Case notes:t ‘Whwhy I am so
Ioan Gruffudd talks to Bill Gibb about family life, playing a quirky
He started his career winning the world’s sympathies as a rookie officer in Titanic and last year became British telly’s most hated man in Liar.
But Ioan Gruffudd has told in10 what’s made him proudest – actress wife Alice Evans standing up and speaking out in the early days of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.
Alice, wrote an article alleging that the movie mogul propositioned her years ago, around the time Ioan was auditioning for a part in a Weinstein film.
Ioan was away in Australia last year, playing the lead in new forensic pathology drama Harrow when the story broke, while Alice was at their home in Los Angeles.
“It was a really strange time,” said Ioan, 44. “When you’re making a show like that, you’re front and centre and your time isn’t your own. But I just wanted to hold her hand and walk her through it. She’s an extraordinary woman, fiercely strong and bright and one of the bravest people I know.
“So I knew that she’d be fine, but I just wanted to be there for her. I’m very proud of her. We’ll never know if her turning down his advances that night in Cannes had an impact on our careers or ever doing a Weinstein movie, we can never prove that. But she wanted to tell her story because a lot of the ladies that were brave enough to come out weren’t being believed and she wanted to corroborate it.
“It was at the beginning of the wave and she wanted to help however she could.”
Welsh-born Ioan is brilliant but unorthodox pathologist Dr Daniel Harrow in the new series which starts this week on Alibi. He describes it as bit of a cross between House and 1970s and ’80s Quincy M.E.
And while the pull for Ioan was an intriguing character and good stories, the makers ABC were looking for a star with global appeal. With big movies like
102 Dalmatians, Fantastic Four and
San Andreas to his name, Ioan more than n fitted the bill and he’s s the only Brit among the cast for the 10-pa art series filmed in Australia.
But being thousand ds of miles away from Alice and their two ki ids Ella, eight, and Elsie, four was tough, he admits. “When you d oa big American show – which I have done in New York – it’s 22 episodes while this w was only 10 episodes so I was away less. And I loved d the character, who’s quick keonly witted and curmudgeonly and so dedicated to his work he nearly lost his marriage.
“But it does break my heart. My eight-year-old asks why her daddy is one of the few in school who’s always away. Other dads bring their kids to school and I do that for six months and the rest of the time I’m not there.
“The last time I was in Brisbane she was making herself sick every day so she could come home because she was so discombobulated she just wanted to see mummy. So it does have an effect on other people and it does tug at the heartstrings. But you have to put things in perspective. The pain I’m in missing my family is all relative and it’s an amazing life when I have it.”
With Ella in school, uprooting the whole family to be with Ioan just wasn’t an option and keeping the structure was far more important.
Getting Facetime on his phone eased the agonies, with sessions while he was in the make-up chair Down Under proving a lifesaver.
The time difference when he was filming Liar in the UK was much more difficult. But the lure of the ITV
Main and left: Ioan Gruffudd in Harrow. Top left: with wife Alice Evans and children Ella and Elsie. Top right: In Liar with Laura Aikman.
The pain I’m in missing my family is all relative