Ioan Gruffudd has won his court battle against ex-wife Alice Evans, renewing a domestic violence restraining order against her for five years.
The result is the latest chapter of what is considered one of the most bitter splits in Hollywood history.
In 2022, Evans was banned from mentioning Hornblower actor Gruffudd, 52, on social media after he alleged she used accounts to “harass, threaten and disturb the peace” of him and his new wife, Bianca Wallace, whom he married last year.
Evans, an actor who appeared in The Vampire Diaries and Lost, was also urged to keep 100ft away from the couple.
During the latest Los Angeles trial, the Daily Mail reports that Evans confessed to sharing negative comments about Gruffudd and Wallace online, stating she was “ashamed and regretful” of her actions.
However, the judge, noting the “multiple” times Evans violated terms of the original order, ruled she must stick to the rules of the restraining order until at least 2031.
Judge Convey described Evans’s flurry of social media posts aimed at Gruffudd and Wallace as a “concerted, focused, intentional and caustic campaign of denigration”, adding that her “threats of force and intimidation” led to fears of their “physical safety”.
He added: “She intended to hurt him economically and damage his career.”
The judge acknowledged that Evans’s bombardment had “abated somewhat”, but questioned her apology, asking: “Is it true remorse? I am not persuaded. But it is a positive step forward.”
Judge Convey said Evans’ “pattern of abuse”, which led to her “vowing to dedicate her life to fighting” her ex, endangered his relationship with their two daughters, whom Evans said Gruffudd has not seen for two years. Judge Convey urged the pair to “find a way to co-parent”.
The Independent has contacted Gruffudd and Evans for comment on the ruling, which follows a week-long court case. They married in 2007 and separated in January 2021, finalising the divorce two years later.
During the trial, Gruffudd, 52, said he was “disturbed” and “anxious” over the lengths he believed Evans would go to generate a scandal. The actor described alleged incidents involving Evans, in which he told the court his ex “said she was going to destroy me and she was going to ‘Amber Heard’ me”.
Actor Heard, 39, lost a libel lawsuit brought by her ex-husband Depp, 62, for implying he abused her in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed. Depp previously lost his lawsuit against The Sun newspaper after the newspaper referred to him as a “wife-beater”. Depp has always vehemently denied being violent towards Heard.
In his original restraining order filed in 2022, Gruffudd alleged that Evans told him repeatedly between August 2020 and January that if he left her, “she would make false public accusations about me, sell false stories about me to the press, and destroy me and my career”.
In a response to the petition in 2022, Evans said that she had “no idea what [Gruffudd] is going to accuse me of”.
“I have not hit, struck, attacked, threatened, assaulted, harassed, followed, stalked, molested, destroyed the personal property of, kept under surveillance, impersonated, blocked the movement of, annoyed by phone or electronic means by repeated contact, or disturbed the peace [of Gruffudd or Wallace]”, she said.
In July 2024, Evans said she had been left destitute and was applying for food stamps. The actor said she had been left “struggling to put food on the table for the children” while her ex-partner is “jet-setting around the world”, according to legal documents seen by the Daily Mail.
“I cannot wait months for a trial to receive child support and spousal support,” she wrote, adding that she currently makes $300 a month in royalties, but hopes to increase her income through appearances at conventions.
Gruffudd is known for his early roles in James Cameron’s Titanic and as the lead in Hornblower. He later rose to wider fame opposite Clive Owen and Keira Knightley in the 2004 historical adventure film Lancelot, as Reed Richards/Mr Fantastic in the 2005 superhero movie Fantastic Four, and in ITV’s critically acclaimed series Liar.
Evans has appeared in films including 102 Dalmations and British sports-comedy Blackball.
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