There have been a lot of opinions about the way Alice Evans and Ioan Gruffudd’s split has happened out in the public sphere. Alice has forced the drama out in the open, giving periodic updates on her social media about how Ioan came home one day and suddenly announced that he wanted a divorce, and yet six weeks later, she was blindsided when he did file for divorce. She recently said that she “refuses to be dignified” about it and she seems to feel like she can publicly manipulate or bully Ioan into coming back to her, or at least that’s how it reads to me. I also don’t like how she’s dragging the kids into everything. This whole thing is a mess and it’s largely because she’s using her social media as a public confessional. So, here’s the latest: Alice doesn’t like the “collaborative divorce” process.
Ioan Gruffudd’s estranged wife Alice Evans has accused the actor of ‘winding the s**t up me’ as she posted a vitriolic video about their ‘collaborative divorce’ talks on Tuesday. Back in January, Alice. 49, revealed that they were breaking up after 20 years in a shock Twitter statement and accused the actor, 47, of ‘mentally torturing’ her – with the actress taking to social media regularly to update fans on the split.
She said: ‘I have been served with a petition for divorce and it’s came out of the blue and I won’t cry. But we’ve been 20 years together, we have two amazing kids. I don’t know why. At the moment we’re doing something called collaborative divorce which is somewhere between a really kind way of doing divorce and a phenomenal scam. Because in one way it’s “okay, let’s hear what you would want and take it to the court afterwards” and in another way it’s like, people in the acting business will know when an agent says to you “we just can’t find you the roles”. It’s a bit like, I’d like my daughter to stay with me on Saturday nights, “it’s just not within our possibilities”.
The star then accused Ioan of misleading her with collaborative divorce, adding: ‘And then I read nothing is binding in collaborative, absolutely nothing. So if I want my daughter to stay one more night in my house, the court hasn’t said anything so I can do it. So my husband is winding the s**t up me, saying what he says is the law, well we haven’t got to the law yet. Lawyers aren’t the law. Lawyers are there to f*** the law. That’s what I always said. Anyway I may have some more thoughts later.’
Mailonline has contacted representatives for Ioan Gruffudd for comment. Ioan’s divorce papers cite irreconcilable differences as the reason behind his split from his wife of 14 years, Alice. The couple share daughters Ella, 11, and Elsie, seven. The document, which was filed Los Angeles Superior Court on March 1, also reveals the former couple separated on New Year’s Day – a month before they went public with their relationship status.
First off, Ioan’s divorce filing says that they split on New Year’s Day, but Alice claimed (at the time) in late January that Ioan just suddenly announced that he wanted a divorce right then and there. That’s… interesting. I have long suspected that Alice and Ioan were mostly separated for months, but perhaps not talking the specifics of a divorce. He was filming in Australia, etc. I don’t know what the real timeline is but I do suspect that Alice is an unreliable narrator on that issue in particular.
As for her collaborative divorce comments… the purpose of this kind of arrangement is that you’re keeping sh-t civil and working out everything with your lawyers and perhaps a retired judge, then presenting the finished deal to the family court. The whole purpose is to keep celebrities and well-known names out of the press while you hammer sh-t out. Ioan and his lawyers are probably fuming about this.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
Collaborative divorces are a scam. And they are for everyone, not just celebrities. It’s another way for the courts to get out of doing their jobs and forcing parties to settle for less. It’s a akin to a mediation or arbitration for other civil cases. And if you’ve ever been forced into arbitration, you’ll see it’s a scam.
No they aren’t. They are a way to save you TONS of money because instead of telling your lawyer “I want 100% if X” because you know it will be negotiated down to say, 60% – you just say “I want 60%” and be honest with your soon to be ex partner.
I went through one, we had no children and only the house and what was in it. We didn’t want to spend all our money on lawyers so this was the route we chose and it worked very well. We still had our own lawyers, we still had a final court hearing but there is no threatening the other person, no “playing hardball”. You are given guidelines by your lawyers and if you can’t agree on something they help work it out. Basically it’s one giant compromise.
