She has been at the centre of one of Hollywood’s most acrimonious and toxic divorce battles.
Featuring restraining orders, accusations of financial ruin and abuse along with bitter public social media outbursts, the breakdown in the once-happy marriage between Alice Evans and Ioan Gruffudd reads like the script of a long-running soap opera.
While the dispute rumbles on in the US courts, Alice has revealed how she has endured further torment – through the loss of two of the most important figures in her life.
Following the death of her brother Tony, aged just 55, last August, Alice has been left reeling after her father Professor David Evans, who was a distinguished academic and mathematician, passed away in March.
This week the Vampire Diaries actress claimed how, in a further blow, she was unable to say a final farewell to her father after insisting she had not been invited to his funeral.
Now the Daily Mail can reveal that a second extraordinary family feud led to Alice remaining behind in Los Angeles to grieve alone while her father was laid to rest more than 5,000 miles away.
In her own words Alice, 57, has claimed that she and her late brother had been ‘banished’ from their father’s life by his second wife – art historian Dr Catherine Hunt.
Alice was certainly conspicuous by her absence as family and leading academics gathered to say their goodbyes to Professor Evans at his funeral service held last Friday at the 14th century All Saints Church in the picturesque Somerset village of Publow.
Alice Evans has been left reeling after her father Professor David Evans, who was a distinguished academic and mathematician, passed away in March. Pictured: An old photograph of the pair together which she shared on social media after his death
This week the actress, whose brother Tony died aged 55 last August, claimed, in a post (pictured) on the first anniversary of his death, she had received a further blow after she was unable to say a final farewell to her father, insisting she had not been invited to his funeral
In her own words Alice, 57, has claimed she and her late brother had been ‘banished’ from their father’s life by his second wife – art historian Dr Catherine Hunt (pictured)
Alice was certainly conspicuous by her absence as family and leading academics gathered to say their goodbyes to Professor Evans (pictured)
His funeral service was held last Friday at the 14th century All Saints Church (pictured, file photo) in the picturesque Somerset village of Publow
Professor Evans, who died aged 85 on March 13, has been described by colleagues as ‘a quietly proud Welshman’ who was ‘deeply rooted in his working-class background’ after being born the son of a steel worker.
After studying mathematics at Manchester University he went on to complete a PhD before moving to the US in 1967 to take up research positions.
It was at university that he met his first wife Janet Dowell, who went on to have a career as a schoolteacher.
Alice was their first child who was born in August 1968 while her father was carrying out research at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey.
After moving on to the world-renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the family returned to the UK in 1969 where Professor Evans took up a position as a lecturer in mathematics at the University of Bristol.
Shortly afterwards, Tony was born followed by the couple’s third child Philip, now 54.
Professor Evans spent the rest of his career in Bristol where he carried out pioneering work into ocean waves and their interaction with the marine environment – designing devices that harvest their power into a renewable energy source.
During his distinguished career, he went on to become head of department, Dean of Science and a vice chancellor at the university before retiring in 2006.
Tragically, Alice’s mother died in 1999 aged just 59 after suffering a massive heart attack while walking the family dog.
It happened the day before Alice had her final screen test for the 2000 film 102 Dalmatians – where she fatefully met Gruffudd, 52.
Four years later, Professor Evans married Dr Hunt – a fellow lecturer at the University of Bristol who specialises in northern Renaissance and seventeenth-century Dutch art.
The couple lived quietly in the Somerset village of Pensford and it is understood that Alice became more distant from her father following his marriage to Dr Hunt who at 52 is five years younger than her.
It was on Tuesday – the day that Tony would have celebrated his 56th birthday – that Alice shocked fans when she revealed to her 100,000 followers on Instagram that she had not been welcome at her father’s funeral.
Professor Evans (pictured), who died aged 85 on March 13, has been described by colleagues as ‘a quietly proud Welshman’
It was at university that the academic (pictured) met his first wife Janet Dowell, who went on to have a career as a schoolteacher
Alice was their first child who was born in August 1968 while her father (pictured) was carrying out research at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey
Following the death of Professor Evans she posted (pictured, her caption) a gallery of images of them together, along with her mother, during their younger years
Alice (pictured) revealed last month how she had been left ‘in a dark hole’ following the death of her father and brother and revealed the key roles they had played in shaping her life
Describing April 21st as his ‘heavenly birthday’ Alice said: ‘Bro – our Dad was cremated on Friday. None of his children were invited. Speeches were made by extended family and friends.
