Kevin Costner’s ex Christine Baumgartner is dating HIS banker buddy Josh Connor just months after denying any romance during their bitter divorce

Just four months after a bitter divorce, Kevin Costner’s ex-wife Christine Baumgartner has found love again, reports DailyMail.com.

She was seen in her Range Rover dropping off her new man at his luxury home in Montecito – less than five minutes from her own home – early Friday morning after a short drive.

Christina’s new man is financier Josh Connor, 49; himself a divorced father of three, he officially became single on Jan. 3, 2023—just five months before Baumgartner stunned Costner, 68, by filing for divorce.

The couple also traveled together over Christmas, with her new banker boyfriend taking her to Hawaii on a private jet, sources told DailyMail.com.

The couple were previously photographed laughing while on holiday in Hawaii in July, accompanied by her daughter Grace and his youngest daughter Abigail, both 13, and it was later revealed in court that the banker had lent her $20,000.

Accused by an angry Costner of having a new boyfriend, Baumgartner denied dating Connor under oath during an evidentiary hearing in Santa Barbara last August.

Bearded Connor, who was wearing a black cap and sweater paired with blue jeans, was carrying a travel bag.

Later that day, he was seen making a brief visit to Baumgartner’s home, breaking in using his own door clicker.

And last week, the couple were repeatedly seen looking into each other’s homes, despite both having children with them.

Sources told DailyMail.com that the romance has been going on for some time, with the couple heading to New York in December ahead of a tropical Christmas.

An insider said: “They’ve been together for a while. Before Christmas, they spent time together in Hawaii, and Kevin was supposedly in Aspen with the kids.

“They also went to New York together. She didn’t try very hard to hide what was happening from her friends.”

According to the source, the lovers met through their daughters, who are themselves close friends and often spend time together.

As a result, Connor and his ex-wife Patricia, 48, have been friends with the Costner family for years, with both living in Montecito – not far from Baumgartner’s $50,000-a-month home and Costner’s $70 million Carpinteria complex.

But Baumgartner and Connor’s once platonic friendship is now heating up as both the July vacation and the $20,000 loan are scrutinized by Costner’s divorce lawyers.

In court, a tearful Baumgartner insisted she and Connor were just good friends and said she shared a room with a friend during the July holiday, which she admitted was financed by the financier.

She was then forced to explain that Connor had given her a loan of $20,000, of which she said $10,000 was paid to her mother and the rest was repaid.

The blonde glamor then had to admit that Costner had been paying $5,000 a month to help his parents, but that payment stopped when she filed for divorce.

She told the court the $10,000 was given to cover the shortfall and insisted she planned to pay it back.

Despite her denials, one witness said the new couple looked cozy during the July holiday and photos showed them strolling along the beach smiling from ear to ear.

A viewer told DailyMail.com exclusively: “She was sitting with a guy at a corner table. He was handsome.

They walked across the table from each other and she laughed a lot at everything he said.

“She showed him photos from her phone and he moved to the seat next to her so they were both facing the water.”

“It’s hard to say if anything happened to them, but at some point he did put his hand on her leg, which I saw. This was the only real physical interaction.

“Her number is next to the guy’s number. He ordered drinks to his room and they left together just before sunset.

Since then, Baumgartner and Connor have kept their relationship secret, and the Costners settled their divorce weeks after the evidentiary hearing.

The mom of three was hoping to receive $165,000 a month in child support and was also fighting to overturn a prenuptial agreement that called for a lump sum payment of $1.5 million without any child support.

She told the court about the couple’s lavish lifestyle, which cost $11 million a year, including a $160,000 ranch in Colorado and a sprawling beachfront estate in Carpinteria, and said she needed to rent the property for $100,000 a month. to provide “comparable income”. the lifestyle of their children.

Baumgartner also said her luxury four-bedroom rental apartment in Montecito is “unsuitable” because her sons have to share a bedroom and the luxury property lacks sea views.

Judge Thomas Anderle was unimpressed by her arguments and reduced her child support to $63,000 a month from a temporary $129,000.

Despite vowing to keep fighting, Baumgartner and Costner settled their divorce weeks later, which friends later told DailyMail.com she did reluctantly.

Connor’s divorce took longer, with the banker filing to end his marriage in November 2022, citing “irreconcilable differences.”

A year later, the ex-couple finally agreed to an equal division of custody, with Connor having to pay ex-wife Patricia $16,500 a month in child support unless she remarried.

On top of that, Patricia was awarded $16,626 in child support, although that amount is now reduced by $3,325 because eldest daughter Lily just turned 20.

Younger daughter Abigail, 13, and son John, 17, are still covered by the fees, with tuition fees split between both parents.