In the sterile fluorescent glow of a Los Angeles courtroom, Welsh heart-throb Ioan Gruffudd, 52, stares down his demons. No slick attorney at his side, no notes clutched in trembling hands – just him, raw and unfiltered, ready to eviscerate his ex-wife Alice Evans in the flesh. This isn’t just divorce; it’s war. And in a bombshell twist that has Hollywood’s legal eagles buzzing, Gruffudd has ditched his high-powered lawyer to represent himself – meaning he could soon be grilling Evans, 57, and his glowing, pregnant new wife Bianca, 33, under oath in a spectacle that promises to make Brangelina look like a playground spat.
Picture this: the Fantastic Four star, once the boyish captain of HMS Hornblower, locking eyes with the mother of his children across a courtroom, his voice steady as he demands answers to years of alleged torment. ‘It’s personal now,’ a source close to Gruffudd tells me exclusively. ‘Ioan wants to look her in the eye and expose every lie.’ For Bianca – radiant, heavily pregnant with their first child together – the stakes couldn’t be higher. Dragged into the fray as a star witness, she faces a public inquisition that could shatter her fairy-tale second chance at love.
This is Hollywood’s nastiest divorce – a four-year odyssey of venomous tweets, fake homelessness claims, ghostly harassment from phantom accounts, and heart-wrenching texts from tween daughters begging Daddy for rent money. It began as a whisper on the set of 102 Dalmatians in 2000, blossomed into a seemingly idyllic union, and exploded in 2021 when Gruffudd walked out, igniting a firestorm that still rages today. With a mediation showdown looming in December, and a potential week-long trial in 2026, the end is nowhere in sight. Buckle up, darlings – this one’s just getting juicier.
Love in the Spotlight: From Dalmatian Sets to Heartbreak
Their story was pure rom-com gold. Ioan, then 27 and fresh off Titanic’s engine room, locked eyes with Alice, a stunning British actress on the rise, during filming in 2000. ‘She was magnetic – all fire and wit,’ recalls a mutual friend from those heady Paris nights. They married in 2007 in a lavish ceremony at Burford Priory, Oxfordshire, vowing eternal devotion before 250 guests. Two daughters followed: Ella, now 15, a poised teen with her father’s dark eyes; and Elsie, 13, the fiery spitfire.
From the outside, it was enviable. Red carpets in LA, ski trips in Verbier, a sprawling Beverly Hills pad. Ioan conquered Hollywood as Reed Richards in Fantastic Four, while Alice charmed in 1923. But cracks formed. ‘Ioan felt trapped,’ whispers a pal. ‘The industry chews you up – he needed escape.’ Enter Bianca Wallace, 33, an Aussie extra on his 2020 Aussie drama Harrow. ‘Sparks flew instantly,’ says an insider. ‘She was young, vibrant – everything Alice wasn’t anymore.’
The Affair Bombshell: Tweets That Shook Tinseltown
March 2021: Alice drops the atomic tweet: ‘After almost 20 years together… Ioan has left me and our children for another woman.’ The internet explodes. Within months, Gruffudd and Bianca are Instagram-official – cosy shots from Sydney beaches. Alice, reeling, unleashes hell: hundreds of texts and posts branding Bianca a ‘vixen’ who had his ‘nuts between her veneers’. ‘I was suicidal,’ Alice later confessed in court papers. ‘Our daughter found out via Instagram – it broke her.’
Gruffudd fights back with a Domestic Violence Restraining Order (DVRO) in August 2022. The judge slaps a three-year ban on Alice contacting him, Bianca, or even mentioning them online. Breach? Jail time. But Gruffudd alleges 5,000 violations – that’s four a day – via burner Twitter accounts spewing bile: ‘Homewrecker!’ ‘Paedophile!’ (Bianca was 25 when they met; Gruffudd 47). ‘She’s a ghost haunting us,’ he fumes in filings. Alice? Denies it all: ‘Ridiculous. I don’t know where they live.’
