Kevin Costner’s divorce from Christine Baumgartner was finalized in February — and now the actor is ready to date again.
Costner, 69, revealed to Fox News at the Horizon: An American Saga premiere on Monday, June 24, that when he starts looking for love, he knows what he wants in a partner.
“I had two unique relationships,” Costner admitted. “A person who wants to be loved, and they want to be, you know … feel like they’re at their very best. And that love helps that and doesn’t hinder it.”
Costner and Baumgartner, 50, got married in 2004 and share three kids: Cayden, 17, Hayes, 15, and Grace, 13. He also shares adult children Annie, 40, Lily, 37, and Joe, 36, with Cindy Silva, to whom he was married from 1978 to 1994, and son Liam, 28, with ex Bridget Rooney.
Hayes is making his acting debut in the movie and was joined by four of his siblings on the red carpet.
“It’s really nice to have a film celebrated and to have this particular film celebrated tonight and to be here with my actors, my family,” Costner told Entertainment Tonight on Monday. “This is my town. I love being a part of the film community here in Hollywood.”
He also joked that he relates to the challenges faced by contestants on The Golden Bachelor and the upcoming series premiere of The Golden Bachelorette. “It’s really handsome people, beautiful women, and everybody’s trying to create a relationship in front of a billion people,” he said. “I have a little experience with that.”
Though Costner hasn’t been single for long, the actor has been subject to dating rumors in recent months. Earlier this month, he denied reports that he was dating singer Jewel, though he called her “special” and “beautiful enough to go out with.”
“Jewel and I are friends — we’ve never gone out,” he shared on the June 18 episode of The Howard Stern Show. “She’s special, and I don’t want these rumors to ruin our friendship because that’s what we have.”
When Stern asked where the rumors began, Costner recalled a trip to Richard Branson’s Necker Island. He traveled there on a plane with Jewel, Emma Watson and others.
“We were down at Branson’s island. [Jewel] has a foundation, which I didn’t know, and she was part of the foundation. And Richard Branson has been asking me for years to come down to Necker Island, and so I finally did,” he explained. “I’m divorced all of a sudden. I’m a single father, and he’s asked me for, you know, 10 years to come down there. I said, ‘I guess I’ll go down.’”
“I was on with nine people and, and I don’t want the press to ruin this for us, because … I’ve had conversations with her, text-wise, and she’s so smart, and she’s been through a lot herself, and so we have a friendship,” Costner continued. “We don’t have a romance, and we’ve not dated.”
