Kevin Costner’s first marriage to Cindy Silva ended amid rumors of an affair with a hula dancer
Kevin Costner’s impending divorce from his wife of 19 years, Christine Baumgartner, will mark the Oscar-winning director’s second time in divorce court.
Baumgartner filed a request Monday to terminate their union citing unspecified “irreconcilable differences.” It is believed that the couple has a prenuptial agreement.
In November 1994, Costner’s then-wife, Cindy Silva, filed for divorce after 16 years of marriage. The couple met when they were both students at California State University – Fullerton.
They would have three children together.
The couple broke up amid multiple reports that Costner was having an affair with a celebrated hula dancer named Michele Amaral while he was filming his multi-million dollar flop Waterworld in Hawaii. In the end, Silva received about $80 million in the divorce settlement.
Less than two years after that split, Costner had a son, Liam, with Pittsburgh Steelers heiress Bridget Rooney, and aunt to actresses Rooney and Kate Mara. That affair is rumored to have cost the actor $7 million.
Costner pictured with his first wife Cindy Silva in 1991, they filed for divorce three years later and ended their 16-year marriage
In 1994, it was widely reported that Kevin Costner had had an affair with hula dancer Michele Amaral during the filming of Waterworld
Amaral was also married and a mother of two when she met Costner. A report at the time in the New York Daily News said the pair met at the Mauna Lani hotel and soon after, Amaral was “spotted crawling out of his $4,500-a-day mansion.”
According to a Depart Magazine Amaral has taught hula all over the world and is known as the island’s premier soloist.
The Daily News report said Silva was made aware of the affair by someone working on Waterworld and was fired.
The same article accused Costner of multiple infidelities during his marriage.
Costner strongly denied the allegations at the time, saying he was only interviewing Amaral for a job.
During an interview raising Amaral, Costner became furious.
“This woman did nothing wrong and yet she had to share the harsh light of celebrity with me. I’m ashamed and I don’t think there’s anything I can do to make her life better.”
“This woman has a name and to make her a thing is the worst of all. It’s wrong for her and her husband,” Costner said.
Costner denied having an affair with Amaral, and some reports said he interviewed her for a job
At the time of the alleged affair, Amaral herself was married with two children
In a separate call, The Bodyguard star took responsibility for his role in the demise of his marriage, but did not go into details.
“A series of events conspired to happen simultaneously. I know it hurt some people that I had failed in my marriage. And the marriage was my own failure,” he said.
Costner said in a 1995 interview with Parade magazine that he never even spoke to Amaral on the phone.
He also listed the other women he was supposedly linked to, including Playboy model Angie Everheart and the daughter of casino mogul Steve Wynn.
“It was hard for Cindy and our kids. It didn’t help matters. All it did was hurt. The breakdown of my marriage was the hardest of all for me,” said the Dances With Wolves star.
Costner continued his love for his first wife: “You can put this on the record.” Through all the pain, Cindy has been what I always thought she was a real lady. I still have love for Cindy.’
The article notes that Costner would soon begin filming the romantic comedy Tin Cup. It was on the set of that film where he met his second wife, Christine Baumgartner, who was 21 at the time.
Silva supported Costner when he was a struggling actor, taking on odd jobs including performing as Snow White at Disneyland.
Shortly after his split from Silva, Costner had a son, Liam, with Pittsburgh Steelers heiress Bridget Rooney.
“We have resolved all issues related to our children and financial matters amicably and a full marriage settlement has been reached. We ask for the dignity to go through this more painful part of our lives in private,” the couple said in a 1994 statement.
A representative for the Yellowstone star asked for privacy on Tuesday as he said “circumstances beyond his control occurred which resulted in Mr. Costner having to participate in a dissolution of marriage” to Baumgartner.
The couple shares three children, ages 12, 14 and 15, both of whom have filed for joint custody.
The family’s primary residence was in Ventura, California, 30 miles south of Santa Barbara, where they also own an oceanfront mansion. The couple has a prenuptial agreement, reports TMZ.
In a 2012 interview with parade magazine, Costner was asked what the secret to a good marriage was.
“Maybe it’s the ability to say you’re sorry. I know that sounds so simple. If you’re willing to tell someone you love them, are you willing to say sorry? You have to, even if you think you’re right,” the Untouchables star said.
The couple first started dating in 1998, having met around 1996 while Costner was filming his movie Tin Cup. The Bodyguard star said that the moment he first met her, he wasn’t ready to fall in love again.
Both are graduates of California State University – Fullerton. Baumgartner graduated with a degree in business administration.
They married in 2004 in Aspen, Colorado, where Costner has long maintained a 160-acre ranch known as The Dunbar. Rooms can be rented on site for as much as $36,000 per night.
The reason for the long courtship was because Costner wasn’t sure if he wanted more kids. The uncertainty even led them to break up for a period of time prior to their engagement.
“Fear kept me from marrying Christine. [She] wanted a child, but I was afraid I couldn’t be an effective father.’
“I woke up and thought, ‘Am I going to lose a beautiful woman who wants to be with me until my last breath because I’m afraid to say yes to a child?’ That was all it took. Sometimes you find out that the thing you fear the most will save your life,” he told Closer Weekly in 2018.
Costner said the Daily Telegraph in 2011 that the reason for his four-year hiatus from film making was because of his new family.
Christine Baumgartner, 49, quit her heartbreaking Hollywood husband Kevin Costner on Monday. The two are pictured at the 2022 Vanity Fair event
Christine is a handbag designer by profession. Her label is called Cat Bag Couture. The Daily Telegraph feature refers to her as a “model.”
It was her Oscar-winning husband who helped her get her start in style.
“When I came up with some examples, I showed them to Kevin, and he said they were beautiful and wonderful. When I came up with some examples, I showed them to Kevin, and he said they were beautiful and wonderful,’ Christine recalled the Denver Post in 2005.
“I like classic women who are strong and feminine,” she said in the interview. The piece also mentioned that the bags appeared on an episode of Desperate Housewives.
The article listed the bags as retailing between $275 and $997. The Cat Bag Couture website is no longer active.
“I don’t know if we’ll ever be a big company. I have mixed feelings about it. I have so much room to grow,” Christine told The Post.
Online records show that Christine now runs a business named coda tapes, a fashion accessories company.
In 2020, Costner spoke enthusiastically about how the couple’s relationship grew stronger during the Covid-19 pandemic. He told People: “Our partnership has really come into focus on what we do for each other and how we treat our family.”
2022, radar online reported that Costner had received an ultimatum from his wife. The report said she demanded he quit his hit show Yellowstone due to being away from home so much.
“The show is such a hit, producers want it to go on forever! [Baumgartner] wants a firm commitment, this is his last season – or maybe he should!” a source told the website.