Advertisement

What Kevin Costner Is Like As a Father of 7: "All of My Kids Are Showered With Love"

What Kevin Costner Is Like As a Father of 7: "All of My Kids Are Showered With Love"

From Prevention

In his nearly 40-year career, Kevin Costner has played a wide range of iconic roles—who can forget Costner’s performance as Lt. John J. Dunbar of Dances With Wolves, or his portrayal of Ray Kinsella in Field of Dreams? His most recent project, Yellowstone, where Costner plays patriarch John Dutton, seems well on its way to classic territory as well. But his most important role of all, according to the famous actor, is entirely off-screen. Always a dedicated family man, the Hollywood mogul has long put his family—in particular his children—before his career. Here’s a closer look at the leading guys and gals in Kevin Costner’s life.

Kevin Costner's First Marriage and Early Family Life

While attending California State University, Fullerton, Costner met his first wife, Cindy Silva, also an aspiring actress. Silva spent her summers playing a princess at Disneyland (Costner once told People that Silva reminded him of Snow White), and in 1978, the couple was married.

Six years after the couple was wed, they welcomed their first child, Annie Costner in 1984. Another girl, Lily, followed in 1986, and a boy, Joe, was born in 1988.

Over the course of the next decade, Costner and Silva worked together closely, in both their professional and their personal lives. In addition to raising their three children together, the pair also worked on blockbusters together, including Dances With Wolves, for which Costner won the Academy Award for both Best Director and Best Picture.

In 1994, however, after 16 years of marriage, the couple released a joint statement announcing their divorce. In a statement, the couple claimed to have “amicably resolved all issues regarding our children and financial affairs and a full marital settlement has been reached.”

Today, all three of the Costner children from his first marriage have followed in their famous parents’ footsteps. Annie Costner is credited as a producer, actress, and director; as of 2015, Annie has partnered with Adrienne Hall to work alongside famous individuals and entities like Katy Perry, ESPN, and Red Bull. And Kevin Costner has made it clear that Annie hasn’t relied on his name to make it in the industry. In 2014, he told The Huffington Post, "She’s living on her own wits. She’s just a source of pride for me."

Lily Costner, like her father, not only acts, but also sings (sometimes alongside dad). In 2004, the second Costner daughter was named Miss Golden Globe, and in the last several years, has appeared on stage with Kevin Costner & Modern West, Costner’s country band. You can also hear her voice in Costner’s 2014 film, Black or White.

While Joe Costner has also been credited with a couple film appearances, like the 1996 film Tin Cup and the 1997 picture The Postman, he is a larger presence in the music industry. He owns Spartan Recording, “a new US-based mobile recording service” whose studio is actually “built into a refurbished and modernized original 1951 Spartan Royal Manor trailer.” As Joe Costner said of his venture, "The idea is to travel, record in interesting spaces, and record those experiences."

A New Love, and a Fourth Child

In the two years following Costner’s marriage to Silva, he dated Bridget Rooney, with whom he welcomed a fourth child, Liam Timothy, in 1996. Unlike his siblings, Liam Timothy has largely stayed out of the public spotlight, and allegedly has a somewhat contentious relationship with his rather. A source told People that Costner saw Liam as a child “occasionally but not on a regular basis.”

Christine Baumgartner, and More Kids

Costner’s love story with model and handbag designer Christine Baumgartner is a long one. The two met more than a decade before they first began dating (on a golf course), but did not give their romance a real go until they reconnected at a restaurant in 1998. “We exchanged numbers, and I told her that I would—did she mind if I called her in two weeks. I did not realize that was like an insult to a woman,” Costner told People in a 2003 interview. In 2004, the couple were married at Costner’s ranch outside Aspen, Colorado, but not before they split briefly in 2002.

In fact, having more children was apparently a sticking point in the relationship—Costner, a father of four at the time, purported to not want to become a new father once again. In the years since their marriage, of course, the couple has had three children.

Photo credit: Fred Duval - Getty Images
Photo credit: Fred Duval - Getty Images

Their eldest, Cayden Costner, was born in 2007, whereas second child Hayes was born in 2009. Their third child joined the family in 2010.

Now a father of 7, Costner has made abundantly clear that there is nothing more important in his life than his children. The actor is known for making mention of his large family in his (numerous) acceptance speeches, and has been careful not to pick favorites among his children. “I’ve always been really close to my girls,” he told Good Housekeeping in 2007. But of course, he added, “All of my kids are showered with love.”


Support from readers like you helps us do our best work. Go here to subscribe to Prevention and get 12 FREE gifts. And sign up for our FREE newsletter here for daily health, nutrition, and fitness advice.

You Might Also Like