Starting Over

After a rough 2023, Kevin Costner is back doing what he loves most: acting and directing. Insiders reveal how he's healed since his high-profile divorce and the truth about his rumored return to Yellowstone

- JAIME HARKIN

As the credits of Kevin Costner's new film, Horizon: An American Saga, began to roll at the Cannes Film Festival on May 19, the audience rose to their feet for an epic, seven-minute standing ovation.

An emotional Costner - flanked by his costars on one side and five of his seven children on the other - appeared to take it all in as he fought back tears. "I'll never forget this," he later told the crowd. "Neither will my children." Costner, says a source, "loved that his kids were there to support him."

It's no secret Costner put his heart and soul and roughly $38 million of his own cash - into the making of Horizon, a four-part Western that he wrote, directed and stars in alongside Sienna Miller and Sam Worthington.

(The first installment is out on June 28; the second on Aug. 16.) "This is his passion project," says the first source, with a second adding, "He's convinced in the power of this story."

The film's release comes at a pivotal time for the 69-year-old Oscar winner. Last summer, he went through a painful - and public divorce from his wife of 18 years, Christine Baumgartner.

The split came on the heels of his shocking exit from his hit TV series, Yellowstone, amid reports of a bitter feud between him and the show's creator, Taylor Sheridan. Now, with Horizon finally seeing the light of day and his broken heart on the mend (he was spotted cozying up to folk singer Jewel in late 2023) - as well as talk he'll return to Yellowstone for the second half of its final season - Costner, says the first source, is having something of a rebirth: "He's really focused. This feels like a new era for him."

PAINFUL SPLIT