When Alice Evans was pleading poverty and asking fans to pay into her GoFundMe account, she actually had $100,000 in the bank, her ex-husband, Fantastic Four star Ioan Gruffudd claimed in court Friday.
The 52 year-old star was testifying at a Los Angeles trial in which Evans is seeking an increase in the $1,500 a month her ex pays her, while he is asking a judge to end spousal support altogether.
After the former couple split in early 2021, Evans, 57, launched a GoFundMe account, claiming she was broke and unable to meet ends for herself and their two daughters, Ella, now 16 and Elsie, 12.
Gruffudd told LA Superior Court Friday that Evans said on social media that she started the GoFundMe account ‘because her world had fallen apart…she was a struggling single mother who had exhausted all her resources and accounts and had no money for food and no help.’
But he added that at the time, ‘she was living in the family residence and I was paying all her expenses. ‘By her own account she had about $100,000.
She was living rent-free and I was paying the mortgage.’
Earlier in the trial that started a month ago, Judge Michael Convey slapped Evans with a five-year restraining order over her campaign of harassment and abuse against Gruffudd, and his new wife, Australian actress Bianca Wallace, 33.
Now, in the second phase of the trial, Gruffudd is asking the judge to cut off spousal support altogether, ‘ based upon Alice’s persistent domestic abuse’ of him and her ‘many violations of a previous restraining order’.
When Alice Evans was pleading poverty and asking fans to pay into her GoFundMe account, she actually had $100,000 in the bank, her ex-husband, Fantastic Four star Ioan Gruffudd (pictured attending the Los Angeles trial in February) claimed in court Friday
Evans (pictured left close to the Los Angeles courthouse) is seeking an increase in the $1,500 a month her ex pays her, while he is asking a judge to end spousal support altogether
He also claims that he has already ‘overpaid’ Evans by almost $400,000.
On the witness stand, Evans denied a contention from Gruffudd’s attorney that when she withdrew almost $90,000 from a joint account she had with Gruffudd, she hid the money by paying it to her kids’ nanny so that she could hold the cash for her.
She admitted that during 2021 and 2022, she paid sums of $10,000, $30,00 and two of $24,000 each to the nanny, totaling $88,000.
But she told the court that the nanny was suffering from cancer and needed the money for medical treatment, so Alice made payments as advances to the nanny who charged $900 a week for her services.
When Verano asked if the nanny ‘held on to any of that money for your benefit,’, Evans answered ‘No.’
And when the lawyer asked her ‘Did you use her (the nanny) to conceal funds? she again answered, ’No.’
Evans maintained that her age of 57 has ‘negatively impacted’ her ability to get acting jobs and she hasn’t been in a movie or TV series since 2016.
She also revealed that she suffers from an auto-immune disease that ‘can affect my ability to work…but I haven’t had a flare-up for three years.’
Pictured: Alice Evans and Actor Ioan Gruffudd arrive at the UK film premiere of Amazing Grace held at Curzon Mayfair March 19, 2007 in London, England
Pictured: Actor Ioan Gruffudd and actress Alice Evans attend the 12th annual Chrysalis Butterfly Ball on June 8, 2013 in Los Angeles, California
Evans told the court that she relies on ‘gifts from family, friends and fans’ to meet her monthly expenses which include $2,995 rent for her condo and $1,700 for groceries and household items.
The actress does make money attending fan conventions where she can earn between $4,000 and $12,000 a weekend posing for photographs, signing autographs and mingling with fans.
Supporters remember her roles in the TV shows Vampire Diaries and Lost and even the 2000 movie 102 Dalmations, in which she co-starred with Gruffudd.
Evans – who is fluent in French and Italian – admitted to Gruffudd’s attorney, Joseph Langlois, that she had not tried to find jobs outside acting, using her language or other skills.
But she added, ‘If I could earn enough money to support my children, I would be willing to move into a different field.’
At the end of the first phase of the trial March 4, Judge Covey agreed to Gruffudd’s request for a five-year renewal of a prior three-year restraining order against Evans.
The judge’s decision came after they heard how she had bombarded social media sites with denigrating and false posts about her ex and Wallace, who gave birth to their daughter, Mila, last November.
