Christine Baumgartner had to provide photos of her storage unit to the court

The judge in Kevin Costner and Christine Baumgartner’s divorce case needs to be thrown off the bench. Each headline coming out of this divorce is worse and worse. Christine clearly planned her escape from the marriage and she tried to get all of her ducks in a row – she charged a forensic accountant to Costner’s credit card and hired a divorce lawyer and she has been trying to keep up with the blitz of vindictive legal filings from Costner, not to mention the strategic leaks. He’s still punishing her for leaving him, and it’s also clear that Costner has been financially abusing Christine this whole time. Last Friday, the judge granted Costner’s request to “review” everything Christine removes from their Carpinteria home, as the judge ordered her eviction from the home by the end of the month. Now Costner gets approval over every single item Christine wants to take out of the home she’s lived in for two decades, the home in which she’s raised their three children. Well, Christine has responded:

Baumgartner is addressing claims made by Costner’s legal team that she’s going to take items she is not authorized to take when she leaves their home — which she was ordered to move out of by July 31. In legal documents obtained by ET, Baumgartner states there is no emergency basis for Costner’s concerns and his “apparent” fear that she will strip the house bare is unfounded. With the exception of a handful of items, Baumgartner claims she has provided Costner’s attorney with “pictures of the items she plans to remove.”

According to Baumgartner, a hearing to ensure she didn’t “strip the house bare” is uncalled for. Baumgartner’s docs state that, in preparation for her move, she rented off-site storage and started packing personal belongings such as family heirlooms, clothing, her Peloton bike, various keepsakes and gifts from friends. She states that she provided Costner’s lawyers a PDF with photos of the personal belongings that she packed and moved to storage and that her ex would “not be harmed” by the removal of those items.

The items she moved to storage include silverware, pots, pans and some swivel chairs, among other personal items. She also requested an oil painting of horses and a “mother/daughter horse picture” from their Aspen estate.

According to a petition filed by Costner on Friday, obtained by ET, Baumgartner’s list of items she plans to remove was too “vague” and he wants more specific information on what she’s planning on taking. “For instance, Petitioner lists ‘Plates and bowls/ silverware’ without specifying which plates, which bowls and which silverware,” the documents state. “She lists ‘Christine’s family heirlooms and/or gifts to her’ but does not specify which items she believes were gifted to her (as opposed to both parties or the children).”

[From ET]

Granted, I think many couples going through contentious divorces will fight over the “stuff” – screaming arguments and heated discussions over coffee tables, a favorite mug, photos, artwork. But to see the pettiness all coming from one side, and that side is a 68-year-old movie star worth tens of millions of dollars… well, it’s something. Kevin Costner really ran to court seeking an emergency order to protect his f–king dishes. He ran to court to complain about how Christine bought herself a car before she filed for divorce. He ran to court to demand approval over Christine taking her Peloton bike. It’s beyond pathetic. And Christine providing photos of all of the stuff she’s already moved into a storage unit… I bet Costner will find some new reason to run to court.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

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40 Responses to “Christine Baumgartner had to provide photos of her storage unit to the court”

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  1. HeyKay says:

    Honestly. This is getting truly stupid on Kevins part.
    Call the lawyers, get things settled and finalized.
    Good grief, he looks worse every single day.

    Sign a NDA and finalize the divorce, both of them should have been smart enough to keep things quiet.

    • Meh says:

      While ordinarily, yes, celebrity divorces should be kept quiet for the sake of all involved, when one is dealing with an abuser, one’s well-being and safety quite often depend very much on not keeping quiet.

    • Kitten says:

      Exactly. Are plates and bowls really worth all the terrible PR?? Drawing this mess out is the dumbest move. As always, Team Christine.

      • LooneyTunes says:

        And does he not realize that, bc of the income disparity, he will likely end up paying her attorneys’ fees to respond to all these nonsense filings? 🤔 What a maroon.

      • Seraphina says:

        He has GOT to be aware how bad this is making him look.

    • Colleen says:

      His kids are watching this!?!? Seeing how he is humiliating their mom – wow. He really is a POS. Guess who they are going to side with?

    • Moe says:

      Abusive

      • Moe says:

        And the fact she took photos of it makes me think she KNEW he was likely to do something like this.

  2. What a disgusting piece he is. Sad when the courts get this involved. Truly feel for her and I’m glad she is getting out. Unfortunately it is going to be hard but well worth the fight to be free.

  3. Meh says:

    Kevin Costner is providing a masterclass in asshole for men divorcing. The problem with men like this (abusers), is that pointing out what means anything to you, is invitation for the abuser to suddenly care very much about those things. For example, the mother/daughter/horse painting? Kevin Costner the abuser would likely just have the painting destroyed, but now that he knows she cares about it, he will make that the center of every negotiation, used as leverage to punish her. Kevin Costner is disgusting, a petty, vindictive, very cruel POS.

