Alice Evans caused a stir in a Los Angeles courtroom Monday after getting caught taking photos of her ex-husband, Fantastic Four star Ioan Gruffudd at their child support hearing.
The British-American actress, 56, was temporarily booted from court for the misconduct, which is strictly against court regulations and could have resulted in a contempt charge.
The drama unfolded as the feuding exes sat on opposite sides of the courtroom, with Evans shooting an occasional icy grimace at her ex, who just stared forward as they waited for the start of a hearing about child support payments for their two young daughters.
When their attorneys were called into Judge Josh Freeman Stinn’s chambers for a conference, Evans – wearing all black – suddenly lifted her cell phone and started taking pictures of Gruffudd, a major no-no inside LA Superior Court.
Not content with the distance she was from her ex, Evans then got up, strode across the courtroom to face him and continued to take photos of him at point-blank range as he sat, looking incredulous, in a dark blue suit and tie and sporting a mustache and goatee.
Alice Evans and Ioan Gruffudd had an awkward encounter in court on Monday after the actress began taking photos of her ex in the courtroom. They are both pictured leaving after a hearing in LA
The couple, whose 14-year marriage ended in a bitter divorce filing in 2021, are still in the process of resolving their child support issues over their two daughters (pictured in 2018) in court
Her startling actions prompted a shocked LA County deputy on duty in the courtroom to shoot out of his seat and accost Evans.
‘Stop that. Delete those. I’m not asking you…I’m telling you,’ the officer ordered her sternly.
He then told her to leave the courtroom and in the corridor outside, he stood over the nervous-looking Evans as she obeyed his instructions to delete all the photos she had taken of Gruffudd, 50, and lectured her about the court’s very tight rules barring pictures from being taken inside courtrooms without a judge’s permission.
The deputy eventually allowed her back into the courtroom, but just a few minutes later, seeing her openly holding her phone, he ordered her outside again to make sure she hadn’t taken any more photos and warn her a second time against doing so.
It’s the latest clash in the nasty, three-year war between Gruffudd and Evans, who showed up at court Monday in a black jacket over black blouse and black pants, wearing black-rimmed glasses and with her blonde hair tied back.
An expected face-to-face confrontation in court between Evans, and Gruffudd’s new love – his 32 year-old fiancée Bianca Wallace – didn’t happen Monday.
That instead will move to February 13 when a full hearing will be held to decide how much spousal support Gruffudd should pay and determine child support payments for Ella, 15 and Elsie, 11.
At that hearing, Gruffud plans to call Wallace as a witness against his ex.
On Monday, Judge Stinn heard that both sides had reached a stipulated agreement in which Gruffudd pays $3,000 a month temporary child support and $1,500 a month temporary spousal support until the February hearing where a more permanent support arrangement will be forged.
Evans was ordered to briefly leave the courtroom and delete the photos she had taken on her iPhone
The British-American actress showed up at court Monday in a black jacket over black blouse and black pants, wearing black-rimmed glasses and with her blonde hair tied back
Gruffudd has previously complained that a court-ordered scheme to reunite him with his daughters in therapy sessions was sabotaged by his ex-wife
Gruffudd’s attorney Joseph Langlois suggested Monday that Evans should ‘be making more effort to be gainfully employed,’ supporting herself rather than relying on payments from his client.
Evans’s lawyer countered, telling the court that having two children to look after ‘limited Alice’s abilities to have employment’.
Judge Stinn agreed to sign off on the temporary child and spousal support till February but warned Evans that she should make ‘reasonable efforts to become self sufficient within a reasonable period of time,’ which he said as a general rule is around half the time of the marriage (Evans and Gruffudd were married for 14 years).
Gruffudd has fought Evans’s demands for more money, claiming he’s paid some $400,000 more in spousal support that he needed to under their pre-marital agreement and calling her claims of poverty ‘exaggerated and false.’
In their most recent skirmishes, in documents filed with LA Superior Court, he hit out at Evans’ ‘false narrative that she and the children have been left completely destitute……
‘Alice has misrepresented her income and earnings, failing to account for thousands of dollars in unidentified deposits each month and Alice continues to live with bloated monthly expenditure.’ he blasted.
