Meet the real-life John Dutton.
Kevin Costner’s “Yellowstone” character is fictional, but Steve McBee, star of the new docuseries, “The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys,” is real — and his life is every bit as dramatic.
“I work a lot, but in the fourth season, everyone was like, ‘Oh, there’s this crazy ranch show.’ So, I have watched ‘Yellowstone,’ yes,” McBee, 52, told The Post.
“Since I’m divorced, and I’m the patriarch of the family, the boys have fun with it. And some of my managers and employees give me a hard time [about being similar to Costner’s character]. There is a lot of pressure, there’s a lot happening, and it’s all real. It’s not for TV; it’s our lives.”
“The McBee Dynasty: Real American Cowboys” premieres Monday, March 11 (11 p.m. on USA, and streaming on Peacock). The docuseries follows McBee, who is the owner of McBee Farm and Cattle in Gallatin, Missouri, which spans 40,000 acres and runs a couple thousand head of cattle.
McBee, recently divorced (since 2021), is joined on-screen by his four sons: business-minded Steven Jr., 28; Cole, 23, who works in the field; cowboy Jesse, 26; and the youngest Brayden, 20, as they get competitive and jockey for who might succeed their father.
“It’s so ironic, because I just had someone last week say, ‘I know for a fact that you inherited $200 million when your grandpa died,’ ” McBee said.
He added that he grew up “dirt poor.”
“We lived on potato soup. My dad was a construction worker. What he gave me is priceless: work ethic. But I had not one piece of ground. I started my first business when I was 22, and everything we built was first generation. We had no venture capital, no private equity. It was all on us. We take on a lot of debt . . . I bought my first ground in ’98. So, we’re 26 years and running. A piece at a time . . . I just hustle, that’s how I got it done.”
The show also covers their romances: recently divorced Steve Sr. is involved with his CFO, Galyna Saltkovska, and his son Steve Jr., who was on the 2022 Fox reboot of “Joe Millionaire,” is still navigating a long-distance relationship with his girlfriend from that show, Calah Jackson.
But, for those who think that “Yellowstone” is too outlandish, McBee’s life is filled with intrigue.
“I saw a young lady [on social media] say, ‘I’m so glad they’re doing this show now, so that they can find all the bodies the McBee’s have buried!’ I mean, it’s almost comical,” McBee said.
“I had a banker deny me a loan . . . because they had heard through the grapevine that I was tied to Mafia in Kansas City. The rumors and the coffee shop talk is relentless. It blows my mind that people would believe it.”
Because of all the rumors, McBee Farm and Cattle is “under continual investigation, continual audits,” he said.
“US Marshals have walked in, saying we sprayed the wrong chemical that you can’t spray in the summer. They storm our office, and say, ‘We want to see your records right now.’ I should have been like, ‘Get the hell out of my office!’ But we have nothing to hide. We’ve been through every audit . . . it was the craziest s – – t. That happens to us daily,” he said.
McBee added that “probably 85%” of his neighbors are great.
“But that 15% that hate us [does so] passionately, for no reason. If you just followed our Instagram and read [comments] on there, ‘He got all his money dealing drugs! The FBI is looking for him!’ It’s just nonstop,” he said.
“But one person can make a phone call in the [agriculture] world and say, ‘They did this, they did that!’ and [the investigation] automatically happens . . . on top of trying to run a business.
“The struggles are real that farmers and ranchers go through. It’s just 24/7.”