I know first-hand what kind of man Ioan Gruffudd is. This is what he told me about his marriage to Alice Evans… and how he reacted to the messages ‘from’ his children: KATIE HIND

When it comes to a divorce, there are arguably no winners.

And this is particularly the case when the divorce in question is as bitter as that of actors Ioan Gruffudd and Alice Evans – which has resulted in more than four years of venomous barbs and legal battles.

But perhaps Alice thinks differently. For yesterday, shortly after the Mail revealed that Ioan had released heartbreaking text messages sent by the couple’s children – Elsie, 15, and Ella, 11 – to their father, in which they harshly castigate him, she posted what appeared to be a thinly-veiled message to her ex-husband to her Instagram: an image of a chessboard bearing the message ‘You lost’.

The messages had been released by Ioan as part of court documents in his divorce settlement proceedings, in which he is fighting to show his daughters are being ‘manipulated’ by his ex-wife.

Whether Alice’s post was yet another dig at her ex or not, there’s no doubt that Ioan has lost the peaceful relationship he once enjoyed with his little girls.

I know first-hand how happy the actor once was. It was at a bland community centre in the heart of California beach town Santa Monica that a six-foot, dark-haired man approached me to introduce himself.

‘I’m Ioan Gruffudd,’ he said in his soft Welsh accent as he shook my hand and gave me a huge, beaming smile. He was the epitome of polite and I was rather smitten, not least by his piercing brown eyes.

Of course I knew who he was. My younger sisters and I had watched 102 Dalmatians many times – the film on which Ioan met Alice – and I’d also seen the 2005 superhero movie Fantastic Four.

But on this day, way back in April 2015, the handsome actor and I were spending the day not with the starry LA set, but with underprivileged children in Santa Monica who were being taught how to code.

The initiative was part of the Los Angeles Brit Week, where expats living in the city were helping local charities and good causes as a way to give back to their adopted home. I’d already interviewed TV producer and dance competition judge ‘Nasty’ Nigel Lythgoe, and my next task as a journalist working in the US was to spend the day shadowing Ioan as he helped youngsters learn how to programme computers.

And as I did, I warmed to him even more. Nothing was too much trouble for him as he engaged with these hard-up kids.

Back then, Ioan was married to fellow British actor Alice and their daughters Ella and Elsie were around five and one. He told me of his delight at being a dad and how he and Alice absolutely loved living in Los Angeles, having made the decision to move there more than a decade before in 2003.

He joked disarmingly that sometimes people in Hollywood would get confused and think he was married to another British star in LA called Alice – Alice Eve, the beautiful, blonde daughter of actors Trevor Eve and Sharon Maughan – and he’d have to explain to them that, no, his beloved was called Alice Evans.

He was just about to start filming ITV drama Liar and confided that at times he’d found it hard to find work. Yet he wouldn’t want his life any other way, he told me.

There was no question that he adored his children and he was deeply happy with his wife. I recall thinking what a lucky lady Alice was – I mean, those eyes are just beautiful. There were no airs and graces despite Ioan being one of just a few Brits who had ‘made’ it in Hollywood at the time.

As we said our goodbyes, he hugged me and thanked me for being good company, and I returned the compliment and meant it.

Since then, however, the world has been hearing about a very different Ioan to the one I met a decade ago.

Six years after that heart-warming day with the kids, Ioan left his wife of 14 years – a fact revealed by Alice on her social media – and since then has been on the receiving end of some harsh accusations from her.

No doubt most hurtful of all, she has painted him as a bad father, alleging earlier this year that his refusal to pay enough maintenance meant that she and their two daughters were on the verge of becoming homeless.

Alice also accused Ioan of being abusive – which he vehemently denies. In fact, it was Ioan who in February 2022 was granted a restraining order against her, after she posted a number of messages about him and his new wife, actress Bianca Wallace, on social media and allegedly sent him more than 100 texts, some appearing to threaten him.

Alice denied abusing or harassing him – but the order was extended for three years, so she remains forbidden from posting about either of them until August 2025.

Ioan claims that Alice has breached her restraining order ‘5,000 times’ in the past three years, and he is now seeking to have her permanently banned from talking about him and from ever contacting him or Bianca – 19 years his junior – who is now expecting their first child.

Friends of 51-year-old Ioan called me yesterday to tell me that he is ‘devastated’ at the effects the very public fallout is having on the children and that he has tried to get them proper psychological support to help them deal with it.

They also say he suspects that distressing text messages to him from 15-year-old Ella begging him for money – which the Mail revealed yesterday had been released into the public domain in the latest round of legal proceedings – were written with Alice’s help.

In one she wrote: ‘Mummy works very hard and also looks after us 24/7. You are avoiding the issue which is that you don’t want to work. It’s not mummy’s fault it’s yours. You left us and now you can’t provide for us.

‘You are a father who has abandoned his children and doesn’t see them or talk to them… It’s pathetic and everyone sees you.

‘Ps, if there is enough money for us never to become homeless then why aren’t you helping us out? You hate mummy more than you love us.’

One friend said: ‘It is devastating that the children are so front and centre in all of this. It is destroying Ioan.’

Indeed, in just over a fortnight there will be yet another court hearing as the venomous war of words reaches a crescendo.

And in documents filed by Ioan to the Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday as part of his and Alice’s divorce settlement – including subpoenaed figures showing her alleged income – he seeks to make the case that her public narrative suggesting financial destitution at his hands is entirely false.

The papers state that her ‘earnings/receipts’ for 2024 total $130,141 (£97,000), yet she still has a GoFundMe page in which she has received around $18,000 (£13,400) from generous fans.

The documents add that Alice is ‘set to earn/receive at least that amount in 2025’, but she has not provided statements from her UK bank accounts, which Ioan believes strongly suggests that her actual income is much higher.

The papers also state that Ioan pays 56-year-old Alice $3,000 (£2,200) per month in child support, plus a further $1,500 (£1,100) in spousal support.

Following the release of the court papers, sources close to Alice claimed the figures cited by the Welsh actor include the support he was ordered by the court to give, accounting for around $80,000 of the $130,000.

Friends of Ioan’s are furious with Alice for battering away at his character and reputation since their split four years ago. One tells me: ‘She has destroyed him, and she has tried to leave his reputation in tatters.’

And while Alice is of course entitled to her own views on her ex-husband, the Ioan I met a decade ago spoke so fondly of his wife and children that I simply can’t believe he is the monster she would have us believe.