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ANNOUNCING the arrival of her baby daughter, Bianca Wallace told how she and her movie star husband Ioan Gruffudd were ‘totally smitten’ with their ‘tiny little angel’.

But while fans were quick to congratulate the 33-year-old aspiring actress and her famous beau, Sun Showbiz can reveal the arrival of Mila Mae Gruffudd ushers in a painful new chapter for Ioan’s ex-wife.

For Alice Evans and her Welsh actor ex, who are parents to older daughters Ella, 15 and Elsie, 11, have been embroiled in one of Hollywood’s nastiest break-ups since they split back in January 2021, and according to our well-placed source, she remains in no mood to back down.

Ioan was well on his way to becoming a major star by the time he had met his first wife, with roles in the blockbuster film Titanic and the Emmy award-winning series Hornblower under his belt.

By the mid 2000s, his career had been sent stratospheric by the Marvel movies Fantastic Four and its sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. 

The couple easily slotted into the A-lister lifestyle of Hollywood, with their impressive LA family pad coming complete with lush gardens, an idyllic pool and a huge entertaining space.

But in January 2021, Alice’s world fell apart when her husband told her he was leaving.

The Brit certainly didn’t take the news lying down, famously alleging in now-deleted tweets that she was being ‘gaslit and mentally tortured’ by Ioan. 

She shared: “My beloved husband/ soulmate of 20 years, Ioan Gruffudd, has announced he is to leave his family, starting next week.

“Me and our young daughters are very confused and sad.

“We haven’t been given a reason except that he ‘no longer loves me’.”

The fallout was spectacular – Ioan filed for divorce two months later, and his estranged wife went on the warpath on social media, leading to countless public accusations flying back and forth.

The actor secured a restraining order against Alice, citing harassment, in 2022 and in August 2023, a month after their divorce was granted, accused her of ‘child abuse’ after their eldest daughter filed for a restraining order against him.

She hit back, claiming her ex had not seen or called their girls for 11 weeks. 

Aussie Bianca, who at 33 is 18 years younger than Ioan, looked to be at the heart of much of Alice’s distress.

The couple are believed to have met in Australia in 2020 when Ioan was filming the TV series Harrow, with Bianca an extra on the show.

They confirmed their relationship in October 2021 with Alice immediately, very publicly, accusing them of having an affair, an accusation Bianca branded ‘disgusting and vile’. 

Engaged by January 2024, Ioan and Bianca, who insist their relationship started after he split from Alice, married this April and on November 2, their daughter was born. 

“Alice will not hate the new baby – she is the most loving woman and best mother there can be,” said our source.

“She is angry at Ioan and Bianca but not at the new baby. 

“But she will not have her daughter’s feelings discarded or replaced when the new baby arrives. How dare he! 

“She’s also desperately sad that it appears her daughters won’t be close to their new sister due to his cruel actions.”  

‘Friends fear deeply for her’

Alice, 57, was a successful actress when she met Ioan on the set of 102 Dalmatians back in 2000.

The stars played love interests Chloe and Kevin in the movie, and their off-screen chemistry was so sizzling that the former model broke off her engagement to another man, Pablo Picasso’s grandson, Olivier.

Alice wore a white strapless gown when she tied the knot with Ioan on a beach in Mexico in 2007, surrounded by red roses, but today, her fairytale wedding seems a lifetime ago as she embarks on a painful new chapter.

Alice has been trying to balance dignity with desperation.

A source close to the star said: “News of Ioan’s growing family appears to have reopened old wounds while forcing her to confront a future that looks very different from the one she once imagined.”

“Pals say Alice is in deep emotional and financial turmoil; she is a mix of emotions.

“Friends deeply fear for her.”

While Alice and Ioan have been divorced for two years, a row over child and spousal support has continued to rage, with our source describing the former couple’s legal battles as ‘exhausting’ and ‘relentless’.

They also look to have been taking a considerable financial toll on both parties. 

In June 2022, Alice launched a GoFundMe page asking for help with her legal bills and in November 2023, she claimed she could not afford to pay rent or buy food, saying she was considering trying for a job at Starbucks but feared she was too old. 

“Alice has been trying to balance dignity with desperation,” said a Sun Showbiz insider.

‘Her priority is her children and ensuring they are safe and secure, but she is struggling to shield them from the reality of their situation, provide some sense of normality amongst the chaos and drama and protect them from emotional harm because she can’t provide a stable home for them without his support. 

“She will not back down and will fight him for every penny until her girls get what they deserve.” 

In a legal filing earlier this year, Ioan accused Alice of writing a devastating text message that looked to be sent by Ella.

“You left us and now you can’t provide for us,” it read.

“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 don’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.”

Despite the fears for her well-being and despite her hardship and the criticism aimed at her, Alice has reassured pals she is determined to keep going for her daughters.

Today, Alice has custody of their two children, and the trio live in a modest home in Encino in the San Fernando Valley after they left their Beverly Hills apartment when she was unable to pay the rent. 

The actress claims the existing payments she receives from Ioan, of $3,000 a month in child support and $1,500 a month in spousal support, are not enough, while the actor is trying to reduce his obligations, saying he cannot afford them. 

‘She won’t let him destroy her’

With both sides pleading poverty, it is hoped a mediation settlement conference held next month will break the deadlock, but it won’t be easy. 

“Despite the fears for her well-being and despite her hardship and the criticism aimed at her, Alice has reassured pals she is determined to keep going for her daughters,” said our source. 

“She has described the situation recently as ‘torture’, but she won’t let him destroy her – as much as he tries.” 

Besotted Bianca shared her baby news with a sweet image of her kissing Ioan in hospital, saying that the couple were ‘totally in love’ with their daughter.

