When actress Alice Evans announced on Twitter that her husband, Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd, had told her he was leaving because he no longer loved her, she fired the starting gun on what would become one of Hollywood’s most toxic divorce rows.
Over three years later – with a court date finally on the horizon – the war is still raging and Alice has an explosive version of events to give about her estranged husband and his relationship with their children Ella, 15, and Elsie 13.
She says that Ioan is responsible for the sadly shattered relationship with his children – contending that, shockingly, he recently sent a ‘third party’ to tell them he no longer wants to see them.
In an extraordinary filing, Alice, 56, says Ioan didn’t tell their daughters in person that he had a new partner, Bianca Wallace, 32, that they were living together, or even that they were engaged, instead choosing to make announcements first to his ‘fans’ on Instagram.
In a sworn statement submitted to the court, Alice says the Fantastic Four actor only has himself to blame for the bitterness which has ensued from his leaving the family and romancing aspiring actress Wallace, formerly an extra on his TV series Hornblower.
Alice says Ioan didn’t tell their daughters Ella and Elsie in person that Loan had a new partner, that they were living together, or even that they were engaged
The statement reads: ‘Glaringly omitted from Ioan’s declaration is any responsibility at all for his own behavior that contributed to the high level of acrimony in this divorce.
‘Not only did he not tell me in person that he wanted a divorce, he didn’t tell the children either. Nor did he tell any of us in person that he had (and was living with) a new partner. He chose Instagram for that. He again chose Instagram to inform the children he was engaged.
‘Instead of asking himself what he may have done to estrange himself or alienate them and mend the relationship, he chooses to bang the same drum he has been doing for 3 years – the claim that I am to blame for the estrangement between him and the children. Ioan used this narrative to support his request for a custody evaluation.’
This evaluation was carried out last year with a professional evaluator chosen by Ioan, who interviewed both parents, both children and numerous adults involved in their care.
The warring pair then agreed that Alice should have 100 per cent custody of the children.
In the filing this week she writes: ‘I would love for Ioan and the children to mend their relation. But since Ioan has now made it clear to the children through a third party that he ‘no longer wants to be a part of their lives’, this point is moot.’
Daughter Ella previously filed a ‘domestic violence prevention’ restraining order against her father and Wallace following an alleged incident at the couple’s home, which hinted at family difficulties.
Ioan said Ella poured milk over his and Wallace’s bed and wrote ‘f***’ with a mustard bottle, as well as squirting it over the kitchen counter and floors before running out of their house.
Ella’s request for a restraining order was subsequently withdrawn by the teenager during a court hearing.
In the court papers filed last week, Alice added: ‘I take issue with Ioan’s conclusory statement that it has been impossible for him to co-parent with me. I have done everything ordered by the court and tried consistently over the past three years to encourage an easy co-parenting situation for our children. It appears Ioan is not interested.’
Alice Evans met Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd on the set of 102 Dalmatians and they tied the knot in Mexico in 2007
Noting that he has not seen them since opting to ‘step away’ she said: ‘Before he stepped away, he refused to ever drop them off or pick them up at my house and refused to take them to any of their therapy sessions.
‘Prior to May 2023 when he used to FaceTime with them, he would make them show every corner of the room on the camera to ‘prove’ I was not hiding in the room. He will not even communicate with me regarding their needs.
‘At first he hired a private investigator who I was to communicate ‘through’. Some time in the past few months he unsubscribed to OFW [Our Family Wizard, a family diary app for divorcing parents] completely. He has no interest at all in co-parenting.’
Ioan’s lawyers filed papers last week which revealed that he had spent just nine hours with his daughters this year. His account of the fractured relationship with his children is different – he blames Alice for estranging him from his daughters.
In a sworn statement contained in a filing ahead of a preliminary hearing at Stanley Mosk Courthouse in Los Angeles on Monday September 9, he said: ‘I made the difficult decision to settle my claim for 50/50 custody of the children in part because of Alice’s propensity to abuse the family law process in order to stay relevant in the public eye at the expense of me and our children. I spared the children and myself the continuing abuse and settled the custody claim.’
Elsewhere in his declaration he says that Alice blocked attempts by his lawyers to schedule therapy sessions to help the children to reunite with him and adds: ‘I believe it was Alice’s own constant interference and alienation that caused the reunification therapy to be unsuccessful.’