I’ve never spoken to my ex since (he was cheating and was leaving me for another woman) but I’m glad I didn’t just toss money at lawyers to fight for things I didn’t ACTUALLY want or to be spiteful.
And there was a point where my lawyer said “you’re not asking for enough, you are entitled to more.” But I wanted things to be done and not drag out and I said that. In the end it was better for my mental health to end the marriage and start healing. All these years later – I don’t miss a single object that he got nor a few extra bucks.
The way she kept mentioning having her daughter on Saturdays, or one more night, was interesting. She’s implying that despite her previous statements about abandonment, Ioan wants to be a substantial part of his children’s lives. Which, Alice, is a GOOD thing. It would be healthier to not play this out on Instagram but that’s what she wants to do. She wants to be messy, let her be messy. Just my feeling, she wants sole primary and physical custody with limited visitation, so she can use seeing his kids against him for doing “this” to her. I have an ex cousin in law that does that.
I fully believe she felt blindsided by the divorce petition. She probably figured that when he said he wanted a divorce she could talk him out of it, or manipulate him into staying, etc so it was a surprise to her that she failed.
He seems like he wants to be a present father and she’s complaining…. It beggars belief!
I do not really like this woman due to her racist views, but she also sounds unhinged at times and I wouldn’t be surprised if this divorce will drag on for years. Regardless of the reasons why they divorced, she already seems veering towards parental alienation with some of her tweets/posts, I hope he puts everything in writing.
Here’s some advice: Be classy, get a fair settlement, don’t bring the kids into it, and act now in such a way as to be the ex-wife, years later, he looks back on and says, “What on earth was I thinking leaving her?”
Subsection B: And get representation so the money, property, and custody arrangements that are fair to you, go to you.
Yes!
I love how much she contradicts herself. Not only about the suddeness of the seperation. That she didnt know he was filing for divorce sounds also like total bs: you cant really hire a collaborative lawyer without both parties agreeing, and it’s even written in the divorce papers that they’ve started the process when he filed lol.
The stuff about the kids takes the cake though: first he apparently abandons them, then she mentions that the youngest daughter was with him when she heard of their divorce, then it turned out that he applied for joint custody, and he was also seen with both girls on the weekend, and they actually looked happy. If this wasnt enough she now also seemingly complains about him getting too much time with the kids with the current draft of their settlement, which is the opposite of her original claim. This girl is nuts.
I already feel sorry for whoever will date him after this (or already is). Alice will be the Ex from hell.
You captured everything I wanted to say in a very succinct manner.
What I’m seeing here is that she wants one of 2 things (or both): to punish him for leaving and / or try to get him back.
She is oblivious to the fact that she is accomplishing the exact opposite – he will feel no price is too high to get away from her for good and therefore her shenanigans are his cross to bear in exchange for his freedom; and as for going back… not a chance. Frankly if he had ever harboured the slightest regret or pity or guilt for leaving her, she’s making sure those feelings are good and gone. And in the process she is hurting their children (who will eventually grow and see for themselves who’s the stable adult); and she looks like the lunatic she is, while Ioan maintains a dignified silence.
I don’t care at this point whether he has started something with a 3rd party of not. Wherever he may be on the spectrum of a new relationship, the right thing to do is divorce Alice (as opposed to some people we could name who put on amorous displays in Rome then get shamed back to the family manor in Ireland…). He’s doing that without trashing her, and by her own accounts trying to work things out fairly.
Good luck to him. And Alice, get help, dear. A therapist, martinis, chocolate, a new haircut, a good cry, a book, a hot fling, late night calls to your sister / cousin/ BFFs. Just stay off SM, accept Ioan’s gone for good and start rebuilding in a way that protects your kids and doesn’t make you look like a lunatic.
I reckon until he filed for divorce she did this to win him back (she seemed more soft there, saying she still loves him/are friends etc.). After this to punish him. She probably thought as long as there is no divorce there is still hope.
Agreed fully with you.
Well best friend in living in England. Just so you know she happens to be a Mrs Morgan (wife of Piers)
He’s been dealing with this for 20 years? If I was him, I would get everything legally binding. I know he has to be careful because of the kids. The one benefit of all her public venting is it might help in the custody battle. I don’t know what he’s like as a parent, but she sounds like a manipulative toxic person. Hopefully the kids don’t know about this.