‘I’m SO GLAD you didn’t have to know that. So so glad. You are the most empathetic person I have ever met and that would have finished you. I will love you for ever and ever and ever. Sis.’
Alice described herself as being ‘a mess’ and ‘quite isolated’ from her family.
Following a wave of supportive messages, she responded to one saying: ‘Our youngest brother Phil was not banished by my dad’s wife like Tone and I were but he is going through his own awful problems at the moment and I am so worried for him, and love him so much.’
Former mobile phone salesman Philip was also unable to attend the funeral due to health issues.
It meant that Dr Hunt and her close family were the principal mourners at the church service and cremation that followed at Haycombe Crematorium in Bath.
An official who took part in the services, however, described how the ceremonies were ‘packed’ with mourners, including many of Professor Evans’s university colleagues.
Dr Hunt insisted she knew nothing of Alice’s online outburst when the Daily Mail spoke to her this week.
But she nodded vigorously when it was put to her that funerals are public events and invitations are not usually sent out.
She declined to comment further and it is clear the family has closed ranks leaving Alice to grieve alone after losing her father and brother in the space of seven months.
Alice revealed last month how she had been left ‘in a dark hole’ following the death of her father and brother and revealed the key roles they had played in shaping her life.
Following the death of Professor Evans she posted a gallery of images of them together, along with her mother, during their younger years.
In her tribute, she wrote: ‘Dear Dad, You left us on Friday. Only six months after the death of your beloved son Tony.
‘Now all three of you are gone – you, Mum, Tony and it’s just me and Phil from the OG family.
‘I hope the three of you are together. I hope there is a place where we get to see the people we’ve lost and that the three of you are having a blast, free from pain and the worry and anxiety and sometimes pure hell of life on earth.
‘I hope you know how much wisdom you passed on to me that I am now passing on to my girls.
‘Your crazy maths problems, brain teasers, your brilliant anecdotes, encompassing both the respect you had for the incredibly high position you reached in the world of academia, and at times the absurdity of the whole system.
‘You taught me to laugh. You taught me that there is humour in almost anything. You taught me to play the piano.
‘You taught me not to care what people thought because “if you do A, they’ll say you should have done B.
‘And if you do B they’ll say you should have done A”. That stayed with me forever.
‘Godspeed, Dad. Give Mum and Tone the biggest hug from me.’
She had previously paid tribute to Tony who she called her ‘best friend’ and a ‘beloved uncle’ to her two daughters – Ella, 16, and Elsie, 12 – and outlined how he had helped her through the ‘many trials and tribulations’ she had been enduring.
Her father’s death came as Alice had suffered her latest blow in her five-year battle with Gruffudd after a judge in Los Angeles ruled that a domestic violence restraining order against her will be renewed for five years.
During the trial, Fantastic Four star Gruffudd recounted the lengthy campaign of online harassment and abuse targeting him and his new wife, Australian actress Bianca Wallace, 33, which led them to seek and win a three-year restraining order against Alice in 2022.
As the warring former couple came face to face in the courtroom, Alice told how she was ‘ashamed and regretful’ about the torment she had inflicted on the couple.
Her father’s death came as Alice suffered her latest blow in her five-year legal battle with ex-husband and fellow actor Ioan Gruffudd after a judge in Los Angeles ruled that a domestic violence restraining order against her will be renewed for five years
Gruffudd and Alice (pictured together in 2016) split in early 2021 and went through a messy divorce that was finalised in 2023
During the trial, Fantastic Four star Gruffudd recounted the lengthy campaign of online harassment and abuse targeting him and his new wife, Australian actress Bianca Wallace, 33. Pictured: The couple together
Judge Michael Convey said the ‘threats of force and intimidation… caused Ioan to fear for his and Bianca’s physical safety’.
He said Alice’s ‘pattern of abuse’ isolated him from his children while her vow to ‘dedicate her life to fighting him’ and ruin his career threatened his ability to provide for his children.
Gruffudd and Alice split in early 2021 and went through a messy divorce that was finalised in 2023.
Since then, they have been in a bitter fight over money and their daughters.
In April last year, Gruffudd married Bianca, who gave birth to their daughter, Mila, in November.
