Kevin Costner's Downfall From Fame Is So Tragic

Kevin Costner's fall from grace began much earlier than most people realize. Although he seemed to have established himself as a formidable force in Hollywood after bagging two Oscars for "Dancing with the Wolves" in 1991, time would prove that his career would be far more tumultuous. Only four years after his wins, Costner produced and starred in the $175 million film, "Waterworld," which turned out to be a critical dud and a financial disaster, incurring an eye-watering $103 million in losses, per Screen Rant. 

In addition to tainting his reputation as a force to be reckoned with, the film also cost him a pretty penny since he was rumored to have poured $22 million of his own money into it. Worse, in a July 2020 interview with Yahoo!, "Waterworld" screenwriter, Peter Rader, revealed that Steven Spielberg had strongly cautioned Costner against shooting on a real body of water as it would only add a layer of unnecessary difficulties and expenses. Unfortunately, Costner didn't heed the advice of the man who made "Jaws" and endured an infamously difficult and messy shoot. 

If all of that wasn't bad enough already, the ill-fated action flick also reportedly impacted Costner's marriage to Candy Silva. According to a 1994 People article, Costner's first marriage ended after 16 years because his then-wife felt that the reports suggesting he was having an affair with a hula dancer who worked in the hotel he lived in while filming "Waterworld" were the final nail in the coffin for their union. In the following years, Costner was embroiled in several other controversies that only made it harder for him to have a sustained comeback. 

All the drama surrounding Kevin Costner's controversial "Yellowstone" exit took a toll on his reputation. According to Puck's report, although the Oscar winner was effectively written off from the show following John Dutton's death in Season 5A, he was still desperate to return to the show because he wanted to give closure to his character and create some good publicity for his movie "Horizon." However, Costner was a bit of a diva when he called the drama's creator and primary writer, Taylor Sheridan, to discuss a potential return. 

In addition to demanding more money for a less grueling schedule, Costner also supposedly wanted Sheridan to get the actor's approval on every script. Sheridan apparently felt that Costner's request for a veto over his work was unfair because his writing had been instrumental in making the show a massive success. However, in a May 2024 chat with GQ, "The Bodyguard" star claimed that a heavily delayed schedule triggered his "Yellowstone" departure. 

According to him, the show hardly ever stuck to its initial schedule. While he let it slide during the past seasons, he couldn't do so in Season 5 because he had to set time aside from his schedule to work on his passion project, "Horizon." Costner stated that although he had provided the show's producers with several ideas on how he could work around his schedule for Season 5B, it seemed like they weren't making much progress with it because he never received a script for it. Ultimately, he felt he had no choice but to ask for his character's death.

One of the many scandals that will always haunt the cast of "Yellowstone" is the reported altercation between Wes Bentley and Kevin Costner. In October 2025, an insider informed The Hollywood Reporter that tensions on set rose to an all-time high when Costner told his co-star to defy Taylor Sheridan's script and perform a scene the way he envisioned it. When Bentley pushed back and reminded Costner that he wasn't in charge of the production, he got infuriated and charged at him. 

Although the two actors didn't actually tussle, they got all up in each other's faces, and supposedly exchanged heated words and shoves. According to an insider, the fight irrevocably altered the cast's perception of Costner and even reduced Kelly Reilly to tears. "The incident with Wes was the line in the sand. Everything was different after that," the confidant dished. "Everyone loved Wes, and so that really made Taylor upset." 

It's worth noting that Bentley's spokesperson confirmed that the spat did indeed happen, while also insisting that they had buried the hatchet. However, that didn't stop their co-star Luke Grimes from throwing subtle shade at Costner in a December 2024 interview with Esquire. Grimes confessed that filming became a breeze after Costner's exit because he had taken the tension with him. Although the cards were stacked against the "Field of Dreams" actor, he still refused to back down. Speaking to Deadline in May 2024, he addressed the drama as a whole, saying, "I have taken a beating from those f***ing guys and I know a lot of times where it's coming from."