But as Ioan celebrates the joyful new addition to his family, friends of his ex-wife grow increasingly concerned. 

In another cruel blow, Alice lost her beloved brother Tony, who had been a loyal supporter since the disintegration of her marriage, in August.  

A Sun Showbiz insider added: “As the legal battle continues and he moves forward with a happy, new chapter of his life, pals close to Alice fear she is stuck in a painful place trying to rebuild, trying to be heard, and, most of all, trying to hold her family together.

“Most of all, the pals worry how this will all end.”

Victims of Jeffrey Epstein have criticised the United States government after it released a partial trove of documents from cases against the late convicted sex offender with heavily redacted pages and blacked-out photos.

The growing outcry on Saturday came as US media reported that at least 16 files from the tranche, which were published online, had disappeared from the public webpage.

The deleted files included a photograph showing President Donald Trump.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) began releasing the trove on Friday to comply with a law overwhelmingly passed by Congress in November that ⁠mandated the disclosure of all Epstein files, despite Trump’s months-long effort to keep them sealed.

It said it plans to release more records on a rolling basis, blaming the delay on what it said was a time-consuming process of obscuring survivors’ names and other identifying information.

But the tens of thousands of pages made public offered little new insight into Epstein’s crimes or the prosecutorial decisions that allowed him to avoid serious federal charges for years. They also omitted some of the most closely watched materials, including FBI interviews with victims and internal DOJ memos on charging decisions.

Meanwhile, a 119-page document titled “Grand Jury-NY”, likely from one of the federal sex trafficking investigations that led to the charges against Epstein in 2019, was entirely blacked out.

One of Epstein’s victims, Marina Lacerda, reacted angrily to the large number of redactions and unreleased documents.

“All of us are infuriated by this,” she told the news outlet MS NOW on Saturday. “It’s another slap in the face. We expected way more.”

Lacerda, who said Epstein abused her when she was 14 years of age, was a crucial witness in the 2019 investigation that led to the filing of sex trafficking charges against the late financier.

Epstein killed himself in jail that year shortly after his arrest.

Lacerda told The New York Times in a separate interview that she felt let down.

“So many of the photos are irrelevant,” she said.

Another survivor, Jess Michaels, told the news outlet CNN that she spent hours searching through the released files for her victim’s statement and records of her call to an FBI tipline, but found neither.

“I can’t find any of those,” she said. “Is this the best that the government can do? Even an act of Congress isn’t getting us justice.”

Marijke Chartouni, who said she was abused by Epstein when she was 20 years old, decried a lack of openness.

“If everything is redacted, where is the transparency?” she said on Friday in an interview with The New York Times.

Some lawmakers also expressed frustration.

Republican Representative Thomas Massie, who helped spearhead the legislative push, accused the White House of failing to comply “with both the spirit and the letter of the law that Donald Trump signed just 30 days ago” in a social media post on Friday.

That law required the government’s case file to be posted publicly by Friday, constrained only by legal and victim privacy concerns.

Meanwhile, the unexplained 16 missing files led to speculation online about what was taken down and why the public was not notified, compounding longstanding intrigue about Epstein and the powerful figures who surrounded him.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee pointed to the missing image featuring a Trump photo in a post on X, writing: “What else is being covered up? We need transparency for the American public.”

“If they’re taking this down, just imagine how much more they’re trying to hide,” said senior Democrat Chuck Schumer. “This could be one of the biggest cover-ups in American history.”

The Trump administration, however, denied that it was not being forthcoming with the released materials. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said during a TV interview with ABC that there was no attempt “to hold anything back” to protect Trump.

The DOJ also issued a statement on X late on Saturday. “Photos and other materials will continue being reviewed and redacted consistent with the law in an abundance of caution as we receive additional information,” it said.

Separately, celebrities who appeared in photos made available as part of Friday’s release include former President Bill Clinton, late news anchor Walter Cronkite, singers Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson and Diana Ross, British entrepreneur Richard Branson and the ⁠former Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson.

There were also photos of Epstein with actors Chris Tucker and Kevin Spacey.

Many of the photos were undated and provided without context, and none of those figures has been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor also appears in one photo lying across the laps of several women. The former duke of York, who was stripped of his royal title over his ties to Epstein, has denied any wrongdoing.

Notably missing were references to Trump himself, despite his frequent inclusion in previous releases of Epstein-related documents. Trump and Epstein were friends in the 1990s and early 2000s and had a falling out before Epstein’s first conviction in 2008.

Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing and has denied knowing about Epstein’s crimes.

Amid the outcry, the DOJ sought to draw attention to Clinton, with two agency spokespeople posting on social media images that they said showed him with Epstein victims.

Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, Angel Urena, said in a statement that the White House was attempting to “shield themselves” from scrutiny by focusing on the former president.

“They can release as many grainy 20-plus-year-old photos as they ‌want, but this isn’t about Bill Clinton,” he wrote.

Wawrinka, who turned pro in 2002, has won 16 tour-level trophies during his career, including a Masters 1000 title at Monte Carlo in 2014.

He also secured gold for Switzerland in doubles at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing partnering Roger Federer.

Known for his one-handed backhand, Wawrinka beat the world number one player in all three of his Grand Slam finals.

Wawrinka, who will turn 41 in March, has struggled with injuries in recent years and is currently ranked outside the top 150.

“I still want to push my limits and finish this journey on the best note possible,” Wawrinka added.

“I still have dreams in this sport. I’ve enjoyed every part of what tennis has given me, especially the emotions I feel playing in front of you.

“I’m looking forward to seeing you one more time, all around the world.”

Wawrinka’s first outing of 2026 will come at the United Cup team competition in Perth from 2 January.