Alice Evans: Feud Boosted Ex Ioan Gruffudds Career

’ relentless campaign of harassment, abuse and false accusations against her ex-husband, Fantastic Four star , may have actually helped his career, the actress claimed in a bizarre statement at a court appearance.

Evan was asked on Thursday whether her online trash talking about Gruffudd - which included a claim that he’d cheated on her while they were still married - was meant to ruin his acting career, Evans, 57, said 'No.' 

She then launched into a commentary about the morals of the movie business and its stars.

‘Hollywood is not a bastion of morality,’ she told the LA Superior Court trial where she is asking Gruffudd, 52, to shell out more than the $1,500 a month he pays her in spousal support, while he’s seeking to stop paying her anything.

‘, and have all been involved in cheating scandals.

‘Brad Pitt was accused of assaulting his child on an airplane - but he is still winning  and .

‘Lots of people have been involved in cheating scandals. That kind of thing doesn’t hurt actors, it makes them more interesting.’

Evans’ startling comments came during an acrimonious trial in which Judge Michael Convey has already .

Thursday, in the second phase of the trial, Gruffudd is asking the judge to cut off spousal support altogether, based upon Evans' 'persistent domestic abuse’ and her ‘many violations of a previous restraining order,’ plus the actor’s claim that he has already ‘overpaid’ Evans by almost $400,000.

On the witness stand, Evans told how her career took a back seat to Gruffudd’s after they decided to have children when she was 39.

Because of her age, ‘nothing happened’ so they went for IVF treatments, which meant she had to stay within four hours of Los Angeles and couldn’t travel.

After she became pregnant with their daughter, Ella, in December 2008, she did film one episode of Lost.

But after Ella, now 16, was born she said, ‘Ioan and I made the decision that one of us would always be home with her.’

At one point, she said, she thought she could continue with her acting career: ‘I can have a baby, I can be superwoman.’ 

But she soon realized that was not possible, especially after their second daughter Elsie, now 12, was born, also with the help of IVF. 

‘I had to turn down acting jobs - I had to forgo auditions,’ said Evans, who often took the children with her to visit foreign film sets where Gruffudd was working. ‘It was impossible for me to audition or travel for work.’

With Gruffudd’s career taking off, she said that the two decided to concentrate on his success. 

‘His earning capacity was so mush greater than mine’ - her per TV episode fee was $7,000 while Gruffudd’s was $105,000.

Asked by her attorney, Janina Verano, if she had helped Gruffudd’s career, Evans said, ‘Absolutely. I read every script he was sent….we discussed every role. He used to call me his other manager.’

Evans told the court that after her breakup with Gruffudd in 2021, to make ends meet she sold her high end clothing, jewelry, bags and shoes on RealReal.

She also asked her friends for cash help and started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money when she and her daughters were about to be evicted. 

‘I was freaked out about me and the girls being homeless,’ she said.

During her marriage to Gruffudd, the family lived in a three-bedroom, three-bath house in West Hollywood with a back yard and a pool, she said.

Now, said Evans, they have to live in a 900 square ft condo in Encino with no yard or pool, about 12 miles away from West Hollywood, ‘which means the girls have lost contact with the friends they once had.’

At the end of the trial's first phase on March 4, Judge Covey agreed to Gruffudd’s request for a five-year renewal of a prior three-year restraining order against Evans, after hearing how she had .

Evans expressed in court how ‘ashamed and regretful ‘ she was - and assured Judge Convey that her online trash-talking was a thing of the past.

But the judge didn’t buy her attempts at contrition, citing the ‘multiple’ times Evans violated the original restraining order which called for her to not post negative comments about them online, and to stay 100 feet away from the couple.

He told Evans that she had carried out a ‘concerted, focused, intentional and caustic campaign of denigration’ aimed at Gruffudd and Wallace.

‘Alice’s threats of force and intimidation….caused Ioan to fear for his and Bianca’s physical safety,’ he said.

‘Her pattern of abuse isolated him from his children. Her vow to dedicate her life to fighting him and ruin his career, threatened his ability to provide for his children.’

While Gruffudd fights to stop paying support to Evans, there was no dispute over her request for an increase in child support for their two girls. He agreed to up his monthly support for them from $3,000 to $3,579.

Evans He argued that the teenagers have been ‘poisoned and alienated’ against him by their mother.