Ioan Gruffudd and his wife Alice Evans have vowed to ‘remain committed to their children’ amid their explosive split drama.
The couple hit headlines around the world on Tuesday when a series of tweets sent from the actress, and subsequently deleted, claimed he was leaving their family and she was being ‘gaslit and mentally tortured’ by her estranged husband.
A statement released to MailOnline from the couple reads: ‘As you can imagine, this is an incredibly difficult time for our family and we remain committed to our children. Thank you for respecting our privacy.’
Earlier in the week, Alice, who shares daughters, Ella, 11, and Elsie, seven with the actor, claimed she is being ‘tortured’ by Ioan, after revealing he is ‘leaving the family next week’ after 13 years of marriage.
Break-up: Ioan Gruffudd and his wife Alice Evans have vowed to ‘remain committed to their children’ amid their explosive split drama (pictured with daughters, Ella, 11, and Elsie, seven in June 2018)
Alice, 49, who has been with Ioan for two decades, took to Twitter on Monday to share the ‘sad news’, stating the Welsh star, 47, said he ‘no longer loves her’ and has left her young daughters, Ella, 11, and Elsie, seven, feeling ‘very sad’.
The original statement was later deleted, with Alice alleging that it was her husband who had taken to her account and removed the message.
She posted another Twitter message, reading: ‘Hi there. I didn’t delete the tweet from a few hours ago about him leaving. He did. From my account…
‘And hell yes when I am being gaslit and mentally tortured then hell yes I will wash my linen in public’, however this tweet was also deleted later on.
‘Our young daughters and I are very confused and sad’: Alice Evans, 49, took to Twitter on Monday evening to share the ‘sad news’, stating the Welsh star, 47, said he ‘no longer loves her’
After the now-deleted message, she was then criticised by a follower, who penned: ‘Seems like a weird thing to be posting on Twitter’.
In response, in a message which remains on the page [at time of publication], Alice responded writing: ‘Why? I have lost my mind’.
One follower then penned: ‘I did the same when this happened to me. I think it’s how one acknowledges there’s no returning to what existed before. Accepting it by stating it publicly helps you to recognize the impossibility [of] reconciliation.’
Another one: In a twist in the tale however, the statement was later deleted before Alice sent another tweet reading: ‘Hi there. I didn’t delete the tweet from a few hours ago about him leaving. He did. From my account’
She then responded: ‘This is exactly why. And than you. Six months of harrassment: yes/no/maybe. I cannot live like this anymore’.
In the original shock statement, Alice penned: ‘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 girls are very confused and sad. We haven’t been given a reason except that he ‘no longer loves me’. I’m so sorry.’
In a telling sign, last February Ioan spoke of their relationship struggling as he told The Guardian: ‘I think we’ve struggled the past four years, making time for each other because physically we’re apart.’
The couple met on the set of 102 Dalmatians in 2000, when Alice was in a relationship with Pablo Picasso’s grandson Olivier.
She defended her messages in a duo of exchanges with followers
Shock: Around the time of the messages she posted a snap on Instagram detailing her desire to have red hair
The pair became engaged six years later after she gave him an ultimatum about their relationship, and tied the knot in an intimate ceremony in Mexico in September 2007.
Ioan previously gushed about their strong bond and ‘fantastic relationship’.
He stated in an interview with Who: ‘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 couple’s daughters were conceived through IVF after discovering Alice had a low antral follicle count at the age of 38.
Background: The pair became engaged on New Year’s Day in 2006 later and tied the knot in Mexico in September 2007 (pictured in February 2016)
Early beginnings: The couple met on the set of 102 Dalmatians in 2000 (pictured), when Alice was in a relationship with Pablo Picasso’s grandson Olivier
They welcomed their first child after one round of IVF, while their youngest girl arrived after eight rounds of treatment – which costs upwards of £7,000.
Alice wrote in the Daily Mail in 2016: ‘Extremely high blood pressure earned me total bed rest for the last two months of the [first] pregnancy and then there I was, in a hospital bed, sweating and screaming and writhing about – just like on television.
‘A mere 40 hours later Ella arrived, a 6lb 2oz lobster-red baby-alien. Instantly none of my other plans mattered.
‘This was the thing I should have done years ago. The only thing. It was as close to being in heaven as I’d ever get.
‘This time our first cycle failed. As did our second. Our third didn’t even produce any eggs to fertilise. Our fourth gave us a few to freeze. It wasn’t working.
‘I won the lottery’: They welcomed their first child after one round of IVF, while their youngest girl arrived after eight rounds of treatment (pictured in May 2020)
‘Finally, physically, mentally (not to mention financially) depleted, we decided sadly that cycle eight would be our last. Elsie Marigold Evans-Griffith was born on September 13, 2013.
‘She has her dad’s big brown eyes but not his unfeasibly long tongue, thank goodness. I know how lucky I am. I won the lottery.
‘I get to kiss goodnight to the two most precious human beings I’ve ever met. My goal now is to get the word out. Don’t wait until it’s too late.’
In 2017, Alice spoke about a ‘sinister’ encounter she had with disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, just hours after Ioan screen-tested for one of his movies in Cannes in 2002.
Alice claimed the producer propositioned her and invited her to join him in a hotel bathroom.
Ioan shared his support for as he said in an interview with The Sunday Post in 2018: ‘I just wanted to hold her hand and walk her through it. She’s an extraordinary woman, fiercely strong and bright and one of the bravest people I know.’
He added to The Guardian last year: ‘I was very proud of Alice. Because women were not being believed.
‘She wanted to say, ‘No, this is definitely his modus operandi. This is how he behaves. I’ve witnessed it.’ So she wanted to present the case, help bolster the case.’
‘We’ve had a fantastic relationship’: Ioan previously gushed about their strong bond (pictured in January 2020)
On maintaining a healthy work-life balance, he admitted: ‘I think we’ve struggled the past four years, making time for each other because physically we’re apart.’
Alice was born in New Jersey to British parents, teacher Janet and university lecturer and mathematician David.
She was raised in Bristol with her brothers Anthony and Philip, and temporarily worked in Paris after studying Italian and French at the University College London.
Alice frequently updates fans with images of her family and credits Piers Morgan’s journalist wife Celia Walden, actress Joanne Froggatt and socialite Lady Victoria Hervey as her close friends.
Social circle: Alice frequently updates fans with images of her family and credits Piers Morgan and his wife Celia Walden among her close friends (pictured in August 2019)
Ioan’s mother Gillian and father Peter were also educators, and the Amazing Grace star grew up in a Protestant non-conformist household with his younger siblings Alun, 45, and Siwan, 40, in Cardiff.
He first featured in Welsh TV film Austin at the age of 13, before he attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and appeared in TV shows and films such as Poldark, Titanic and Hornblower.
During the early stages of his career, the star lived with fellow actor Matthew Rhys – who served as best man at his wedding – for nearly 10 years.
Ioan is best known for his roles in Fantastic 4, W. and Horrible Bosses, while Alice has starred in The Vampire Diaries, The Originals and Dangerous Parking.
MailOnline has contacted the couple’s representatives for further comment.
Well-known friends: Alice pictured with Downton Abbey actress Joanne Froggatt in June 2018