Apparently a lot of it was him filming on location in another country…which is probably why the marriage lasted so long.
Each party needs a lawyer. Period.
While we’ll probably never know, but I’m leaning towards Ioan just wanted out because she’s too much vs he’s moved on to someone new. Because if he is/was cheating she’d be yelling about it. She’d be calling out the other party. She has no filter and is not thinking strategically about this at all. That or he’s thinking strategically and letting her dig a hole, so when he does roll out the new person in his life, everyone will be understanding because of what Alice is doing.
She actually did, but she admitted that she has no idea who could it be if there is someone.
It seems like their issues only started when he returned from OZ in August (according to her), but he was only there for two weeks to finish up a episode they didnt get done in March due to Corona. I really doubt that he met someone in two weeks that makes him leave a marriage. More likely that he realized during lockdown (she also posted a lot of bullcrap during that time on twitter, for which HE was targeted for by others, and then she complained somewhere in July about him wanting her to delete twitter for his career) that they’ve drifted apart and when he went to Oz for two weeks he may have reflected on this? Maybe he also had a side piece there for years and informed her that he is considering to leave his wife, who knows. Bottom line is: Even if another woman is involved I doubt it’s the main reason.
Welp, thank you for the update. I couldn’t follow all her whining.
Even if there is a side piece, her carrying on like this and the way 2020 made so many re-evaluate where they were in life or who they were with, like you said, the side piece (if they exist) probably wasn’t the main driver in asking for a divorce. Just part of the whole picture.
I’m betting the loopy/kinda-fun-outrageous personality was super attractive when they met but was actually immaturity and a lack of emotional control. Has all the hallmarks of it. I hope she finds some help and peace.
My boys are just getting to dating age and I always tell them. Pretty and flighty might be cute as a teenager but a drag when you are married. If you have to choose between pretty and flighty and ordinary-looking and smart, take the latter every time. Because that flighty sh..t gets old quick when you out of your teenage years and pretty eventually fades.
Yeah, manic pixie dream girl is a fun trope in movies and when you don’t have anything to lose yet. Once you’ve started establishing yourself, building a family and have things/people you love and care about losing, the adventurous and wild girl woman who follows her every whim is a lot less appealing and her wounding and need for therapy is a lot more obvious.
I had a friend from college who was the living embodiment of this trope and we were really close for many years, but as I started growing and changing and her life (and personal habits and patterns with people) remained much the same, we drifted apart. And when I became a mother and she got mad at me for not being available to help her out the way I previously had over the years, she cursed me out and told me never to call her again. Last I heard, she was homeless, busking and singing on the streets.
I get why he wants a divorce.
You know who she reminds me of? Betty Broderick. Betty was on TV a lot during her divorce, and it was very much her show as “an innocent victim” in everything. Now, don’t get me wrong, Dan Broderick was no angel AT ALL. However, Betty was like this – blasting their personal stuff all over, leaving out the parts where she acted like a lunatic, making like she had no idea what was going on until Dan just up and left her. If you haven’t watched the movies with Meredith Baxter, read the books, or seen Dirty John 2, look them up. Worth the watch.
Oh this is absolutely spot on.
Can you imagine what BB would have been like in the age of social media? Livestreaming herself driving her car into Dan’s front door, stalking him and Linda’s accounts, livetweeting her hearings…it would have been even more insane.
As the child of two parents who had an incredibly contentious divorce that seems to have a lot of parallels to this one all I can say is… I feel for those kids…
Me too. My mom had a breakdown when my dad left and couldn’t control her anger and vitriol for years. If she’d been famous, and I’d had to endure her behaviour not only in private, but also in public, I don’t know what I would have done.
She seems like..a lot to deal with. I get the hurt feelings and all but write it in a journal and keep it to yourself, think of your children first. This all seems very manipulative on her part, like she pushes him away then pulls him back in with the woe is me victim mentality. She’s definitely contradicting herself and lying at times. Ugh, embarrassing herself, which I hate to see any woman do.