There was plenty of drama surrounding Kevin Costner and Christine Baumgartner's messy divorce. In June 2023, about a month after Baumgartner filed for divorce after 19 years of marriage, Costner filed court documents alleging that she had violated the terms of their prenuptial agreement by continuing to live in his Santa Barbara home 30 days past their split, per NBC. Although a judge sided with the Oscar winner and ordered his ex-wife to move out, he may have still gotten more than he bargained for with his filing, since it took their divorce to a new low. 

Shortly afterward, the former model claimed that her estranged husband had informed their children that they were splitting up "over a 10-minute Zoom call without [her] present," per Business Insider. His decision seemed bizarre to her because they could have easily broken the news to their children together upon his return home five days later. In another filing from June 2023, she demanded a whopping $248,000 in monthly child support payments.  

Court documents obtained by E! News revealed that the "Dancing with the Wolves" star pushed against the filings by claiming that Baumgartner was trying to get him to finance her own lavish life, further alleging that she had accumulated $188,500 in monthly plastic surgery costs. Additionally, in a strange filing by Baumgartner, she requested to know the financial costs he had incurred from extramarital affairs. In his response, Costner insisted that he had never cheated, but he couldn't say the same about Baumgartner with absolute certainty.

In May 2025, stunt performer Devyn LaBella, who doubled for Ella Hunt, sued Kevin Costner and the production companies that funded "Horizon 2." According to The Hollywood Reporter, in her filings, she alleged that Costner had directed Roger Ivens to perform an unscripted rape scene with her without her consent or a prior heads-up. Moreover, the terms of Hunt's contract, which would likely cover LaBella since she was a stand-in, outlined that she required an intimacy coordinator to be present on set whenever she had to act in a sexual scene. Even so, an intimacy coordinator was nowhere in sight when LaBella's scene was filmed.

Additionally, LaBella believed that Costner had also violated SAG-AFTRA protocols by not giving her a 48-hour notice prior to the scene, failing to get her consent, and not having a closed set. In an amended complaint, Celeste Chaney, the film's intimacy coordinator, confirmed that the stunt performer had not consented to the scene. Moreover, Chaney alleged that LaBella did not receive "appropriate modesty garments to ensure adequate coverage, safety, or protection," per The Guardian. 

In a statement shared with The Hollywood Reporter, LaBella opened up about how the scene had affected her, noting, "On that day, I was left exposed, unprotected, and deeply betrayed by a system that promised safety and professionalism," she continued. "What happened to me shattered my trust and forever changed how I move through this industry." Despite everything, Costner insisted that the lawsuit was nothing more than a means to drag his name through the mud.

Kevin Costner went all out for his passion project film series "Horizon." Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in May 2024, the Oscar winner revealed that he had invested north of $50 million in the western saga. A chunk of that astounding number seems to have come from Costner's mortgaged California home. Unfortunately, the tremendous financial risk from the first two films didn't pay off. 

The first installment in the series cost a whopping $100 million to create and only raked in $38 million in worldwide box office sales, according to The Hollywood Reporter. While Costner still went ahead and made the second installment of the film, most people didn't get to see it because it only got a limited release at film festivals. In a statement shared with The Hollywood Reporter, a spokesperson for New Line stated the sequel's scheduled theatrical release for August 2024 had been rescheduled to an unspecified date to give audiences ample time to warm up to the first installment. In the meantime, the western only got embroiled in more controversies. 

In May 2025, United Costume Corporation sued Costner's production company, which he had used to finance the "Horizon" series, per The Hollywood Reporter. In their complaint, the corporation claimed that they had not received the $350,000 they were owed in costume fees from the first two films in the saga. Ironically, although the "Yellowstone" star lives a wildly lavish life, he still asked billionaires to fund the third movie in the series during a May 2024 appearance on The Hollywood Reporter's "Awards Chatter" podcast.