Just when you thought the custody battle between Alice Evans and Ioan Gruffudd was over…
As we’ve been reporting, the former couple has been involved in a nasty legal battle ever since the actress revealed he abandoned her and their two daughters, Elsie and Ella, with no explanation other than he simply did not love her anymore. A few months after the split, however, it was revealed that Ioan had a new girlfriend named Bianca Wallace — an aspiring actress 20 years younger than him. Of course, Alice then assumed that the two had an affair behind her back for years, seeing as they’d been working together on his TV show in Australia when she was home with the girls. Yikes!
To make matters worse, Alice shared in an interview with Lorraine that Ioan and Bianca were hoping to get custody of the little ones – something the momma has been terrified about since day one. After filing for both legal and physical custody of the girls in February, though, Alice later revealed on Instagram that she had won “because he decided ‘a family wasn’t for him.’”
Related: Alice Called Out For Celebrating Lily James Who Allegdly ‘Slept With A Married Man’
It’s been a rough time for Alice. But unfortunately, it’s not over yet as Ioan refuses to go down without a fight – even though he seemingly has been uninterested in being a dad based on what we’ve heard over the past year.
The 48-year-old actor filed for joint custody of the two kids in Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday, claiming that his estranged wife was trying to cut off all communication between him and their children. He also requested that Elsie and Ella attend in-person therapy and reunification therapy over Zoom with him pending court-ordered mediation about custody.
Elsewhere in the court filing, the other shoe dropped. Ioan flipped the script and tried to paint Alice as an abuser he was escaping from. He claimed The Vampire Diaries alum was verbally abusive throughout the marriage and was “undermin[ing him] in front of the girls” constantly. He stated in the legal documents:
“Alice told me regularly, and often in front of the children, that she wanted a divorce, that I was stupid and a failure, and that she would call the police if I did not do what she demanded. Alice made fun of my appearance often, making hair-loss comments and telling me I had ‘saggy-vagina eyes.’”
Hmmm…
It sounds like this is potentially his way of trying to prove those alleged abusive and threatening text messages and emails were true.
He then noted that since moving out of the duo’s home in January 2021, the 53-year-old “has inflicted serious emotional harm on Ella and Elsie by her statements and by interfering in my relationship with them.” As evidence, the Titanic star submitted a video from before the pair’s separation of Alice allegedly telling their daughter Ella that she would be “getting a new daddy.” He also wrote in the petition:
“In a FaceTime I had with the girls on March 3, Ella said Alice falsely told her that I wanted Alice to commit suicide, and that Ella probably would not have a mummy anymore.”
Whoa! Ioan added:
“Ella told me, ‘Daddy, this is making me very sad,’ and, ‘if I don’t agree with her, apparently I am a bad daughter.’”
Who would have thought things could get any messier in this custody showdown? But it happened. They’re putting words in their children’s mouths to attack one another. Ugh.
Alice responded to the latest filings on social media, writing:
“Witch-hunt. He has refused to see them for over a year. I am sickened to the point of breaking down. Do you guys want to see some if the horrible messages he has sent my beautiful Ella over the past year? … Also shame on Ioan’s legal and PR team for setting this up. You are disgusting.”
You can ch-ch-check out the post HERE.
Such a sad situation. We’ll have to see what the court decides to do next. Reactions to the latest in the messy legal battle, Perezcious readers? Sound OFF in the comments (below).
[Image via Alice Evans/Instagram, Ioan Gruffudd/Instagram]
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