Kevin Costner is ready to talk about his faith and the spiritual meaning behind Christmas in his new holiday special.
“Well, it’s the first Christmas, it’s the birth of Christ … I grew up in the church,” the actor, 70, exclusively told Us Weekly of his upcoming ABC special, Kevin Costner Presents: The First Christmas, while attending the Art of Elysium Heaven Gala last month. “And so hopefully, whether you’re a believer, or whether you’re a cynic, or whether you’re just curious about the real story behind the traditions of Christmas, I just invite people to journey back with me.”
Costner added that he hopes viewers are open to the conversation about the origins of the holiday. (According to Christianity, December 25th, also known as Christmas Day, is celebrated as the anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ.)
In the special, which aired on Monday, December 9, and is now available to stream on Hulu and Disney+, Costner serves as the narrator recounting the religious origin behind the festive season so many have come to adore.
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“They say Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. A chance for families to gather together and celebrate the amazing story of a newborn king,” Costner says in the special. “Whether you’re a believer or just curious about the tradition, journey back with me, Kevin Costner, for the story of the first Christmas like you’ve never seen it before.”
During his chat with Us, Costner opened up about how powerful the art of storytelling can be.
“I think storytelling can be healing. It can be informative. It can remind us of who we think we’d like to be,” he reflected. “A lot of times you see great heroism on the screen, sometimes even in the smallest way. And when we see it, we recognize it, and we think to ourselves, I need to be like that. We know what the opposite is. But sometimes we see things in movies that we wish we would have said that we still can.”
While Costner’s faith is an important part of the holiday season, he also enjoys spending quality time with his children. The Yellowstone actor shares Cayden, 18, Hayes, 16, and Grace, 15, with ex-wife Christine Baumgartner as well as Annie, 41, Lily, 39, and Joe, 37, with ex-wife Cindy Silva and Liam, 28, with ex Bridget Rooney.
As his kids have gotten older, Costner has been adaptable to how they celebrate.
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“I think when they were younger, there were things that were more repetitive. Now you’re just fighting to get them home from college or fight,” he said. “You know what I mean, just getting together. So I do the best I can to make it as warm as I can.”
The holidays have been looking different in recent years for Costner following his split from Baumgartner. In May 2023, Baumgartner, now 51, filed for divorce after nearly 19 years of marriage. The exes reached a settlement four months later and finalized the divorce in February 2024. Costner and Baumgartner agreed to share joint custody of their kids, while the Horizons actor was ordered to pay his ex more than $63,000 a month in child support.
“I’m a bachelor, so I kind of miss those, like, really cute things to do,” Costner told Us of how his traditions have shifted amid his new lifestyle. “So I have to work especially hard to make sure there’s that stuff that they think about and remember.”
Kevin Costner Presents: The First Christmas is now streaming on Hulu and Disney+.
