Alice Evans says she considered harming herself after husband Ioan Gruffudd abruptly ended their 14-year marriage, and admits she has a ‘very long and messy divorce’ ahead of her.
Evans, 53, confirmed her separation from the Welsh star in a series of furious tweets posted on Twitter in January, and has since documented every toxic turn in their subsequent divorce proceedings across social media.
The actress is now adjusting to life without Gruffudd, 48, after he publicly confirmed a new relationship with co-star Bianca Wallace on Instagram, a move she described as ‘every woman’s nightmare.’
Appearing remotely on Thursday’s edition of Lorraine, Evans admitted she feared the worst when he returned to the family home in Los Angeles after filming his new show Harrow in Australia.
Devastated: Alice Evans says she considered harming herself after husband Ioan Gruffudd abruptly ended their 14-year marriage
She said: ‘He came back, hugged the kids, he very dryly gave me a kiss on the cheek and that was when I knew something was wrong.
‘We’d been together 20 years. I was one of those very complacent – what’s the Bridget Jones phrase? Smug married. And I think these are things like, just with other things, one can go through like loss of a parent or infertility, you don’t know what it’s like until it happens to you.
‘I thought it was never going to happen to me. He told me within the first few days – I just don’t love you anymore.
‘And look, I’m not questioning his right to feel that – I’m not bashing him – but it was so out of the blue and then for about four months we just continued here and he just kept saying, “I’m sorry, I don’t feel the same way for you anymore. I might leave, I might not leave.”
She added: ‘And I eventually got to the point where I’d been on my own for the whole pandemic with my two kids. I’ve looked after them for ten years when he’s mostly filmed for those ten years, outside of Los Angeles. So I was here and he was here but he wouldn’t talk to me, wouldn’t look at me, and went to sleep in the spare room.
‘Eventually, I thought I might do myself harm.
I spoke to my friends and they kept saying, ‘This is not like him, this just doesn’t sound right’. I think I bored [them] and my friends just didn’t know what to say to me, and at one point I just thought, ‘I am going to lose my mind’.
“And I just tweeted, ‘He’s leaving us’. And then all hell broke loose…”
Emotional: Evans broke down as she shared her mental anguish during a remote appearance on Thursday’s edition of Lorraine
Evans has divided followers since going public with the split, but she insists she has no regrets in her willingness to share personal details regarding the nature of her relationship with Gruffudd, including their sex life, as she comes to terms with the collapse of their marriage.
She said: ‘His his reaction wasn’t good. Initially, I think no one had ever really done this before and I would say the reaction was about 50:50. You know, there were a lot of people who were angry with me and almost didn’t believe me, which is kind of weird when you think about it because it’s a pretty strange thing to make up if I’m suddenly going to be 20 years with someone and then make up some idea that he’s left me, he’s leaving us, when he hadn’t.
‘A lot of people were shocked and there was so much talk of a dignified silence. And I’m going to do this [makes quotation marks with her fingers], because I don’t know how you can describe a dignified silence when I’m talking about my entire life falling to pieces around me.’
She added: ‘I think people use that phrase a lot but as time went on, because I did stop tweeting – because I was told legally not to – and then I went back to it.
‘It’s sort of, kind of a messy story, but I think as people understood what had happened, I would say support is now about 80 or 90 [per cent] in favour of me. Not in favour of me against him, but in favour of me speaking out and understanding why I’m doing it.’
Happier times: Evans and Gruffudd embrace on their wedding day in Mexico on September 14 200
Opening up: Evans admitted she feared the worst when he returned to the family home in Los Angeles after filming his new show Harrow in Australia
Gruffudd announced his new relationship with Wallace in October, and Evans says she has had no contact from her estranged husband since then.
She said: ‘He’ll only talk to me through lawyers. If he’s talking to the children on face time, he’ll move away and call the lawyers. I don’t know why.’
She is also adamant that her husband’s relationship with Wallace, his Harrow co-star, began long before the very public collapse of their marriage.
Moving on: Gruffudd announced his new relationship with Bianca Wallace in October, and Evans says she has had no contact from her estranged husband since then
New romance: Wallace, pictured here in an undated Instagram post, worked with Gruffudd on location in Australia
Starring role: Gruffudd in a still from Harrow. Evans claims it was during a break from the show that he ended their marriage
‘It’s very bizarre because as a lot of people know, he insisted, I think I’m OK to say this, he insisted until two weeks ago that there was nobody else,’ she added.
‘My phone pinged and said he has unblocked you on Instagram. I thought maybe he wants to talk. It was announced by him and his mistress that they were a couple on Instagram two weeks ago. I looked at the picture and it said something like finally someone who can make me happy.
‘People from his set in Australia were saying so glad you guys are finally out and you’re happy. I was slayed. This is my husband.
‘I think I was owed more than an Instagram after 20 years of marriage and two children. I feel like a bit of an idiot as well. I’m pretty sure this has been going on for quite a while. It’s not somebody he’s just met now.’
Horrified: ‘People from his set in Australia were saying so glad you guys are finally out and you’re happy. I was slayed. This is my husband,’ said Evans
Evans currently remains at the family home in Los Angeles with their two daughters, Ella, 12, and Elsie, eight, but admits she might be forced to move as a consequence of her ongoing divorce from their father.
She said: ‘I don’t know because we have a very messy and long divorce ahead of us. Divorce lawyers in America are terrifying people.
‘I don’t know if I’m going to be able to stay here in the house. Initially o teas going to be an amicable divorce but it’s gotten quite nasty now and I don’t know why.’
Proud mother: Evans currently remains at the family home in Los Angeles with their two daughters, Ella, 12, and Elsie, eight, but admits she might be forced to move as a consequence of her ongoing divorce