Alice declares herself ‘aghast’ at her husband’s claim that she was disruptive to reunification therapy sessions, and that she had ‘claimed’ to have a panic attack, created ‘dramatic scenes’ and called an ambulance on herself.
Alice wrote: ‘To correct his version, I suffered an acute malignant hypertensive episode [a sudden spike in blood pressure] in the parking lot outside the therapist’s office. My mother died when she was only three years older than I am now and I absolutely believed I was having a heart attack.
‘The reunification therapist, Karin Manger, came into the ambulance with me and was told by the paramedics that my BP was 260 over 200. Ioan was not present. I’m not sure on what basis he is claiming I invented this situation, as my blood pressure was still dangerously high even some 48 hours later, and I am now on three different anti-hypertensive medications.’
He accuses the actress of carrying out a ‘long standing smear campaign’ against him and his fiancee and says that she ‘continues to violate’ a restraining order which forbids her to post about them on social media. This is something which Alice point-blank denies.
Alice says that she is ‘at a loss’ as to why her former husband keeps harping on about social media posts and messages from 2021 and 2022 which led to her getting a restraining order.
‘I am remorseful about making those posts and sending those messages. I have not engaged in that conduct for YEARS.
‘In fact, Ioan’s allegations that I continued to post to social media using fake accounts was addressed by the police and found to be completely false. I sincerely hope that, at least for the sake of our children who have been dealing with this for four years now, Ioan can accept my apology and we can move on to the actual issues that remain to be settled.’
In her filing, made in response to other allegations last week that she had misled people about her finances, Alice submitted a sworn statement which says that her ex-husband has ‘totally mischaracterised’ her financial position.
She adds that she is indeed broke as she previously attested, saying in a legal filing that her former husband left her ‘completely in the lurch’ financially, removing her access to a joint account.
She says he even cut off the phone and internet in January 2023 without any warning, before defaulting on the mortgage and forcing the sale of the marital home.
Ella Gruffudd, right, previously filed a ‘domestic violence prevention’ restraining order against her father and his fiancee following an alleged incident at the couple’s home
Alice received a restraining order in February 2022 after she posted a number of abusive messages about Ioan and his now-fiancee Bianca on social media
Further, she says that she had to pawn two watches to make rent in August and has ‘no idea’ how she will meet her financial obligations in September as Ioan has allegedly ‘ignored’ her pleas for help.
Ioan says that his former wife is peddling a ‘false narrative’ and has ‘misrepresented’ her income.
He says that he earns $14,000 a month and she should get $2,903 of this in child support. Instead, he says she is spending $15,800 a month.
He says that when his ex-wife launched a GoFundMe claiming to be broke she had a total of $86,000 available to her in two accounts. She counters that at that point she owed a huge amount of money to lawyers and needed to foot utility bills, rent and a nanny salary as her husband wasn’t paying for any of this.
Ioan claims Alice had enough money in her bank account to pay her rent early in June. She counters that this was actually the May rent, paid almost a month late.
Ioan and Alice met on the set of 102 Dalmatians more than 20 years ago, when they played onscreen love interests Kevin and Chloe. They then fell in love in real life and were married in Mexico in 2007.
Legal wrangling over the divorce has now been going on for more than three years. Alice received a restraining order in February 2022 after she posted a number of abusive messages about Ioan and his new girlfriend Bianca on social media and allegedly sent him more than 100 texts.
Court papers claimed that Alice had falsely branded him a ‘child abuser’ online and Ioan accused her of setting up anonymous social media accounts – as many as 22 on Twitter/X – which she would use to lambast him to her followers. Alice denies this and says that a police investigation has found such claims ‘completely false.’
She remains forbidden from posting about either Ioan or his fiancee until August 2025.
Ioan’s fiancee Ms Wallace has, however, made two incendiary posts earlier this year, accusing Alice of abusing hundreds of people. Alice believes that these posts run counter to an order from 2023 requiring all parties not to post derogatory material about each other.
It now looks as if Ms Wallace may enter the fray as she is on a list of witnesses whom Ioan wishes to call next week.
The only thing which both parties seem to agree upon is that they wish that the fighting was over. Could one of the most protracted divorces in Hollywood history be drawing to a conclusion at long last?