BEAMING Ioan Gruffudd looks the picture of happiness in a snap with his new girlfriend Bianca Wallace as he confirms their romance. The besotted Liar star thanked the actress for helping him to “smile again” in the midst of his bitter divorce. But the grin may not have lasted long — because within minutes of […]
BEAMING Ioan Gruffudd looks the picture of happiness in a snap with his new girlfriend Bianca Wallace as he confirms their romance.
The besotted Liar star thanked the actress for helping him to “smile again” in the midst of his bitter divorce.
But the grin may not have lasted long — because within minutes of his post appearing on Instagram yesterday, Ioan’s estranged wife Alice Evans accused the 48-year-old actor of cheating on her with Bianca, 29.
In a series of gut-wrenching tweets, the mother of his two children wrote: “So it turns out that my husband, after two years of telling me I’m a bad person and I’m not exciting and he no longer wants to have sex with me and he just wants to be on set abroad . . . has been in a relationship for THREE years behind all our backs.”
She went on to accuse mutual friends of knowing about the affair — and sources close to Alice, 50, say the devastated actress believes she is now “totally vindicated” over all of her suspicions, after Ioan repeatedly denied he had cheated.
An insider said: “Ioan has denied so many things since they separated, and at times Alice began to doubt herself and wonder if she had things wrong in her own mind.
“But now she feels as though this confirms all of her beliefs.
“She had asked him many times if this was all about someone else, but Ioan told her it wasn’t — even though she suspected that may have been the case because his behaviour towards her changed so dramatically.
“Now that she knows he has met someone else — and it’s someone he has known for so long — all of her other suspicions and doubts have come flooding back and it has totally floored her.
“Stuff she had been able to bury and move on from is now back at the forefront of her mind and she has all of those suspicions and uncertainties again. It’s a terrible time for her.”
In one emotional Twitter post on Wednesday, Alice confirmed that she still had not heard directly from Ioan.
She tweeted: “Still nothing. We were together for 20 yrs.
“We spoke every day, at least three or four times. He was my best friend, my twin soul.
“I don’t know how to move on. I will, but at the moment I have no idea.”
Ioan and Bianca are understood to have met on the set of the Australian forensic crime drama Harrow, in which she appeared as an extra.
The news confirming their relationship is thought to be especially painful because Alice believes mutual friends may have turned a blind eye.
And she turned her fury on Ioan’s Harrow co-star Ella Newton and mutual friend Tamzin Outhwaite after they publicly congratulated the new couple.
She asked Ella: “So you KNEW the whole time and you CONGRATULATED them?
“Do you know they have broken up a family? How can you possibly? This will stay with you forever.”
And when the former EastEnders star gushed that Ioan looked “amazing” in the Instagram snap, Alice asked: “Tamzin? WTH? You knew about this???”
An industry insider told The Sun that Ioan’s new romance was “a bit of an open secret” among the crew on Harrow.
The source revealed: “He seemed to feel his relationship with Alice was over anyway and didn’t go to huge lengths to hide anything. He and Bianca certainly seem very happy and comfortable together. Hopefully it works out for the best for everyone in the end.”
But Harrow wardrobe assistant Amy Douglas hit back at Alice’s claims that Ioan and Bianca had had a three-year affair.
She said the pair had no contact until filming the third series last year — and also alleged that Alice threatened to divorce Ioan during the final week of filming.
“Don’t buy into the lies you are being fed,” she urged her Twitter followers.
“I saw what Alice was doing to Ioan in the last week of filming, threatening a divorce if he didn’t go home. I saw how upset he was.”
Australian-born actress and producer Bianca describes her main traits as “passion” and “confidence”.
Based in Brisbane, she has starred in the TV comedy Relations**t and short film Bloodline.
The shock confirmation of their romance comes just two weeks after Alice accused her ex of “ghosting” her for ten months.
The British actress and handbag designer described Ioan as “disingenuous” and “devoid of any empathy”.
She admitted: “I did my fair share of crying, screaming, accusing. I begged and begged for at least some sort of running discussion, for the kids’ sake.
“That’s my way of reacting to such a life-changing event. So he ghosted me. I have been ghosted for almost ten months now.”
The relationship came to a very public end in January when Alice revealed that her marriage was over.
She tweeted: “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.”
A month later she spoke of her anguish after the split.
She wrote on Instagram: “The pain is excruciating but I am stronger than an ox, and though I weep all day when my kids aren’t looking, at night I add up figures and plan futures for us.”
She admitted that she still loved the Welsh star, to whom she has been married for 13 years, but “can’t see him coming back”.
In the months leading up to the split, the couple had been apart for lengthy periods as Ioan’s acting career took him around the world.
Since 2017 he has filmed three series of Harrow, in which he plays a forensic pathologist.
The star was on set for several months last year, while Alice remained in California home-schooling their children.
And before the pandemic struck he was busy filming the second series of ITV’s Liar.
While promoting the thriller, he subtly hinted at cracks in their marriage.
He said in February 2020: “I think we’ve struggled the past four years, making time for each other, because physically we’re apart.”
The pair first fell in love on the set of the movie 102 Dalmatians in 2000.
They became engaged six years later after Alice gave him an ultimatum about their relationship. They then tied the knot in an intimate ceremony in Mexico in 2007.
Ioan previously gushed about their strong bond.
He said: “When we first got engaged, there were a lot of people who were like, ‘Oh actors who are married can get quite difficult because there’s too many egos involved.’ But we’ve just had a fantastic relationship.”
The pair struggled to conceive after discovering Alice had a low antral follicle count at the age of 38.
She went through exhausting rounds of IVF to conceive their two daughters Ella, now 12, and eight-year-old Elise.
But after 20 years together, the Welsh actor filed for divorce in March — seemingly without Alice’s knowledge.
She shared a screenshot of a news report about the divorce and wrote: “Oh. Ok. Thanks for letting me know. I guess?”
Ioan has stayed tight-lipped about the separation, only commenting briefly on the split in February.
He told photographers: “It’s an extremely difficult time for the family. Our thoughts are with our children obviously right now and I’d really respect a little bit of privacy right now, thank you.”
But those close to the actor insist he has continued to try to “do the right thing” by the couple’s children — and has found his estranged wife “impossible” to deal with amicably.
The former partners now use a legal portal called The Wizard to make arrangements for their children, while their legal separation is being handled by their representatives.
Alice has accused Ioan of “winding the s**t up me” in negotiations.
She told her Instagram followers that the couple were working on a “collaborative” divorce, which she described as a cross between a “kind way of doing it” and a “phenomenal scam”.
Alice blasted: “My husband’s winding the st up me saying what he says is the law. If I want my daughter to stay one more night, the court hasn’t said I can do it.”
Meanwhile, Ioan has privately accused her of hijacking his scheduled calls and time with his daughters — using planned Zoom calls to interject and again confront him over fresh allegations about his behaviour.
A source explained: “It’s sad that things have come to an end, but they have.
“Ioan wants to stay a devoted father to their kids, but it’s clear they can’t speak on reasonable terms as two adults so he has said he wants their communication to be done entirely via lawyers.
“He doesn’t wish her any unhappiness, but feels the time has come for everyone to move on.”