  4. Anna says:

    Only one thing comes to mind – she’s been with the man for many years, she must have expected he’ll behave like a petty little bitch he is. Still she went for the divorce. Imagine her daily life with Kevin, even with him being constantly on location, must have been even worse. Because otherwise why bother with the divorce and not keep living separate lives?

    • Persephone says:

      I came here to say the exact same thing.
      Yikes.

    • Sandra says:

      I am so stuck on her having to use the staff cards to purchase a car. Meaning the staff had more financial access or less supervised financial access than she did.

      Either she didn’t have access to the money or she didn’t feel safe purchasing a car for herself. A car is a drop in the bucket. It sounds like leasing a car is another way for him to keep his name/keep financial control on everything.

  5. HeyKay says:

    People lose their minds sometimes during divorces.
    Kevin seems to be.
    Act like an adult.
    She can take her personal items.
    I’d leave everything. Bad mojo. Start over completely.
    Leave everything. Let Kevin go into his houses, all 3 of them and let Kevin be surrounded by the material things, knowing he has lost his family. Again.

    Money and ego is all he will have left after this divorce.
    A wealthy 68 y/o man alone in a huge empty property.

    • libra says:

      This is all about ego, rejection and punishment. Been there and it’s going to get worse.

    • B says:

      It’s hard to believe that he will completely cover the kids to prior standard when he’s acting like this now towards their mother.

    • Michelle says:

      Costner isn’t just an asshole he is abusive. To divorce an abuser takes courage bc it’s not over after the divorce. My ex continues to harass me by taking me to court—over a decade after the divorce was final. Think of how bad the marriage must have been for her to go through the hell of divorcing him.

  6. Kate says:

    1- this is dumb, as if it makes any kind of difference to multimillionaire Kevin which plates and bowls she’s taking, but also
    2- I think itemizing all personal items is standard in a divorce that’s not super amicable – at least from what I’ve absorbed from pop culture depictions of divorce. Having a specific list is tedious but protects both parties from losing items or being accused of taking items that weren’t agreed to

    • lucy2 says:

      I agree, I bet he couldn’t even pick his own dishes out of a lineup if pressed. But he’s going to be an a-hole about everything to punish her.

      I would imagine though, that they have some high value items, artwork, furniture, etc, and I think in that case it’s fair and common for both parties to evaluate who gets what.

      • Kristin says:

        I was just going to say this. The guy who spends 95% of his time on location actually knows what the fuck his dishes look like? I’m betting the answer to that is “no”.

    • BeanieBean says:

      It’s petty & stupid but yeah, she can hire someone to catalog everything since photos aren’t good enough for Mr. Bigshot Movie Star.
      I’ve actually seen wills with everything specifically catalogued, it goes to value of the items & Costner appears to care very much about money.

  7. Eurydice says:

    I’m actually loving this. Big Manly Man, squinting into the desert sun as he Tames the Unforgiving West – “I’m missing an oyster fork! And where’s my artichoke salt shaker?!!!”

  8. girl_ninja says:

    He is so angry at her for leaving him that he will torture her to make her pay in any way she can. Such a trash human Costner has turned out to be. Sounds like Pitt. They should do a film together…Bitch and Bitchier.

  9. HeyKay says:

    Lotta truth to the statement “This is bad. And it will get worse.”
    The longer the divorce goes, the anger builds, pettiness increases, the urge to get even or make them pay for ruining my life/leaving me, on and on.

    Happens too much.

    Those kids are all old enough to see every detail online.
    The kids will side with their Mom emotionally overall. She is their primary parent.
    I’d assume the kids see how badly he is treating their Mom, PUBLICLY, will also think how much can he care about us to treat Mom this way?

    Not a good look for any parent, IMO.

  10. Twin Falls says:

    This is 💯 how my much wealthier ex would have behaved. I left with what was left of my clothes (my closet was emptied one day while I was out), what I’d saved over the years of the kids’ school work, photo albums and some books and started over.

    I think her lawyers underestimated the lengths an abuser will go to to punish the person leaving them and how easy it is for them to manipulate family court.

    • Ms CP says:

      I’m so sorry you had to go through such trauma as having your closet emptied! The humiliation! Happy you escaped!

  11. HeyKay says:

    Interesting to me that team Kevin first said “He was blind sided, he’d take her back.”
    Then within a matter of weeks it came out that in fact, they had both been discussing divorce.
    He was surprised and angry that she filed first.
    And he has been mean, petty, and furious ever since.

    His behavior is a very bad look for his public image.
    I thought with his big ego, he’d be smarter about how much detail is made public.

    BUT, holy sh*t, he is a real nasty piece of work in this proceeding
    If it was just an every day person, it would be pretty common behavior during a divorce, sadly.

