Christine, wife of Kevin Costner, denies relationship with Daniel Starr

A close friend of Kevin Costner’s estranged wife has slammed rumors that the former handbag designer is dating the tech mogul who rented a house on their $145 million property.

Multiple reports emerged earlier this week linking Costner’s divorce to an alleged relationship between his wife, Christine, 49, and Daniel Starr, 42.

Christine is anything but a bored, desperate housewife. As for Daniel (Starr), there was and is nothing romantic between them,” a friend told the DailyMail.com exclusively.

He’s busy too, so it’s a joke to paint the picture that these two had some sort of romantic relationship. It’s a small town here, especially within the Padaro Lane community. Everyone knows everyone,’ the friend continued.

This comes after Starr denied the relationship in an interview with TMZ. ‘[I’m] just a man who paid [his] rent.’ Starr added that he tries to be “kind to everyone.”

‘I just had a tenant-lessor relationship [with them], nothing else. There was nothing there. They have kids and are going through a divorce,” Starr added.

“I just hope it ends peacefully for them. I hope his divorce is resolved and his children are minimally affected by it,” he continued.

In May, the Yellowstone star announced he was divorcing his wife of 19 years.

“It is with great sadness that circumstances beyond his control have occurred which have caused Mr. Costner to participate in the dissolution of the marriage,” Costner’s publicist Arnold Robinson said in a statement.

Costner and Baumgartner, a fashion and handbag designer, began dating in 1998 before getting married in 2004 at his ranch in Colorado.

Together they have two sons aged 14 and 15 and a daughter aged 12.

It was the second marriage for Costner, 68, the Oscar- and Emmy-winning star of TV’s “Yellowstone” and movies like “Dances With Wolves,” “The Bodyguard” and “Bull Durham.”

Costner also has four adult children from previous relationships. Earlier this week, it emerged that Christine was seeking nearly $250,000 a month in child support.

Starr also denied that the house he rented was a “guesthouse,” rather than calling it a “home” on their property.

A source told The sun about the series of events involving 42-year-old Starr, who rented a house on the property, in a report published Monday.

The Dances With Wolves actor-director confronted Starr after learning that “Chris and Daniel hung out a lot” while he was working on location on Yellowstone, the source told the outlet.

Starr rented out a beachside boarding house for about $64,000 a month, and Baumgartner “came into his house almost daily,” the source said.

The Dances With Wolves actor-director confronted Starr after learning that “Chris and Daniel hung out a lot” while he was working on location on Yellowstone, the source told the outlet.

Starr rented out a beachside boarding house for about $64,000 a month, and Baumgartner “came into his house almost daily,” the source said.

The Dances With Wolves actor-director confronted Starr after learning that “Chris and Daniel hung out a lot” while he was working on location on Yellowstone, the source told the outlet.

Starr rented out a beachside boarding house for about $64,000 a month, and Baumgartner “came into his house almost daily,” the source said.

Originally from Scranton, Pennsylvania, Starr is the founder of several web-based companies, including the video game streaming service GameMine.

In addition to GameMine, Starr notably sold its international mobile billing company Principal Media in 2016 for about $40 million.

He’s also developed a penchant for buying and selling real estate, having flipped a Santa Barbara mansion he bought for $13.5 million in 2021 for $25 million the following year.

Outside of this transaction, he has since 2013 developed and sold properties throughout Southern California totaling more than $150 million.

This included a Beverly Hills mansion bought by artist and brand mogul Rihanna.

It also emerged this week that Costner told his kids about the divorce during a 10-minute Zoom call. This came despite Christine’s wishes for the couple to tell the children together.

According to People, Christine claimed in documents that Kevin was on location in Las Vegas for a show when he told their kids about the breakup: “After a 24-year relationship, Kevin told our three kids from his Las Vegas hotel room that we were getting divorced a Zoom- conversation of 10 minutes without me being there.

“I’m still confused by his motivation for doing this through a very short zoom session, especially since he planned to be home five days later.

“He could have easily come from Las Vegas to have the conversation in person.”

Christine had wanted to tell their kids about the divorce with Kevin.

“The welfare of the children has always been my top priority and I was afraid they would find out about the divorce before Kevin and I could tell them. It was important to me that we tell the kids in person and together,” she said.

She reportedly shared her fear that their kids would hear about the split through an “outside source” and even gave Costner articles about “the importance of talking to the kids as a united front.”

Christine thought she and Kevin could break the news together, but she claims he ended up informing them alone without her.

“He ignored my suggestion to do what I felt was right based on research and my relationship with the kids. Instead, he insisted he had the right to tell them we were getting divorced ‘first’ and to tell them privately ‘without me present.’

A source close to Kevin told People that the actor’s ex filed for divorce in May while he was filming on location, explaining that he “FaceTimes with the kids all the time when he’s away for work.”