Kevin Costner’s estranged wife Christine Baumgartner has revealed her plans to “enter the workforce” amid the ex-couple’s tumultuous divorce battle.
The Bodyguard actor, 68, and his ex-wife, 49, recently attended a divorce hearing which saw Judge Thomas Anderle cut Costner’s child support payments to Baumgartner from $129,000 to $63,000 a month.
The ruling took place on Friday (September 1) after a two-day hearing in the Santa Barbara courthouse, where both the Academy-winning star and the handbag designer took the stand to share future plans after their explosive breakup.
Baumgartner – who now lives in a rental that costs $40,000 per month after being court-ordered to move out of their $145 million family mansion – revealed that she intends to go back to school and get a job to support herself.
“I will look into the steps I need to take and any schooling I need to do, and I will enter the workforce,” she revealed, per PEOPLE.
The couple share share two sons Cayden Wyatt, 16, and Hayes Logan, 14, and daughter Grace Avery, 13. In addition, the award-winning star is a dad to four older children from previous relationships: Annie, Lily, Joe, and Liam.
Baumgartner filed for divorce from Costner on May 1 after 18 years of marriage. She listed their date of separation as April 11 and cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for the split.
At the time, the Yellowstone star’s rep shared a statement that read: “It is with great sadness that circumstances beyond his control have transpired which have resulted in Mr. Costner having to participate in a dissolution of marriage action.”
During the two-day hearing, the actor emotionally said his “world’s been a little [shaken] up” after the split and addressed how he plans to move forward. “I have to take care of obligations that are already in place, I have a lot of responsibilities I have to take care of,” he shared, according to the outlet.
“I need to figure out how I’m going to spend more time with the children, walk them through this process,” he continued. “I am going to need to take some time for myself… I have a lot to contemplate – what I have to do versus what I want to do.” He added that his multi-movie passion project, Horizon: An American Saga, is a “really big risk” for him as he invested money into it.
Furthermore, the Hidden Figures actor recalled his “epic” first date with the mother-of-three and how she told him having children was important to her despite that being his “biggest worry” as he already divorced ex-wife Cindy Silva – whom he shares three children with.
“One thing was I couldn’t be married and divorced again with children,” he allegedly told the courtroom. However, he “changed his mind” because “it was important to [Baumgartner] and it became important to me.”
Costner and Baumgartner will appear in court later this fall to speak about the validity of their premarital agreement
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