Kevin Costner currently has seven children, but he wasn’t always sure he wanted more after having three children in his first marriage.
Kevin Costner was given an ultimatum. He had to decide whether to have children with his girlfriend, Christine Baumgartner, or move on and stop wasting their time.
Everyone has some non-negotiable relationship requirements. Others value integrity, while others value religion highly. The topic of children is frequently brought up. While some people may be sure of what they want, others may be unsure.
Uncertainty or conflict between partners can lead to the breakdown of a relationship. Kevin Costner and his then-girlfriend Christine Baumgartner fell out after they couldn’t agree on whether or not to have children together.
Costner changed his mind about having more children only after Baumgartner issued an ultimatum.
Costner met Cindy Silva, his first wife, while they were both in college in 1975.
“She was beautiful, sweet, and smarter than I was. She represented everything I liked about women,” Costner said of his first wife to Closer Weekly.
The couple married after three years of dating.
Thanks to Silva, the couple’s first child, Annie, was born in 1984. They welcomed Lily into the family in 1986, and in 1988, Silva gave birth to a son named Joe, further expanding the family.
Costner relished his role as a father. “Being a dad is the most important thing in my life,” he said.
Silva stayed at home to care for their children while Costner continued to work.
However, his absence harmed his marriage because there were allegations that he was having an affair.
Silva put up with Costner’s “sexy roles” and gossip, but the couple announced their divorce in 1994 after 16 years of marriage.
Costner began dating Bridget Rooney after his divorce. The couple had a son in November 1996.
He met Christine Baumgartner, a handbag designer, for the second time two years later; they first met a decade earlier while golfing. They started dating in 1998.
“We exchanged numbers, and I told her I’d call her in two weeks if she didn’t mind. I had no idea that was an insult to a woman,” he admitted to People in 2003.
Except for the children, the couple got along despite their 20-year age difference. Costner, who was in his forties when he met her, did not want any more children, whereas Baumgartner did.
“Fear kept me from marrying Christine,” he told Closer Weekly exclusively in June 2018. “She wanted a child, but I was worried I wouldn’t be a good father.”
Baumgartner allegedly gave Costner an ultimatum.
“I’ll wait for you, but not for long. Come back to me when you’ve made up your mind.”
The couple briefly separated while Costner pondered his future.
The couple eventually reconciled.
“I woke up thinking, ‘Am I going to lose a beautiful woman who is willing to be with me until my last breath because I am afraid to say yes to a child?’” he explained at the time. “All it took was that. Sometimes the thing you’re most afraid of turns out to be the thing that will save your life.”
In 2004, the couple married on their property in Aspen, Colorado.
They had their first child together three years later. They expanded their family by welcoming a son in 2009 and a daughter in 2010.
Despite his reservations about having more children, Costner has grown to enjoy being a father to his seven children.
“You get to play heroes in the movies, but there’s a moment where you’re just a father, and you get to go home. I have played two roles in my life, one I get paid to do, which is the movies, and the other is being a father, for which I’ll be rewarded my whole life.”
It’s crucial, in my opinion, that both parties agree on the matter of having kids or not.
It’s lovely that Christine Baumgartner and Kevin Costner had some time to reflect, and it looks like Costner made the correct choice!
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