Kevin Costner’s wife Christine Baumgartner pictured WITHOUT her wedding ring after

Kevin Costner‘s wife Christine Baumgartner was seen without her wedding ring following news she filed for divorce from the actor after 18 years of marriage.

Baumgartner, 49 – who shares three children with Costner, 68 – was photographed for the first time since the news broke as she ran errands in Santa Barbara on Wednesday.

It was revealed Tuesday that Baumgartner, a fashion designer and Costner’s second wife, had cited ‘irreconcilable differences’ in her divorce filing on Monday, May 1 and requested joint custody.

Costner was ‘completely blindsided’ by Baumgartner’s decision to call it quits, according to TMZ.

Although he’s previously faced allegations of infidelity, a rep for Costner has insisted that the TV star remained faithful to Baumgartner throughout their marriage.

It was also reported Wednesday that Costner will not be returning to his hit Pararmount+ series Yellowstone despite an unfinished fifth season.

Rumored tensions between Costner and showrunner Taylor Sheridan – who a source told DailyMail.com had developed a ‘God complex’ – may have contributed to his abrupt exit.

Baumgartner is said to not be filing for spousal support despite her husband’s $250million net worth. 

Costner filed his response on Tuesday, and he is also seeking joint custody of their children – Cayden, 15, Hayes, 14, and Grace, 12.

‘It is with great sadness that circumstances beyond his control have transpired which have resulted in Mr. Costner having to participate in a dissolution of marriage action,’ a representative for Costner said in a statement.

‘We ask that his, Christine’s and their children’s privacy be respected as they navigate this difficult time,’ it concluded. 

Costner’s response was filed by celebrity divorce attorney Laura Wasser, who has represented the likes of reality TV star Kim Kardashian and Academy Award-winner Angelina Jolie.

‘Spousal support to be payable to petitioner pursuant to the terms of the parties’ Premarital Agreement,’ Wasser said, indicating there is a pre-nuptial agreement between Costner and Baumgartner.

A representative for Costner informed Page Six on Wednesday that any allegations that the actor cheated on his spouse are ‘absolutely not true.’

A source who claims to be close to Costner also told the outlet that ‘there was no issue of cheating at all’ and that he remains ‘very surprised by Christine’s actions.’

They continued: ‘He obviously doesn’t want the divorce and he would take her back. It’s disappointing, he loves her and he loves his children.’

The insider also stated that they ‘have no idea if Kevin even knows what the reasons are’ for the split.

TMZ was the first to report the divorce news.

The Bodyguard star was previously married to Cindy Silva from 1978 to 1994 and they share three children – Annie, 39, Lily, 36, and Joe, 35.

He also shares a son Liam Costner with Bridget Rooney, who he dated after his split with Silva.

Last year, RadarOnline claimed that Baumgartner was fed up with Costner’s intense shooting schedule and put pressure on him to exit the Paramount+ show after season five.

‘It’s really knocked a hole in their family life,’ a source told the outlet. ‘The show is such a mega-hit, producers want it to go on forever!’

They continued: ‘However, Christine wants her husband to hang up his cowboy hat.’

She allegedly posed an ultimatum to her longtime spouse. 

‘She wants a firm commitment this is his last season — or he might have to hit the dusty trail!’

Costner has led the cast as patriarch John Dutton since 2018 and raked in $1.5million per episode.

ET reported Wednesday that Costner made the decision to depart the hit Western show – which broke records with 12.1 million viewers for its season five premiere.

The second half of season five has yet to be finished, and no update has been provided on when the cast and crew are set to return to Montana to continue working on the remainder of the season.

The uncertainty has led to lots of confusion and frustration, the outlet added.

A spin-off with Matthew McConaughey in the lead role is moving forward. Last month, Paramount president and CEO Chris McCarthy has said the new show starring McConaughey will go on, regardless of whether Costner decides to stay with the original series, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

In April, DailyMail.com reported new details about Costner’s rift with Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan.

Sources claimed Sheridan developed a ‘God complex’ which left Costner reportedly frustrated with the development of the hit Paramount Network series.

The outlet also claimed morale had been dwindling among the cast as they are not kept up to date on Costner’s negotiations with producers.

‘Kevin will forever be proud of and grateful for Yellowstone and the cast is like family to him,’ the source said of Costner, who recently nabbed a Golden Globe Award for best actor for his portrayal of John Dutton.

‘He just felt like Yellowstone is headed in a direction that was not in line with their initial vision and he was met with criticism, including that he should just stick to acting.’

Adding to the uncertainty around the series is the fact that a date has not been set for when filming will commence for the second half of the latest season, which could be disrupted by an impending writers strike after members of the Writers Guild of America voted to authorize a shutdown over pay issues.

Last month, the New York Post reported that Costner’s desire to cut down his workload on the fifth season to focus on other projects was also to blame for the tension between him and Sheridan.

‘It’s the same as with any show runner and big star — there’s respect, but there’s friction,’ a source described as ‘well-placed’ within the production told the outlet.

Costner is currently directing and starring in Horizon, a western film series consisting of four separate movies that will be released three months apart from each other.

Each film is close to three hours long and after the quadruple release, Horizon is going to be broken into a series for television – each with 42-minute episodes.

Another ‘highly placed’ Hollywood source told the outlet that some of the blame for the ‘friction’ on set lies with its creator.

‘Taylor is the star of his show. He’s the most important person on all of his shows,’ they said.

Deadline reported in February that Costner wanted to shoot for only a week on the second half of season five, after he had already shortened his work on the first half.

The apparent reason was that the actor wanted to focus on his upcoming Western film franchise Horizon.

But Costner’s attorney Marty Singer shot back after the report and claimed to Puck News that it was an ‘absolute lie’ that his client would only shoot for a week.

‘As everyone who knows anything about Kevin is well aware, he is incredibly passionate about the show and has always gone way above and beyond to ensure its success,’ he said at the time.

Other inside sources have claimed that Sheridan’s lack of preparation has caused major delays with the production of the show – with one suggesting that Costner had made himself readily available to shoot, only for the creator’s own ‘overburdened’ schedule to get in the way.

They added that Sheridan was ‘overburdened’ and ‘nothing was ready’ even after Costner ‘made himself available.’

They said that Costner was prepared to shoot the second half of the season sometime last year, as well as in January of this year, but there were allegedly no completed scripts to shoot at the time.

‘Kevin’s been extremely cooperative with working with Taylor and his production company, 101 Studios. They were supposed to shoot the second chapter of Season five late last year, but they just didn’t have the scripts,’ a source told the Post.

‘Kevin had already committed to making his other movies. He had given the producers his schedule. There was nothing to shoot.’

There have also been reports that Costner’s beloved character John Dutton will be killed off in the back half of Yellowstone’s current fifth season.

It’s unclear when production will begin on the new episodes for Yellowstone Season 5, or if those episodes will feature the death of Dutton.

Costner took home the Golden Globe for his performance at the 2023 ceremony, though he did not accept the honor in person.