Just over two years ago, Alice Evans, the woman at the centre of Hollywood’s most vicious divorce battle, launched a GoFundMe page.
In a post on the page, Alice, 56, insisted that she could no longer afford to buy food, pay her utility bills or cover the legal fees for her settlement battle with ex-husband and father of her two children, the British actor Ioan Gruffudd.
She added she was ‘struggling as a single mother to my babies’ and told how her bank accounts, savings and even her pension pot had been ‘drained’. She asked her followers for ‘anything you can spare’.
The 102 Dalmatians actress also said she feared that she could be found in contempt of court if she didn’t find the funds to hire a lawyer to represent her at future hearings. In total, her desperate pleas generated just $6,974 of her $25,000 target.
Actors Alice Evans and Ioan Gruffudd in 2018 with daughters Ella, now 14, and Elsie, now ten
But was Alice really penniless when she set up the GoFundMe page?
She and Ioan finally came to an agreement on their divorce and custody arrangements two months ago. But the legal hearing over finances, which started this month, reveals a new aspect to the saga.
In bombshell court papers submitted by Gruffudd on Tuesday night, he claims that, at the time she was asking for money from fans, Alice had a total of $86,457 in available funds across two accounts.
Her UK account (converted from pounds to dollars), Gruffud claims, contained $78,740, while her American account had a balance of $7,717. Yet on November 12, 2022, she wrote on social media: ‘So that’s it, I am completely broke. I have a three day w/e [weekend] ahead of me, two kids to feed, look after and ZERO in the bank,
‘I have spent my life savings over the last two years since my ex left me. I have paid for everything whilst being a full-time mum. Now it’s all gone.’
The documents submitted by her ex-husband this week claimed that, ‘during this same time’, she had a total of $24,766 to her name.
Alice has repeatedly claimed to be struggling with money during her protracted dispute with Ioan, 50, her husband of 14 years, who is now engaged to actress Bianca Wallace, 31.
The pair met when they starred as on-screen love interests in 101 Dalmatians (pictured)
Court papers allege he was bombarded with emotional messages from his ex-wife, who claimed she couldn’t pay her rent. Ioan says that, in October 2023, Alice ‘threatened’ his relationship with their two daughters Ella, 14, and Elsie, ten, when she wrote to him: ‘It will not be possible to continue any of the things we’re doing as far as mending your relationship because I don’t know where we will go.’
But according to Ioan’s recent court declaration, Alice’s financial records show she had $17,735.55 at the beginning of the month and subsequently received an additional $13,994 payment.
A month later, the papers claim, Alice wrote to Ioan saying their daughters would not have Christmas stockings or presents the way they usually did because she had ‘run out of money’.
Another flashpoint in the acrimonious split has been a glitzy Rolex watch worn by Ioan’s new fiancee, which Alice claimed two months ago was a present from the actor. Court papers allege that Alice claimed that while Bianca wore a Rolex, she ‘couldn’t feed their children’ and had to ‘live on food stamps’.
Ioan claims the watch belongs to a friend and a member of his circle said: ‘It was a ridiculous thing to suggest that Ioan had bought it for her when she had no idea at all whether that was the case.’
Meanwhile, Ioan claims he had overpaid Alice by almost $400,000 in maintenance. As a result, friends of Ioan, the Welsh heartthrob who starred on ITV drama Liar in 2016, say he has become ‘increasingly irritated’ by Alice’s claims that she is destitute.
One told the Mail: ‘It has been so frustrating for Ioan to have to watch this when he was paying towards her expenses. It is apparent that she went on social media to claim in public that she was on her uppers.
‘It is very probable that some of those who donated had less money in their accounts than she did. It is pretty insulting. It is such a sad state of affairs and one which makes him worry for his daughters more than he should have to.
‘At the very forefront of his mind are his girls Ella and Elsie whom he loves deeply. Ioan would do anything for them not to have to suffer all of this.’
Alice Evans goes grocery shopping in Los Angeles with one of her daughters this week
While Ioan has remained largely silent during the battle, Alice – who has American parents but grew up in Bristol – regularly vents her frustrations on X (formerly Twitter). One friend of the star says: ‘Ioan wishes she wouldn’t do that. He wishes that they could just sort this out quietly so their daughters aren’t dragged into a public row. It is deeply sad for him.’
All in all, it has been a sorry saga, and one which has gripped the showbusiness world. Yet like so many relationships that sour over time, it had begun so promisingly.
Gruffudd is now engaged to Bianca Wallace. Court papers allege Alice claimed that while Bianca wore a Rolex, she ‘couldn’t feed their children’ and had to ‘live on food stamps’
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, on New Year’s Day, 2006, he popped the question.
A lavish wedding in Mexico followed and then along came Ella and Elsie. The family settled in Los Angeles, where they became known as one of Hollywood’s most popular couples.
But cracks began to appear in their marriage. Then began the war of words, which escalated swiftly to a split and Ioan battled for 50/50 custody of his children.
The row between them, which has now been raging for more than three years, culminated in Alice being slapped with a restraining order in February 2022 after she posted a number of 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 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 denied abusing or harassing him but the order was extended to three years, so she remains forbidden from posting about either of Ioan or his fiancee until August 2025.
Gruffudd and Ms Evans enjoy an evening out together in London back in 2007
In August last year, a Los Angeles judge agreed to Gruffudd’s request for his two daughters to attend therapy, and agreed that Evans should take them to weekly ‘reunification’ sessions.
But in his Income and Expense declaration filed on Tuesday, Ioan says Alice repeatedly refused to bring their daughters to the sessions or – if she did – disrupted them. On one occasion, he says, she threw herself on the floor ‘abruptly’ and then claimed to have a panic attack.
He also accused Alice of ‘creating dramatic scenes’, ‘calling an ambulance on herself during a session’ and ‘encouraging’ the children to leave within minutes of arriving at the session.
Ioan also said Alice had accused the therapist of favouring him and argued with the therapist ‘in front of the children’. He added that not one full session was completed due to the incidents he referred to.
Ioan wrote of their sessions: ‘I believe that it was Alice’s own constant interference and alienation that caused reunification therapy to be unsuccessful.’
But he confirmed that, despite all this, he had made the ‘difficult’ decision to settle his claim for joint custody in June.
Taking one last swipe at her, Ioan wrote in the papers that his decision to settle was due, in part, to ‘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’.
He also said in the paperwork that he had only spent nine hours with his children this year.
As one friend of Ioan’s says: ‘It has been absolutely hellish for him and has suggested to him a level of deceit from Alice. It is awful but, more than anything, it is sad for the children, so sad that they have had grown up amongst this horrid divorce.’
Next will be a court hearing between the warring actors where I’m told a ‘significant amount more information and evidence’ will be aired. As one source told me: ‘If you think this is over, you’re mistaken.’
