Kevin Costner Dating History: A Look at His High-Profile Romances

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Kevin Costner has shared the screen with memorable romantic co-stars including Susan Sarandon in “Bull Durham,” Whitney Houston in “The Bodyguard,” Rene Russo in “Tin Cup,” and Robin Wright in “Message in a Bottle.” Away from the cameras, the two-time Academy Award winner has also been linked to a long list of high-profile romances.

Although Costner has married only twice, his personal life has included serious relationships, brief encounters, and rumored flings. Who was the first woman known to capture his attention? Which alleged romance did he supposedly share with golfer Tiger Woods? And which hair-metal model says the only thing that happened in Costner’s bedroom involved an actual fire? Here’s a look at 12 women connected to the actor’s dating history.

Costner married Cindy Silva in 1978, three years after the couple met while attending California State University, Fullerton. Their relationship endured as Costner pursued an increasingly demanding career in Hollywood.

As late as 1989, Costner was still speaking warmly about the mother of his three children. Recalling their first date, he told People, “She was beautiful. She was sweet. She was smarter than me … she represented everything about women that I like.” He added that he felt proud she had agreed to go out with him and wanted to introduce her to his parents. Silva also stood beside him when his passion project, “Dances with Wolves,” won seven Academy Awards two years later.

Their marriage eventually came under strain as Costner’s career accelerated. Rumors also circulated about an alleged affair during production of the blockbuster “Waterworld.” The college sweethearts divorced in 1994, with Silva reportedly receiving a substantial settlement. In a 2012 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Costner described the breakup as devastating. “My faith was shaken,” he said. “No one wants their marriage to end, and it did. You are going to see the people you love most, your children, only half as much. That’s a huge loss.” Here’s a closer look at the reported reasons behind their divorce.

Model Angie Everhart became the first celebrity publicly linked to Costner after his split from Silva. Reports suggested that the “Open Range” star was still attempting to repair his marriage when he briefly pursued the model.

One widely repeated account claimed that Costner saw Everhart in a magazine, then sent a private jet filled with roses to collect her for a lavish $15,000 dinner. The gesture allegedly failed to make an impression: A press insider said Everhart left after the meal to spend time with friends and never met the actor again.

Everhart later disputed that version of events on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien.” She said they met at a California restaurant and that the story was exaggerated after photographers captured her leaving. “Hard Copy” then reportedly portrayed her as the future Mrs. Costner. “It’s just a total, blatant lie,” she said.

Two years after Costner’s expensive divorce from Silva, a short and closely guarded relationship with Bridget Rooney resulted in the birth of his fourth child. Rooney was the niece of Dan Rooney, who at the time owned the Pittsburgh Steelers. Reports claimed Costner initially questioned whether he was the child’s father.

Before the baby’s birth, Rooney told New York Magazine that she had no doubts about the father’s identity. “I’m 110% sure who the father is,” she said. “I’m just enjoying my pregnancy.” Costner nevertheless requested a paternity test after the child, Liam, was born.

The test confirmed Costner was Liam’s father. He subsequently established a trust fund for the child and reportedly remained involved periodically as Liam grew up. Unlike Costner’s three children with Silva—Annie, Lily, and Joe—who all entered the entertainment world, Liam has largely stayed out of the spotlight.

In 1996, “Good Morning America” co-host Joan Lunden made headlines after beginning a relationship with one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. During their short-lived romance, Costner reportedly embraced grand gestures.

In a candid TV Guide interview cited by the Orlando Sentinel, Lunden recalled that the “Mr. Brooks” actor spared little expense. One date involved a yacht ride around New York Harbor followed by dinner. “It was quite romantic and quite beautiful,” she said, adding that Costner greeted her with, “Boy, I’ve waited so long to meet you.”

The relationship eventually ended under the glare of tabloid coverage. Lunden said the publicity made her more guarded in later relationships, while rumors claimed she had left Costner for a younger man.

Costner later described the period following his divorce from Silva as an unusually reckless chapter. “I went a little crazy when we first split,” he admitted to the Mirror. “I was on the rebound and enjoying being a bachelor again.” The “Wyatt Earp” star was subsequently linked to several women, including Bobbie Brown, the former Miss Louisiana Teen USA known for appearing in Warrant’s “Cherry Pie” music video.

Brown later said the encounter with Costner became memorable for a very literal reason. In her memoir “Dirty Rocker Boys,” cited by Adelaide Now, she wrote that after a night out, she accidentally threw a lit cigarette into Costner’s bedroom and nearly started a house fire. The book also discussed her encounters with Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark McGrath, and Dave Navarro. Brown emphasized, however, that she and Costner never had sex.

During an interview with The Giving Arts, Brown offered more details about the evening. She said approximately 200 women—and comedian David Spade—were at the party. Brown recalled Costner repeatedly telling her she could put down her purse, after which she tossed it into the air and scattered its contents across the room. Costner, she said, simply backed away, likely wondering what to make of the chaotic scene.

Brown was not the only woman linked to Costner during what has been described as his hard-partying bachelor period. Another alleged encounter became public in 2009, when adult-film performer Holly Sampson, one of the women connected to Tiger Woods’ sex scandal, discussed her experiences.

In a video for the Naughty America website, Sampson praised both Woods and Costner as lovers. Speaking about Woods, she said he was “really good” and described him as a gentleman. She also referenced Costner, saying, “I’ve got juice … I think it’s pretty amazing,” according to Us Weekly.

