Ioan Gruffudd has won his court battle against ex-wife Alice Evans, successfully renewing a restraining order against her.
The Titanic actor, 52, previously accused 55-year-old Alice of online harassment and child abuse, among other things, as their custody battle over their daughters Ella, 15, and her sister Elsie, 11, grew increasingly bitter.
Ioan originally obtained a restraining order in August 2022 against Alice after he walked out on her after a 14-year marriage, before moving in with his current wife, Bianca Wallace, 33, just months later.
She was also forbidden from mentioning her ex-husband or his new wife on social media after he alleged she used accounts to ‘harass, threaten and disturb the peace.’
The Daily Mail reported that Evans said she was ‘ashamed and regretful’ of her actions at the latest court hearing, admitting she had shared online details about her ex and his new wife.
During the trial, Gruffudd, said he was ‘disturbed’ and ‘anxious’ about his ex-wife’s behaviour.
He claimed she said ‘she was going to destroy me and she was going to “Amber Heard” me.’
The judge in the case described Evans’s social media posts as ‘concerted, focused, intentional and caustic campaign of denigration,’ adding that her ‘threats of force and intimidation’ led to fears of their ‘physical safety,’
He continued: ‘She intended to hurt him economically and damage his career.’
A timeline of Ioan Gruffudd and Alice Evans' divorce
January 2021: Their separation is announced, with Evans bluntly taking to social media to say: ‘Sad news. My beloved husband/soulmate of 20 years, Ioan Gruffudd, has announced he is to leave his family, starting next week. Me and our young daughters are very confused and sad. We haven’t been given a reason except that he “no longer loves me”. I’m so sorry.’
They later released a joint statement saying they were going through ‘an incredibly difficult time for our family’ but remained committed to their children.
October 2021: Gruffudd goes Instagram official with Wallace
February 2022: Gruffudd files restraining order against Evans. As per multiple US news reports, Gruffudd alleged in court filings that Evans repeatedly told him between August 2020 and 1 January 2021 that ‘if I left her, she would make false public accusations about me, sell false stories about me to the press, and destroy me and my career’ including accusing him of child and domestic abuse.
He also claimed she made social media posts targeting him and left him ‘hundreds’ of ‘abusive’ messages.
Evans denied all his accusations, saying his complaint was ‘a ploy to gain some sort of advantage over me in our divorce proceedings’.
June 2022: Evans launched a GoFundMe page after saying she’d run out of money due to paying for her girls and divorce lawyers. Gruffudd accused Evans of ‘exaggerating’ her money struggles.
August 2022: Gruffudd was granted a three-year restraining order against Evans. It also banned her from mentioning him on social media, after he claimed Evans used online platforms to ‘harass, threaten’ and ‘disturb’ his peace. The order is reported to expire on August 2, 2025.
June 2023: The couple’s daughter Ella filed an application for a restraining order against Gruffudd and Wallace, but it was later denied. Gruffudd blamed the move on Evans, branding her a ‘child abuser’ and claiming she interfered with the girls going to therapy. Evans denied abusing or harming her daughters.
October 2024: Court documents revealed, as per People, Gruffudd was ordered to pay Evans £3,000 a month in temporary child support and $1,500 a month in temporary spousal support to Evans, with a more permanent arrangement still to be made.
February 2025: Evans says she’s being evicted from her LA home after being ‘unable to pay her rent’.
Court documents filed in Los Angeles in 2022 reveal Ioan said at the time: ‘Alice has continued to inflict serious emotional harm on Ella and Elsie by her statements and by interfering in my relationship with them.
‘Alice has verbally abused and undermined me in front of the girls throughout their lives.’
The documents, seen by MailOnline, also state: ‘Since January 2021, Alice has also encouraged and instructed them not to see me or communicate with me.
‘She has made thousands of threatening and abusive communications to me and about me.’
He also added in an additional 2022 court filing: ‘Although there is an order for the girls to attend therapy, Alice has repeatedly either refused to bring the girls or interfered with my bringing the girls to therapy.
‘Since separation, the girls have missed more therapy session than they have attended and they have had multiple therapists.’
The actor added: ‘I believe Alice’s actions are child abuse and I am gravely concerned for our children.’
Alice has denied abusing or harming her daughters and claimed in court documents Ioan has ‘not seen, complied with, nor called the children for 11 weeks’.
She added: ‘I do not agree to have the children and ourselves be subjected to a prolonged and expensive child custody evaluation if it’s based on the speculation and conjecture of the petitioner’s suspicions.
‘Petitioner says he believes the kids are suffering serious emotional harm but show no proof of any symptoms experienced by our girls to support those accusations.
‘Petitioner has his visitation schedule and has the ability to freely call the kids but has for whatever reason not done so.
‘Given his silence and lack of effort to have a relationship with the children, I do not believe petitioner has shown a need or urgency for appointment of a child custody evaluator.’
In 2023, to add to the tangled situation, the couple’s now-15-year-old daughter lost her bid for a restraining order against her father and his then-girlfriend, Bianca.
Ella Evans filed documents for civil harassment protection from Bianca Wallace, as well as for a restraining order against her father.
The approval of this newest restraining order against Evans is another chapter closed in one of the most bitter splits in showbiz history – but only time will tell if the feud is truly over.
Metro has contacted representatives for Ioan Gruffudd and Alice Evans for comment.
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