The Kids Caught in the Crossfire: Texts That’ll Break Your Heart
Nothing humanises this carnage like the texts from Ella and Elsie. In a gut-punch move, Gruffudd leaked them last year: ‘You left us and now you can’t provide for us. You need to get a job daddy. Looking after your girlfriend is not a job.’ Elsie chimes: ‘You hate mummy more than you love us.’ Gruffudd swears Alice ghost-wrote them. She blasts back: ‘Lies! My girls are heartbroken.’
Custody? A nightmare. In 2023, Ella – then 14 – meets Bianca for the first time during a visit. Chaos ensues: furniture smashed, walls punched. Ella files her own restraining order against Dad (denied). The girls now live with Alice in a modest Encino rental after eviction from their $6,500/month Beverly Hills dream home. Alice blames Ioan’s stingy $4,500 monthly support ($3k kids, $1.5k her). Bills pile: $35k to lawyers, utilities in arrears. ‘We’re homeless because of him,’ she wails.
Gruffudd counters: ‘She’s faking poverty to smear me.’ Court docs show Alice pocketed $130k last year from residuals. He’s slashed gigs post-scandal – Liar axed, Horizon whispers faded. ‘Work dried up,’ he pleads.
New Love, New Life: Bianca’s Bliss Under Siege
April 2025: Gruffudd and Bianca wed in a secret beach ceremony – toes in sand, vows exchanged as waves crashed. June: Baby joy announced. Paps catch them in July court, Bianca’s bump proud under a white dress, Ioan’s arm protective. ‘She’s my rock,’ he gushed then. Friends dub her ‘the real deal – kind, grounded, no drama.’
But drama hounds her. Alice’s alleged trolls target Bianca relentlessly: death threats, ‘other woman’ slurs. The DVRO shields her – for now. Gruffudd wants it permanent, banning Alice from ever speaking his name.
The SHOCKING TURN: Ioan Goes Rogue in Court
October 2, 2025: Boom. Gruffudd files to fire lawyer Matt Russakow after an ‘irreconcilable breakdown’. Pro se status granted. Now, in the DVRO extension hearing, he personally cross-examines. Imagine: ‘Mrs Evans, did you author those 5,000 hate posts?’ Or worse – calling Bianca to the stand: ‘Tell the court about the threats, darling.’
What it means for Bianca? Everything. Pregnant and poised, she’s prime witness to ‘stalking’. Cross-exam by Alice’s counsel? ‘Admit you seduced a married man!’ Stress could spark early labour. ‘She’s terrified,’ confides a mate. ‘This drags her fairy tale through the mud.’ A source: ‘Ioan’s rage is biblical. He wants Alice silenced for life.’
Legal whizz Renee Bauer tells me: ‘Pro se is high-risk – emotional, untrained. But in DV cases, passion wins juries.’ Alice? Also ditched her lawyer in September, going solo too. Double DIY divorce – courtroom carnage awaits.
December Deadline: Mediation or Meltdown?
Mediation December 2025: Crunch time on support, custody, DVRO. No deal? Full trial 2026 – a week of witnesses, leaked texts, tearful daughters. Cost? Hundreds of thousands. Gruffudd’s camp: ‘End this nightmare.’ Alice’s: ‘He’s the villain.’
Friends rally. For Ioan: ‘Alice’s bitterness poisoned everything.’ For her: ‘He abandoned his family for a girl half his age.’ Bianca? ‘She’s collateral – innocent, but scarred.’
The Bigger Picture: Hollywood’s Toxic Template
This saga eclipses Depp-Heard in intimacy, Pitt-Jolie in endurance. Lessons? Social media = suicide. Affairs? Career kryptonite. Gruffudd, once A-list, now B-movie bound. Alice, from ingenue to pariah.
As October fades, Gruffudd and Bianca nest in hiding, baby kicks a beacon of hope. But with Alice’s ghost accounts still tweeting… the war rages on.
Will Ioan win? Sources say yes – ‘He’s got the evidence.’ But at what cost to his girls’ hearts? In Hollywood’s coliseum, everybody bleeds.