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It’s not known exactly when Costner and Sampson’s paths crossed, and the former has never verified nor denied the latter’s claims. But this wasn’t the first time that the Hollywood star had been linked to the porn world. In 1981, he made his screen debut playing a young stable owner in the softcore flick “Sizzle Beach, U.S.A.”

Kevin Costner has been linked to other celebrities over the years. He reportedly dated Courteney Cox, Halle Berry. Cheryl Tiegs, Academy Award winner Mira Sorvino, and Michelle Pfeiffer.

However, the only unspoken relationship that’s been regularly reported as fact is with a woman whose love life also makes for interesting reading. Indeed, Carla Bruni, the singer-songwriter and, thanks to her marriage to Nicolas Sarkozy, the one-time First Lady of France, has reportedly dated everyone from guitar god Eric Clapton and Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger to the future President of the United States, Donald Trump!

British Vogue, The Guardian, and The Independent are reputable publications that reported that Costner and Bruni were definitely an item.

Socialite and single mother campaigner Birgit Cunningham graced the front pages in 2011 after selling a story to the press in which she admitted to an affair with the House of Lords’ very married Conservative leader, Thomas Strathclyde.

While working for Universal Pictures in the 1990s, Cunningham began seeing Kevin Costner. And she opened up about the nature of their relationship while discussing her two-year spell with aristocrat Harry Nuttall. “We started sleeping together because we were really good friends, and I was certainly led to believe that he wasn’t sleeping with anyone else,” she told The Standard. “But I didn’t see him very often, and so although that was the understanding, I kept it really open with him. When I was dating Kevin Costner, it was the same scenario, so I’m used to that kind of thing.”

Cunningham and Costner obviously ended things amicably, though. In fact, the former disclosed after splitting with Nuttall, who she was later convicted of kneeing in the groin during one of many heated dispute then headed to Los Angeles to seek comfort from the “Field of Dreams” star.

“I have a special lady in my life and I am looking to settle down again.” It’s fair to say that Kevin Costner quickly fell head over heels for supermodel Elle Macpherson, judging by the interview he gave to Page Six (via The Sun) in the mid-90s.

Indeed, the “Draft Day” star couldn’t stop gushing about the Aussie, adding, “I have met a lot of wonderful ladies since I became single, but today I have reached a very happy phase in my life. I feel I have met my equal with this beautiful, talented, funny, and lovely person. Her name is Elle.” It’s perhaps little surprise that, according to reports, anyway, the pair ended up moving in together. However, this appeared to be the kiss of death for their relationship. They split soon after.

In an interview with the Irish Independent several years later, Macpherson seemed hesitant to confirm she was ever with Costner. When asked about her romance with the Oscar winner, she replied, “Well … I had a six-month period when I was single. In that six-month period, there were quite a few people that I was linked to, because I was seen in the presence of [them]. But no, I am one of those girls who have been in long monogamous relationships. I function best like that. That’s what I like.”

Kevin Costner didn’t appear to waste much time getting back in the saddle, so to speak, after splitting with Elle Macpherson. In 1997, he began dating Tawny Little, the TV newswoman who previously stepped out with Sylvester Stallone.

Things reportedly got so serious between the pair that Costner arranged for Little — who was crowned Miss America in the mid-1970s — to meet his three children Annie, Lily, and Joe, on a family day out at Universal Studios. It’s not known exactly how long the pair stayed together. But according to a mutual pal, they first connected at an eatery in Los Angeles before enjoying an official first date watching the legendary diva Patti LaBelle perform at the Hollywood Bowl.

We also know what food Little, who was previously wed to John Schneider of “The Dukes of Hazzard” fame, prepared for the occasion. “She fried chicken and packed a picnic for them,” the insider told the Scottish Daily Record. “She even got a strawberry pie from that same little restaurant.”

Kevin Costner met his second wife, handbag designer Christien Baumgartner, shortly after divorcing his first while filming the 1996 golfing comedy “Tin Cup.” But they didn’t get together until several years later, when the Hollywood favorite had got all his womanizing tendencies out of his system.

The pair tied the knot at Costner’s Colorado ranch in 2004 and went on to have three children together. And despite a few bumps in the road, they looked set to last the distance until Baumgartner filed for divorce in 2023. “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,” the actor’s spokesperson said in a statement (via People).

Costner and Baumgartner had various financial disputes, with the former demanding payment of legal fees and the latter insisting on $248,000 per month in child support. She was also accused of violating their pre-nup and preparing for the split months beforehand by outright buying, rather than leasing, a new car and taking out credit card advances. Just a year after their divorce was finalized, Baumgartner walked down the aisle with financier Josh Connor. Here’s a closer look at the details about her and Costner’s divorce.

Christine Baumgartner wasn’t the only one to move on quickly. In 2025, Kevin Costner began dating Kelly Noonan Gores, a filmmaker who was recently divorced.

“It was excruciating,” the latter admitted (via Mirror) on her “Heal with Kelly” podcast about her split from billionaire Alec Gores eight years after they tied the knot. “Even though I initiated the conversation, neither of us wanted this, and it was extremely heartbreaking.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, neither party was interested in marriage, with insiders confirming they were both looking for something casual.

“Dating is not a huge priority for her though,” a source told People about Kelly’s mindset at the time before revealing how she was also still coming to terms with the fire that ripped through her Pacific Palisades home. “The past year was tumultuous for her … She’s focused on her daughter and her own health.” Here’s a look at Costner’s transformation from 22 to 66.