Liar star Ioan Gruffudd ‘walks out’ on wife Alice Evans and their two daughters saying he ‘no longer loves her’
LIAR star Ioan Gruffudd has "walked out" on wife Alice Evans and their two daughters after saying he "no longer loves her".
Actress Alice, 49, broke the news to fans in a since deleted post on Twitter, explaining that her husband, 47, had given very few details about his decision.
She wrote: "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."
Ioan played widower and serial rapist Andrew Earlham opposite Joanne Froggatt in hit ITV drama Liar.
At the time he feared he'd be coined the most-hated man in Britain for his portrayal as the smooth-talking surgeon who was inwardly a monster.
But Joanne, who is best pals with his wife Alice, told how family man Ioan was "so lovely" and "gorgeous".
He and Alice met while starring together in the 2000 Disney film 102 Dalmatians. Prior to their relationship, Alice was engaged to artist Pablo Picasso's grandson Olivier.
The Frenchman previously revealed that he drove her to the film studio for a screen test and introduced her to the man she would leave him for.
On New Year's Day six years later, Alice and Ioan got engaged. The heartthrob, who described Alice as "very patient", revealed he'd been given an ultimatum and duly obliged. Their wedding swiftly followed in 2007.
The couple are parents to daughters Ella, 11, and Elsie, seven, both of who were conceived through IVF.
Ioan said outsiders had doubts about their relationship when their engagement was announced.
He told : "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."
Last year Ioan, who made his name as the handsome lead in ITV's Hornblower in the late 90s, told the the pair's relationship had struggled for four years due to their busy work schedules.
He said: “I think we’ve struggled the past four years, making time for each other because physically we’re apart.”
The star added that they were "practical" about the situation, which saw Alice doing the majority of the parenting at the family home in LA.
Speaking of his brief spell as a stay at home dad, he said: “Alice had come back, she had been away for a week. I was showing off – ‘the kids are in bed’ – and she was ‘Yeah, you’ve done one week Ioan, try six months’.”
Their children were both conceived through IVF, with Alice writing candidly about her fertility struggles in the hope it would help others.
At age 38 she was told she had an antral follicle count of eight - two less than her doctor felt was needed for a good shot at IVF success.
However, she fell pregnant with daughter Ella after her first round of IVF, while second daughter Elsie took eight rounds of treatment.
It was an emotional and financially costly process, with each round costing around £7,000 and with only a 20 per cent chance of success.
Alice wrote in in 2016: "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."
In 2017, around the same time Ioan starred in series one of Liar, Alice bravely told how she was propositioned by disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein at a party.
She called the jailed film boss's request that she join him in a bathroom "sinister".
Neither Ioan, who auditioned for Weinstein the day before the incident, or Alice were involved with his films again after she rejected his advances.
He praised his wife for speaking out and called her "extraordinary, fiercely strong and bright" in a 2018 interview with .
And two years later he told the Guardian: “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.”
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As well as starring as Mister Fantastic in the Fantastic Four movies, Ioan has appeared in films such as W. and Ava, as well as in TV shows such as Forever and Ringer.
The Welshman's career really took off when he was cast as naval officer Horatio Hornblower.
The courageous yet sensitive seaman's exploits in the Napoleonic Wars proved a hit with viewers and catapulted Ioan to stardom.
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In between his high profile roles there have been times when work was hard to come by.
Reflecting on lean times in his 30s, Ioan previously said: “When you’re not working, in Hollywood, you get presented every week with a new poster going up and you know where you are in the pecking order."