He went on to explain the rumours all started when he took a trip to Sir Richard Branson’s Necker Island for a charity event which Jewel was involved with, and they became friends.
Costner added to the publication: “Richard Branson had been asking me for years to come down to Necker Island, and so I finally did.
“I’m divorced all of a sudden. I’m a single father, and he’s asked me for, you know, 10 years to come down there. I said, ‘Well, I guess I’ll go down’ ...
“She [Jewel] was somebody I just had some tremendous conversations with, and along with Emma [Watson].
“I was on [the plane] with nine people and, and I don’t want the press to ruin this for us, because I’ve had conversations with her, text wise, and she’s [Jewel is] so smart, and she’s been through a lot herself, and so we have a friendship.”
He added: “We don’t have a romance, and we’ve not dated. She’s beautiful and smart enough for all those things.”
Costner has been going through an acrimonious divorce from Baumgartner since their split in May 2023, while Jewel was previously married to rodeo champion Ty Murray.