ‘close [bond] was a real elephant in the room.’
The source also told the publication that since the Oscar winner has also moved on, ‘Christine doesn’t think Kevin has anything to complain about.’
‘Josh has been Christine’s rock throughout the divorce ordeal. If Kevin has a problem with that, that’s on him,’ and also noted that the couple’s close friendship had turned romantic ‘relatively recently.’
In the midst of their divorce proceedings back in August 2023, Kevin claimed that he ‘does not know for a fact’ if Baumgartner had ‘extramarital’ affairs but stated that he had been faithful during their marriage.
In a legal request for order obtained by People at the time, the mother-of-three had asked for further documentation to prove Costner’s finances.
Some of the requests included, ‘expenses paid by you, or any person at your request or on your behalf, relating to any extramarital romantic relationships.’