Photo Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Getty Images
In the decade since Gwyneth Paltrow consciously split from Chris Martin, the dominant trend in celebrity divorces has been the trend toward politeness. When announcing their split, A-listers typically release joint statements full of requests for privacy and promises to remain loving friends and co-parents. Reese Witherspoon and Jim Toth said they “moved forward with a deep love, kindness and mutual respect for all that we have created together” when they announced their divorce earlier this spring. Toni Collette and her now-ex-husband Dave Galafassi promised: “We will continue to thrive as a family.” Announcing her split from fellow comedian Jo Koy, Chelsea Handler said: “This is not an end, it’s a new beginning. “It is a comfort to know that I am still in love and love this man as the sun loves the moon and the moon loves the sun.”
Such announcements have become so common and expected that even normal people post them in their divorce today. But in recent months a new, more bitter current has emerged. Something else is in the air. Something messy!
Perhaps it started when Kevin Costner’s wife of 18 years, Christine Baumgartner, filed for divorce in May. The couple didn’t release a joint statement, emphasizing their mutual respect for each other and assuring us all that they made the decision together and would remain best friends. In fact, Costner immediately said publicly that he was surprised by the file. “It is with great sadness that circumstances beyond his control have arisen that have resulted in Mr. Costner having to attend an annulment lawsuit,” his rep told the tabloids. From then on the situation continued to develop.
Almost every element of the breakup has made its way into the tabloids, suggesting that neither party may be particularly keen on privacy. First, sources claimed Costner cheated, which his rep formally denied. Then Costner’s attorney, famed divorce attorney Laura Wasser, filed legal documents accusing Baumgartner of refusing to leave the couple’s $145 million home in Carpinteria, California, under the terms of their prenuptial agreement. “Christine thinks he should be the one to leave,” a source told Us Weekly. “She’s so angry with Kevin because she feels like it ended their marriage — that he’s putting work ahead of family.” (This is also where Costner’s drama, starring Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan, comes in.)
Since then, allegations have continued on both sides, with Baumgartner demanding a whopping $248,000 a month in child support. She also claimed in legal documents that Costner told her three children, ages 13, 14 and 16, about the divorce “on a 10-minute Zoom call from Las Vegas.”
“This could be a bitter court battle,” another source told Us Weekly. “Kevin is a man of conviction and stubborn to the core.”
While we haven’t seen a celebrity breakup in this mudslinging since Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore’s split in 2011, Costner and Baumgartner aren’t the only celebrities to be publicly going about their breakup right now. Also in May, actress Addison Timlin filed for divorce from her husband of four years, Jeremy Allen White, just as he was preparing to promote the second season of The Bear. Timlin has since posted on Instagram that she’s a “single mom” to the couple’s two young children — a dig that she later changed to “co-parents.” They haven’t released any joint statements reassuring the public of their enduring love and respect for one another, leaving fans pondering the details of Timlin’s divorce filing, which listed September 2022 as the date of their separation. Curiously, because White publicly thanked Timlin when he accepted a Golden Globe for his performance in The Bear in January. At first it seemed like they were trying to keep things civil, but now sources tell Page Six that White was “taken aback” by Timlin’s Instagram post and dismissed the suggestion that he wasn’t an involved father .
But perhaps no couple has exemplified this new rude trend more artfully than Real Housewives of Atlanta grads Kim Zolciak and Kroy Biermann, the former reality stars who filed for divorce last month. Even by Bravo standards, their breakup was deeply acrimonious — and public. Biermann, a former NFL linebacker, was the first to file the application, and he came out vehemently demanding full custody of the couple’s four minor children. Zolciak then claimed that Biermann smoked weed near the children and applied to the court for a drug test. Biermann responded by asking Zolciak to undergo a psychological evaluation, claiming that she had a gambling problem that prevented her from adequately caring for the children. Sources linked to both parties have laid out the details of these claims in the tabloids, suggesting both are keen for their side of the story to come out. Zolciak’s two older daughters from a previous relationship, meanwhile, have made headlines for unfollowing and re-following Biermann on Instagram. Sources explained to Us Weekly the significance of those decisions. It goes without saying that in this scenario, no one is asking the public to respect their privacy.
Of course, there are still many celebrities who keep the details of their breakup a secret from the public. The tabloids have barely covered Reese Witherspoon’s divorce from Jim Toth since the now-ex-couple announced their split in March. Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen’s divorce made headlines last fall, but neither has done a full interview about the other, and they waited until financial and custody arrangements were finalized to announce their split. For some celebrity couples, an all-out public brawl just won’t happen for a number of reasons: they may have intertwined business interests, they may have young children together, or they may have secrets that would make both parties look equally bad.
However, it is refreshing to see that some couples who are divorcing actually act as if they are divorcing. I had a hard time believing that all of the top couples who broke up in the last decade really wanted to remain best friends. Remember Jenna Dewan and Channing Tatum’s joint statement when they announced their split in 2018? They literally described their marriage as a “magical journey” between “best friends” and insisted they are still as much in love as before and only broke up for some reason. “Absolutely nothing has changed about how much we love each other, but love is a beautiful adventure that takes us down different paths for now,” they wrote. Since then, they’ve rarely been seen together, much less called BFFs. Perhaps these statements were all a bit optimistic.
So, will other famous couples follow Kevin Costner’s example and drop everything when it comes to divorce? It is possible. At least one more dramatic split is brewing in Hollywood: Earlier this month, Dean McDermott announced on his Instagram that he and his wife Tori Spelling were divorcing after 17 years of marriage. The problem seems to be that Spelling didn’t agree with such an announcement and he was forced to delete it a day later. Afterwards, paparazzi “caught” Spelling coming to her friend’s house with a suitcase while wearing a hoodie that read, “What the hell is going on here?” (Censorship rests with Spelling.) Sounds like this drama would just begin.
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