‘Anything you can spare will help’: Ioan Gruffudd’s ex-wife Alice Evans at £20,000 web fundraiser to pay a divorce lawyer
- Miss Evans, 53, says she has fired lawyers because she can no longer afford legal fees
- She set up the GoFundMe page to raise $25,000 and is asking friends for money
- The actress announced in January 2021 that Gruffudd, 48, was stepping out
- During the split, she made headlines with critical news about Gruffudd
Actress Alice Evans is begging for cash online after claiming her US divorce battle with Ioan Gruffudd left her broke.
Miss Evans, 53, said she fired her lawyers because she could no longer afford legal fees.
The 102 Dalmatians star has set up a GoFundMe page to raise $25,000 (£20,500) and is asking friends for money as her divorce battle enters its 15th month.
Miss Evans announced in January 2021 that 48-year-old Gruffudd – who found fame on the TV series Hornblower – was leaving the house because he no longer loved her.
It turned out he’d settled in California with actress Bianca Wallace, 30, – an extra on the Australian crime drama Harrow, in which he starred.
Papers filed in Los Angeles court last week say she is representing herself in the divorce after renouncing the services of attorney Leon Bennett. Gruffudd has hired Anne Kiley, who is also representing Brad Pitt.
During their acrimonious breakup, Miss Evans made headlines for posting critical messages about Gruffudd online.
Ioan Gruffudd (left) with girlfriend Bianca Wallace (right) at LAX on Friday
Gruffudd and his ex-wife Alice Evans together at the European film premiere of King Arthur at the Empire Leicester Square in 2004
But over the weekend, she posted a letter from Kiley’s company to Instagram, reminding her she is subject to a restraining order – and warning that posting about her husband on social media could be a criminal offense for her.
She also explained her situation in an email to friends looking for money, writing: “I never thought in a million years that I would do this.
“Up until recently everything seemed to be going well in my life. I had a wonderful husband and two brilliant children who had cost us the world in IVF but were so worth it!
“But in August 2020, when the pandemic really took off, my whole world fell apart.”
She said the legal fees “finally used up everything — savings, accounts, pensions, everything,” adding, “Yesterday all my accounts went out and I couldn’t buy anything.”
The letter ends: “I’m asking for your help – something I’ve never done… and never expected to do. I have no parents or extended family to borrow from.
Alice Evans made headlines for posting critical messages about Gruffudd online during their breakup
Gruffudd and Wallace (pictured) have settled in California after meeting when she played an extra on Australian crime drama Harrow, in which he starred
“Just me, my brother and his wife in the UK. Yes, it’s embarrassing. Anything you can spare will help.”
In texts and emails Gruffudd filed in court, she branded Miss Wallace a “psychopath,” “succubus,” and “bitch.”
In February, he received a restraining order preventing her from contacting or harassing him or his girlfriend. Last week it was extended.
He and Miss Evans were together 20 years and married 13 years. But her friends fear she will now lose the Los Angeles home she shares with her young daughters.
She has asked the court to decide what to do with it after claiming in March that she was going to be “homeless”.
Sources close to the case say Gruffudd wants to sell it because he has no more savings.
He lives with Miss Wallace in Los Angeles where they are working on a documentary about her battle with multiple sclerosis.