She can go to the courts first if she doesn’t like mediation, but they’re probably going to tell her she (and Ioan) need to try to work out an agreement before they’ll step in. Also the fact that she keeps dragging him and he’s stayed pretty quiet seems to point to him being more concerned with his kids than with public perception of him.
then again he knows his wife. He knows that his silence is killing her. He knows she will say enough dumb shit to make him look good.
But yeah, he definitely comes across as more caring for the kids.
Mmm. If she’s this unhinged in the face of silence, he probably knows he’s better off not giving her something to which she can respond. Poor kids.
Collaborative divorce sounds like a good option for people who want to amicably split, have a good plan for co-parenting, and don’t want to fight over everything and spend a ton in legal fees.
She does not seem to be in that place.
People who can get along, who want to be fair, will do so of their own accord. People leaving an abusive situation where there is an imbalance of power and resources are being forced into a longer more expensive processes when an ADR is required before a trial. Not saying that’s her situation but things that seem good in theory don’t always work out that way in reality.
But clearly an abusive situation would not be an amicable divorce, which was my point.
I’m sorry – my comment wasn’t supposed to be a response to yours, just my own thoughts on the matter.
Collaborative divorce attorney here. Here’s the secret- collab does not work if you have an unreasonable person in the mix. I think we can all guess who that is in this case.
Amen. But boy if she hates this process, she should wait and see what the court would make of her if she presents herself as she has been. Her reaction to court-ordered counselling and assessments ought to be calm and reasoned….not. Yikes, those poor kids.
These folks both take some bizarre photos for people who need to look good for a living.
She looks like she’s photobombing him…or taking photos at the wax museum
Google photos of Ioan and Alice together. In just about every one, Alice is playing to the camera in a way that just seems “off” to me.
Collaborative is not a scam. But if a party is clearly not committed to the process it’s a waste of time. This is someone wanting a “day in court” scene and (spoiler alert) most courts DON’T care about your marriage drama and it does not typically inform your outcome. And running to the press to air your crap where your kids can see it – good luck impressing a court with that.
THIS. The collaborative process can be good for people who don’t want to battle it out in a series of contested hearings, but both parties have to want that. She clearly wants to use the litigation process to get “vindication” and air her grievances, but that’s not what litigation is for.
Pretty manipulative maneuver, IMO. Frankly makes me think she’s not the victim in that situation, if there is one. He’s wise to keep quiet. Courts don’t care about your social media mind games.
Women can be abusive and manipulative too, and abusers tend to escalate when the victim leaves or is about to leave.
All I’m seeing here is that he’s exited, and she’s having exactly as toxic a meltdown as abusive men do when their partner leaves them.
She needs help. I feel sorry for their kids and I totally get why he wants out, there’s only so much you can take.
This woman sounds unhinged, like a complete lunatic. Perhaps that’s his strategy to get custody – he needn’t lift a finger to make her look like an unfit parent who would denigrate Ioan if given custody – she’s absolutely the type who would interfere with custodial rights: refuse him access or worse, take off with or harm the children in revenge. No judge in her right mind would award custody to such an unstable, vindictive person. The standard is the best interest of the children. Clearly, she could not care less about that, as she has put them right in the middle of this mess – and put their business all over SM. This is terrible conduct for any parent to engage in. She’s so self absorbed that it’s obvious her needs are paramount – not her children’s.
On the one hand, I completely concur with the author of this post that Alice “is not a reliable narrator on this subject,” and I think she’s doing a disservice to her kids (and honestly, to herself, too) with all this public laundry airing and trash-talking. I don’t know if she’ll regret it down the road or feel embarrassed, but if not, I have no idea what she’s thinking or what she’s hoping to accomplish. On the other hand, I do suspect that there’s probably a kernel of truth in the idea that he wasn’t exactly straightforward with her in the initial separation or maybe even now with his intentions behind this “collaborative divorce” proceeding. But she’s not doing herself any favors for her case, reputation, relationship with her kids, or hope for civility going forward in the best interest of all involved. I also don’t know who either of these people are lol. Had never heard their names before her social media meltdown.