Ioan Gruffudd engaged to Bianca Wallace
Ioan Gruffudd has got engaged.
The 50-year-old actor and his partner Bianca Wallace have announced they are getting married, just months after the 'Hornblower' star finalised his acrimonious divorce from Alice Evans.
The couple shared a joint Instagram post in which they embraced as the 31-year-old bride-to-be held up her hand to show her engagement ring off to the camera.
The image was captioned: "The most precious thing happened… [heart and ring emoji].
Ioan filed for divorce from Alice - the mother of his children Ella, 14, and 10-year-old Elsie - in March 2021 after 14 years of marriage - with the split finalised in July last year.
The pair have been involved in a bitter legal battle which has seen a child custody dispute and allegations of domestic abuse.
Last year, Ella filed for restraining orders against both Ioan and Alice, which were reissued in June.
However, in court documents, the 'W'. actor - who has a permanent restraining order against his former spouse - alleged the actress was behind the filing and accused her of stopping their girls attending counselling.
He wrote in court documents: “Although there is an order for the girls to attend therapy, Alice has repeatedly either refused to bring the girls or interfered with my bringing the girls to therapy.
“Since separation, the girls have missed more therapy session than they have attended and they have had multiple therapists.
“I believe Alice’s actions are child abuse and I am gravely concerned for our children.”
Alice has denied abusing or harming her daughters and claimed in court documents Ioan has “not seen, complied with, nor called the children for 11 weeks”.
She added: “I do not agree to have the children and ourselves be subjected to a prolonged and expensive child custody evaluation if it’s based on the speculation and conjecture of the petitioner's suspicions.
“Petitioner says he believes the kids are suffering serious emotional harm but show no proof of any symptoms experienced by our girls to support those accusations.
“Petitioner has his visitation schedule and has the ability to freely call the kids but has for whatever reason not done so.
“Given his silence and lack of effort to have a relationship with the children, I do not believe petitioner has shown a need or urgency for appointment of a child custody evaluator.”
Custody, spousal and child support arrangements have yet to be settled and another hearing is due to take place in March.
The most recent legal decision saw a judge order Alice to take their daughters to weekly "reunification therapy" sessions with the 'Fantastic Four' actor, and both parties told not to insult the other in front of their kids during therapy.