Kevin Costner's Wife Claims She Did Not Pressure Him To Quit 'Yellowstone'

The divorce between actor Kevin Costner and his wife Christine Baumgartner continues to get messier by the day.

Amid allegations that the 68-year-old actor told his three children that their parents were getting a divorce during a ten-minute Zoom call, The Blast obtained documents that feature Christine claiming that she did not pressure the actor to quit his role in “Yellowstone.”

In new court documents obtained by The Blast, Christine Costner claims that she never forced her husband to quit “Yellowstone.” She wrote, “I have avoided being public about the reasons for our divorce. I have done this to protect our family’s privacy. I did not pressure Kevin to leave the Yellowstone show.”

She went on to say that Kevin’s public attacks against her are “harmful for our family,” adding, “I believe they are meant to pressure me to move out without a temporary child support agreement in place.”

At this time, it is not immediately clear why the Academy Award-winning actor decided to leave the show, but the Western drama will end after the fifth season debuts this November. The series began in 2018 and followed the Dutton family as they navigated control of the largest cattle ranch in the country. Costner had played the Dutton patriarch, John Dutton.

Although the “Yellowstone” series will be coming to an end, there have been several spin-off shows, including “1923,” which stars Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren.

"Yellowstone has been the cornerstone on which we have launched an entire universe of global hits, from 1883 to Tulsa King, and I am confident our Yellowstone sequel will be another big hit, thanks to the brilliant creative mind of Taylor Sheridan and our incredible casts who bring these shows to life," said the studio's president and CEO, Chris McCarthy, in a statement.

In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, series creator Taylor Sheridan expressed that he was “disappointed” with Costner’s decision to leave the show. "I'm disappointed," Sheridan told the outlet. "It truncates the closure of his character. It doesn't alter it, but it truncates it."

He also denied that he had any conflict with the “Dances With Wolves” actor that would make him reticent to reprise his role for another season. "I've never had an issue with Kevin that he and I couldn't work out on the phone," Sheridan said. "But once lawyers get involved, then people don't get to talk to each other and start saying things that aren't true and attempt to shift blame based on how the press or public seem to be reacting.”

“He took a lot of this on the chin and I don't know that anyone deserves it,” he continued before talking about a possible follow-up series starring Matthew McConaughey.

Sheridan called the Texas native a “natural fit” for the role, adding, “We had a few conversations over the years, and spitballed a few ideas. Then he started watching Yellowstone and responded to it. He was like, 'I want to do that.' And by 'that' he meant diving into a raw world clashing up against the modern world. And then I said, 'Buddy, that we can do.'"

The former couple tied the knot in 2004 and share three children: Cayden, 16, Hayes, 14, and Grace, 13. The 49-year-old claims in her legal filing that

"The children’s welfare has always been my highest priority, and I was concerned they would find out about the divorce before Kevin and I could tell them. It was important for me that we tell the children in person and together," Christine alleges in the documents.

"He disregarded my proposal to do what I felt was right based on research and my relationship with the children,” she continued. “Instead, he insisted that he had the right to tell them that we were getting divorced 'first' and tell them privately 'without me present.’”

"After a 24-year relationship, from his hotel room in Las Vegas, Kevin told our three children that we were getting divorced over a 10-minute Zoom call without me present," she wrote. "I am still confused by his motivation to do this via a very short Zoom session, especially since he was planning on being home five days later. He also could have easily come home from Las Vegas to have the conversation in person."

On May 2, a rep confirmed to People magazine that the "Field of Dreams" actor and his wife were going their separate ways after 18 years together. She cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for their split and listed their date of separation as April 11.