Christine Baumgartner revealed some new details about her and Kevin Costner’s former lavish lifestyle together.
The estranged exes appeared in a California court for the first of their two-day child support hearing on Thursday, August 31, during which Baumgartner, 49, used to throw elaborate Christmas parties at a 10-acre plot near their shared home.
According to the Daily Mail, the duo would have 40 tons of snow brought in for holiday events and would feature a Nativity scene with animals available for children to ride. Trails for toboggan runs were also built in the property’s forest of fir trees.
Baumgartner told the court the plot had also been used for camping birthday parties for the pair’s son Cayden, 15. In addition to 40 tents set up for Cayden and his friends, taco trucks were hired to cater the event, the outlet reports. (Baumgartner and Costner, 68, also share son Logan, 14, and daughter Grace, 12.)
Baumgartner — who introduced herself in court using the last name “Costner” — filed for divorce from the Yellowstone actor after nearly 19 years of marriage on May 1. Throughout the former couple’s messy divorce, she requested Costner to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in child support per month to maintain their kids’ luxurious lifestyle.
On Thursday, she revealed their kids take frequent fishing trips, go scuba diving and surfing and play volleyball. Cayden, meanwhile, owns a boat and the family’s home has a room full of surfboards, wetsuits, paddle boards and more aquatic equipment.
The family’s Aspen ranch also features illuminated sledding trails with speakers in the trees, fishing lakes and canoes. The Colorado property is currently being rented for $50,000 per day.
Following Baumgartner’s divorce filing, Costner claimed that he could not afford the $248,000 per month she requested in child support due to his exit from the hit show Yellowstone. On July 11, a judge temporarily ruled that the actor would pay his ex $129,755 per month in child support, as well as $200,000 in attorney’s fees and $100,000 in forensic costs.
Ahead of Thursday’s hearing, Baumgartner’s legal team stated in a legal brief that she would need $200,000 to “provide a lifestyle for the children which is relatively comparable [to when they are with Costner].”
The brief continued: “The Court order must allow the children to be supported at a level commensurate with Kevin’s considerable wealth, even if that level of support also improves the standard of living of Christine.”
It went on to note that the pair’s children often “fly on private aircraft to go on luxury vacations when they are with their father,” thus Costner “should pay sufficient child support to Christine so that the children can go on comparable vacations when they are with her.”