Gruffudd – whose latest movie, Bad Boys: Ride or Die has grossed more than $400 million worldwide – complained that a court-ordered scheme to reunite him with his daughters in therapy sessions was sabotaged by Evans, meaning that he’s only spent nine hours with Ella and Elsie so far in 2024.
And he accused Evans of ‘engaging in a pattern of damaging and defamatory conduct against me, aimed at intimidating and harassing me and my fiancé, Bianca Wallace, while alienating our two young children from me.’
An earlier court ruling granted Gruffudd to his two daughters on a weekly basis after a judge ordered the two girls, Elsie, 11, and Ella, 15, to attend ‘reunification therapy’ sessions with their father
The actor, however, has accused Evans of interfering in therapy sessions between Gruffudd and his two daughters- including one instance when she allegedly threw herself on the floor pretending to have a panic attack
Ioan Gruffudd and ex-wife Alice Evans had some happy times but they have been warring for years in court over their divorce which was finalized in July 2023
Wallace – who was an extra on Gruffudd’s TV series Hornblower – is expected to testify that Evans ‘stalked, harassed and abused’ her, repeatedly violating a three-year domestic violence restraining order (DVRO) which she and Gruffudd took out in August 2022, after enduring a barrage of vitriolic and derogatory text messages, emails and social media posts from her.
‘Evans has been engaged in a long-standing smear campaign against me …….she has a history of spreading lies about me…. I will present evidence of her continued violation of said DVRO,’ said Gruffudd.
Evans lashed back last week in her own court filing, saying that her ex had ‘totally mischaracterized’ her financial position, that she is indeed broke and that he had left her ‘completely in the lurch’, removing her access to a joint account.
She accused him of cutting off her phone and internet in January 2023 without any warning, before defaulting on the mortgage and forcing the sale of the marital home.
And she claimed that she had to pawn two watches to make rent in August and had ‘no idea’ how she will meet her financial obligations in September as Ioan has allegedly ‘ignored’ her pleas for help.
Evans declared that she was ‘aghast’ at her husband’s claim that she was disruptive to reunification therapy sessions and she insisted he, not she, was to blame for his broken relationship with his daughters.
In her sworn statement she claimed that Gruffudd no longer wanted to be a part of his girls’ lives.
‘Not only did he not tell me in person that he wanted a divorce, he didn’t tell the children either. Nor did he tell any of us in person that he had (and was living with) a new partner (Wallace). He chose Instagram for that. He again chose Instagram to inform the children he was engaged.
Last month it was revealed Gruffudd called his fiancée Bianca Wallace to testify in court. Wallace is expected to say Evans ‘stalked, harassed, and abused’ her in violation of a legal restraining order
Gruffudd went public with his new romance with Wallace in October 2021, nine months after he announced his marriage was over. He confirmed their engagement earlier this year
‘Instead of asking himself what he may have done to estrange himself or alienate them and mend the relationship, he chooses to bang the same drum he has been doing for 3 years – the claim that I am to blame for the estrangement between him and the children.
‘I would love for Ioan and the children to mend their relations. But since Ioan has now made it clear to the children through a third party that he ‘no longer wants to be a part of their lives’, this point is moot.’
Evans denied that she’s still making hateful internet posts about Gruffudd and Wallace, violating the restraining order against her, though she did admit that she had in the past and was ‘remorseful’ about it.
‘I have not engaged in that conduct for YEARS,’ she said. ‘Ioan’s allegations that I continued to post to social media using fake accounts was addressed by the police and found to be completely false.
‘I sincerely hope that, at least for the sake of our children who have been dealing with this for four years now, Ioan can accept my apology and we can move on to the actual issues that remain to be settled.’
The former couple met on the set of the movie 102 Dalmatians more than 20 years ago, when they played onscreen love interests Kevin and Chloe.
They would eventually fall in love in real life and get married in Mexico in 2007.
Gruffudd filed for divorce in March 2021, shortly after the blonde actress claimed on social media that her husband of 14 years was walking out on her and their two daughters.
Their divorce was finalized in July 2023 and two months after Evans and Gruffudd reached a custody agreement, the details of which the court sealed (though Evans has claimed she has full custody).
The pair’s spousal and child support issues, however, are still being resolved in court.