I Don't Take Anything For Granted

The actor, director and musician opens up about his love for family, his path in hollywood and his hopes for the future

Standing on the bluff behind his house just south of Santa Barbara one recent morning, Kevin Costner kept a close eye on the waves as his two youngest sons, Cayden, 13, and Hayes, 11, who are learning to surf, bobbed side by side. “I was thinking, ‘I wonder what they’re talking about’,” the actor recalls. “Because they’re going to remember this for the rest of their lives.” After a while the boys turned in tandem and caught a wave together. “Their boards got really close, and pretty soon their hands were kind of touching,” says Costner, 65. “And then all of a sudden, my littlest one jumped offhis board onto my other son’s and they stood on it for about four or five seconds. It was the spontaneity – I was just glad I was home to see that. It’s powerful to understand that we’re lucky to be where we’re at.”

It’s those small moments – the ones that surprise him – that have meant the most to Costner as he quarantines with his family during the coronavirus pandemic. Married since 2004 to Christine, 46, with whom he has Cayden, Hayes and a daughter, Grace, 10, Costner has embraced a new rhythm in his daily life. “Our house is like a river: You’ve just got to get into the flow of it,” he says. “And whatever you thought it was going to be, maybe it still can, but it’s going to have to work with what the day brings.”