Kevin Costner’s ex Christine Baumgartner is dating HIS banker buddy Josh Connor just months after denying any romance during their bitter divorce

Just four months after their bitter divorce, Kevin Costner’s ex-wife Christine Baumgartner has found love again, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.

She was seen in her Range Rover dropping off her new husband at his palatial home in Montecito – less than five minutes from her own home – early Friday morning after a short trip.

Christine’s new husband is financier Josh Connor, 49; himself a divorced father of three who became legally single on Jan. 3, 2023 — just five months before Baumgartner blindsided Costner, 68, by filing for divorce.

The couple also traveled together over the Christmas period. Her new banker boyfriend flew her to Hawaii on a private jet, sources told DailyMail.com.

The pair were previously photographed laughing together on another holiday in Hawaii in July, accompanied by her daughter Grace and his youngest child Abigail, both 13, and it later emerged in court that the banker had lent her $20,000.

Baumgartner was accused by an irate Costner of having a new boyfriend and denied dating Connor under oath during a hearing in Santa Barbara last August.

Bearded Connor, who wore a black cap and sweater paired with blue jeans, was carrying an overnight bag.

Later that same day, he was seen making a brief visit to Baumgartner’s home, buzzing himself in with his own door click.

And last week the pair were seen repeatedly going in and out of each other’s houses – despite both having their children with them.

Sources have told DailyMail.com that the romance has been going on for some time, with the couple taking a trip to New York in December ahead of their tropical Christmas.

The insider said: “They are together and have been for a while. They spent time together in Hawaii before Christmas, while Kevin was supposedly in Aspen with the kids.

‘They also took a trip to New York together. She hasn’t done much to hide what’s going on from her friends.’

According to the source, the lovebirds met through their daughters, who are good friends themselves and often hang out together.

As a result, Connor and his ex-wife Patricia, 48, have been friends with the Costner family for years and both live in Montecito — close to Baumgartner’s $50,000-a-month rental home and Costner’s $70 million Carpinteria complex.

But the once platonic friendship between Baumgartner and Connor has now flared up, as both the July vacation and the $20,000 loan come under scrutiny by Costner’s divorce lawyers.

In court, a tearful Baumgartner insisted she and Connor are just good friends and said she shared a room with a friend over the July holidays – which she admitted was financed by the financier.

She was then forced to explain a $20,000 loan Connor had made her – of which $10,000, she said, had been paid to her mother, while the rest had been returned.

The glamorous blonde was then forced to admit that Costner had been making monthly payments of $5,000 to help her parents, which had stopped when she filed for divorce.

She told the court the $10,000 was handed over to make up the shortfall – and insisted she intended to pay it back.

Despite her denials, an onlooker said the new couple looked cozy during their July holiday, with photos showing them strolling on the beach and grinning from ear to ear.

The onlooker told DailyMail.com exclusively: ‘She was sitting at a corner table with the man. He was handsome.

They started sitting across the table from each other and she laughed a lot at what he said.

‘She showed him pictures from her phone and he sat next to her so they were both looking at the water.

“It’s hard to say if there was something going on with them, but at one point I saw he put his hand on her leg. That was the only actual physical interaction.

“Her suite is right next to that man’s suite. He had the drinks paid for in his room and they left together just before sunset.’

Baumgartner and Connor have kept their relationship secret ever since, with the Costners settling their divorce weeks after the hearing.

The mother of three had hoped for child support of $165,000 per month and also fought to overturn their prenuptial agreement, which would have given her a one-time payment of $1.5 million and no alimony.

She told the court about the couple’s lavish lifestyle, which cost $11 million a year, including a $160,000 ranch in Colorado and a sprawling beachfront estate in Carpinteria, and said she had to rent a house for $100,000 per year month to provide a ‘comparable income’. lifestyle for her children.

Baumgartner also claimed her lavish four-bedroom Montecito rental is “unsuitable” because her sons have to share a bedroom and the luxury property has no sea views.

Judge Thomas Anderle was unimpressed by her arguments and reduced her child support to $63,000 per month, down from a temporary $129,000.

Despite vowing to continue fighting, Baumgartner and Costner settled their divorce weeks later – which friends later told DailyMail.com she did reluctantly.

Connor’s divorce took longer to finalize, with the banker filing to end his marriage in November 2022 citing “irreconcilable differences.”

The former couple eventually agreed to an equal custody split a year later, with Connor required to pay ex-wife Patricia $16,500 per month in spousal support unless she remarried.

In addition, Patricia was awarded $16,626 in child support, although that has now been reduced by $3,325 because eldest daughter Lily just turned 20.

Younger daughter Abigail, 13, and son John, 17, will continue to be covered by the payments, with school fees shared by both parents.