    This is divorce #2. for him. He is still bitter about the settlement he had to pay to his first wife and kids. That is why he insisted on the “Iron clad” prenup.

    His lawyers need to get a lid on the details being public.
    Several other celebs are divorcing and Costner is still the lead story.
    Not good.

    And, yes, the wealthier spouse can and does manipulate family court. They can afford to starve you out, bc you the SAHParent have no money at all. Then factor in Kevin is a Movie Star + Oscar winner in a CA court.

  12. K. Tate says:

    This divorce makes me so uncomfortable. I see myself in her and I understand her position completely. It’s amazing what women will normalize in order to be with someone they “love” With all of his money he should bend over backwards to make sure she and the kids are quell taken care of and happy and go live his bachelor life! He’s going to make whatever he hands over back several times!!

    • B says:

      Yes! This is the bigger conversation right? “It’s amazing what women will normalize to be with someone…”
      Clearly there were red flags, and I use that term loosely here, and I bet looking back now she sees them.
      But how to teach this to the next generation so that they don’t get in to this kind of crap in the first place?
      It is vomit inducing once you start to see it.

  13. KMAC says:

    Seems like Brad Pitt and Kevin Costner have a lot in common: humiliating their ex wives.

  14. Turledove says:

    It’s truly awful what can happen when one spouse has access to all the money. If he chooses, he can keep her tied up in court for years over every petty detail. I have read so many horror stories. And it really can come down to one person losing everything because they can’t afford as long of a legal battle as the other.

    It’s infuriating to read all this as he is LOADED. Aside from any special furniture or artwork, there likely isn’t much in the house that he can’t replace EASILY. Easily as in, he wouldn’t feel it financially and could hire someone to go stock his kitchen with all the needed wares.

    I am not saying she should pack the entire house and leave him with nothing. But for a multi-millionaire to be nitpicking over BOWLS? Unless these are handmade bowls that he picked out that were created by some obscure artist that aren’t replaceable, he only cares because he can use them to control her. As someone else said, he probably couldn’t DESCRIBE said bowls.

    Also, I doubt she is overly attached to the bowls either, other than wanting to have some items available asap in the new place so their kids can eat cereal the first morning they wake up there.

    • HeyKay says:

      There ya go!
      Exactly correct, she is packing things so when she has the kids at her new place, she has kitchenware so they can have cereal.
      WTH is he thinking?
      She has no income other than what he is willing to give her to set up a move.

      He is all in on Horizon. He has been pushing her to leave that house bc he has deadlines on editing and production for Horizon, and he has stated in court filings he wants to be in that editing building next to the $145M house, ASAP.

      When she moves out, is HE going to stay at the house with the kids full time while she has to go out and buy every item needed for her and the kids at the new place?
      Unlikely.
      He is pushing her to vacate bc of the prenup.
      No earthly reason for him to be such a complete jackass to her and really, the young kids.
      Kevin must realize the youngest kid is 12 or 13?
      I bet all those kids are upset. But I really bet the oldest at 15 or 16 is furious at how their Mom and they are being roasted in public by Kevin.
      Team kids!

      Kevin Costner should be ashamed of himself. Nothing but White Trash with money!!

  15. Evoo says:

    This does not surprise me at all. When I left my wealthy ex he accused me of taking one of his many baseball hats from the house. He put this in court documents for months and our judge (also in CA) sided with him. It was absurd. This is what happens when abusers no longer have control.

  16. Jayna says:

    He’s a petty ass bitch. Obviously in a divorce, especially a non-amicable one, you can’t just start hauling stuff out. She’s not. You do list everything and decide who is taking what that is jointly owned unless one just doesn’t care. So artwork, furniture, furnishings, sure, that’s reasonable. Plates? Kitchen things?

    And I agree with what has been said on here. He wants her out, like, yesterday. If you gave her and the kids more time in the home, Kevin, there would be more time to work out the mammoth amount of stuff in the two or three homes your family has lived in all these years.

    When you go into your rental home in two weeks, or less actually, Christine, make sure you’ve taken photos of everything in these homes so that at the end of the divorce you will have received your fair share of the furnishings and art and kitchenware that you probably picked out in creating homes for your family.

    I can guarantee you Kevin is really working on those kids during his two-week vacation with them right now and playing the pity party to his children.

  17. Saschafrom76 says:

    Never in my LIFE will I support anything even remotely attached to this flacid fetid puke bubble of beige dog sheot again lol wow he really jumped off his pedestal lol

  18. Carolnr says:

    I agree he is being pettty about the painting & dishes, etc
    Christine did however buy a car on his or an employyee of his credit card, so she clearly understood the prenup. The prenup stated that she could keep the current vehicle.
    Sad, though, that we all have read & been told what is in their prenup…