Kevin Costner has celebrated his 70th birthday by paying tribute to his late friend, Whitney Houston.
The official Instagram account for Whitney shared a behind-the-scenes picture from their award-winning film The Bodyguard, writing: "Happy birthday to Kevin Costner! A behind the scenes photo from The Bodyguard with Kevin, Whitney and Ellin La Var, Whitney's hair stylist for the film."
Kevin then reshared the account, adding: "This photo reminds me of how lucky I am to be getting another birthday. We lost such a light when we lost Whitney."
Whitney died on February 11, 2012 at the age of 46; the official cause of death was drowning and the "effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use".
Kevin's milestone birthday was also celebrated by family and friends, and Kevin himself shared a rarely-seen picture of him as a young boy dressed as a cowboy.
"Thank you guys for the birthday wishes. If you can believe it, this is me. I was chasing the cowboy life just about as soon as I could walk, and here I am doing it still," he captioned the post. "Here’s to another year of keeping our sights set on our dreams."
Kevin has spent recent years appearing in several westerns projects, most famously the TV series Yellowstone.
The Paramount series became a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic but Kevin was written out of the show in its last season amid a much-publicized rift with showrunner Taylor Sheridan and co-star Luke Grimes.
His character John Dutton was killed off in a devastating murder-for-hire plot, staged to appear as a suicide — a move that sent shockwaves through the Yellowstone fanbase.
"Hopefully everyone can see that it was time," Luke told People of Kevin's exit.
"To be really honest, there was a part of Kevin being gone that meant some of the conflict was gone. Obviously, it didn’t make it super fun to be around… Not pointing any fingers, but it was actually the easiest season we’ve filmed."
Kevin also put in almost $40 million of his own money into a four-part western extravaganza called Horizon, although Horizon: Chapter One, which premiered at Cannes Film Festival, only brought in $11 million on opening weekend, and a total of $38 million globally so far.
The film follows a 15-year span of pre-and post-Civil War expansion and settlement of the American west and stars Oscar-winning actor Kevin alongside Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jena Malone, plus his own 15-year-old son Hayes, who makes a brief appearance.
Horizon: Chapter 2 had its world premiere at the 81st Venice International Film Festival and is scheduled to be released in 2025 after Sony pulled a September 2024 release.