Alice Evans shares thinly veiled post of a chessboard saying 'you lost!' hours after ex Ioan Gruffudd revealed gut-wrenching texts from their daughters amid their venomous split
Ioan has now taken the extraordinary step of releasing a series of distressing messages sent to him by daughters Ella, 15, and Elsie, 11, which can be read in full in Alison Boshoff's latest Mail+ article.
Amid the ongoing dispute between the pair, Ioan revealed that his eldest daughter Ella, 15, had been begging him for money over concerns that Alice and their two children would be evicted from their Los Angeles home.
While Alice, Ella, and Elsie appear to be in a desperate living situation, Ioan has claimed that Alice's financial crisis has been manufactured by the actress in order 'manipulate him into giving in to her financial demands'.
Just hours after her ex's extreme measures were shared online, Alice posted a thinly veiled post of a chessboard with the king piece highlighted in red.
The venomous war of words has been ongoing since the couple split in 2021 when the Welsh actor, 51, began a relationship with his now-wife Bianca Wallace , 32, and the former couple are now in the final stages of a bitter spousal support battle (pictured together in 2016)
A message flashed up saying 'you lost!' as she appeared to make a pointed remark about her ongoing divorce battle with Ioan.
In a bid to try and prove that his daughters were being manipulated by Alice into believing they were struggling for money, Ioan filed documents to he Los Angeles Superior Court including messages from Ella.
One message read: 'Mummy works very hard and also looks after us 24/7. You are avoiding the issue which is that you don't want to work. It's not mummy's fault it's yours. You left us and now you can't provide for us.'
Another said: 'You need to get a job daddy. Looking after your girlfriend is not a job. You are a father who has abandoned his children and doesn't see them or talk to them. You doesn't even send Christmas presents. It's pathetic and everyone sees you.
'Ps, if there is enough money for us never to become homeless then why aren't you helping us out? You hate mummy more than you love us.'
In the report, Ioan claimed he was 'mortified' to receive the messages from his daughters where they 'parroted Alice's false and manufactured claim of becoming homeless in the immediate future'.
It comes after Alice thanked her fans as she issued a housing update, after turning to them to help her support her children amid her financial troubles.
In May, she claimed in court documents that she was about to become homeless because her financial situation had become 'dire' following her bitter divorce from Ioan.
She claimed she would be on the streets by June 1, because she could not pay her rent and all the shelters in Los Angeles were full.
Alice then created her own Divorce fundraiser, setting up a GoFundMe which has so far raised $18,532 (£13,620) - which ensured that she her daughters and her dog Emma now have a 'roof over their heads' and had retained their possessions.
She voiced her gratitude to fans for donating, gushing: 'We could never, ever have done this without the incredible love and kindness from all of you. Honestly I was at my wit's end and you saved me.'
However, the star previously admitted she had felt ashamed to have to turn to the public for help, penning: 'I'm so embarrassed about this. If you're here you know my story.
'You know how much I struggle to keep my two girls healthy and happy and a roof over their heads.
'You know what I've been through. It never ends. I'm just getting squeezed in every which way and smeared in the media so that nobody even wants to employ me.'
Alice previously claimed that ex Ioan was living in comfort in a $5,500 a month apartment with a home gym while she and their two children cannot afford 'basic necessities'.
She accused her ex-husband of 'intentionally' turning down acting gigs to keep his income low during their split and avoid having to pay her more.
Earlier this year, Ioan and his second wife Bianca announced they were expecting their first child together on Instagram last month, just two months after tying the knot.
Sharing the news, they posted a sweet black and white photo of Ioan kissing his wife's growing baby bump, with the caption: 'Baby Gruffudd poppin' out to say hello!'
In April, Ioan and Bianca took to their respective Instagrams to share a video of them tying the knot in a romantic ceremony, captioned: 'Mr & Mrs Gruffudd. Marriage now, wedding later.'
While the pair divorced in July 2023, they are still battling fiercely over spousal support and custody and financial support for their two daughters Ella, 15, and Elsie, 11.
At the September 9 court hearing, Judge Josh Freeman Stinn signed off on a stipulated agreement in which Ioan pays $3,000 a month temporary child support and $1,500 a month temporary spousal support until another February 13 hearing where a more permanent support arrangement will be forged.
Ioan planned to call his then-fiancée Bianca as a witness at the February hearing to testify that his ex wife 'stalked, harassed and abused' her, repeatedly violating a three-year domestic violence restraining order (DVRO) which she and Ioan took out in August 2022, after enduring a 'smear campaign' of hateful text messages, emails and social media posts from her.
Ioan claims that Alice 'engaged 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.'
Ioan – whose latest movie, Bad Boys: Ride or Die has grossed more than $403 million worldwide – has fought Alice's demands for more money, claiming he's paid some $400,000 more in spousal support than he needed to under their pre-marital agreement.
In earlier court papers, he called her claims of poverty 'exaggerated' and said it's a 'false narrative' that she and the children have been left destitute.
The former couple met on the set of the movie 102 Dalmatians more than 20 years ago. They fell in love in real life and were married in Mexico in 2007.
Ioan filed for divorce in March 2021, shortly after Alice announced on social media that her husband of 14 years was walking out on her and their two daughters.
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