Bianca Wallace knows that her husband Ioan Gruffudd has attracted a devoted following but there was one person at his recent appearance at a fan convention who could not contain her admiration.

So vocal was Mila Gruffud, their seven-month-old daughter, at the sight of her father that Bianca had to rush out of the auditorium.

“Ioan went to a [comic] convention in Chicago recently,” Bianca tells HELLO! in an exclusive interview. “He did a talk with Michael Chiklis, who was also in [the superhero film] The Fantastic Four, and I had her in the carrier with me. Every time he came on screen, she would start talking to him. ‘Wah, wah, wah.’ I had to take her away because she was squealing with excitement to see Daddy. It was such a joy to witness that.”

Mila has been a life-changer for Bianca, not only for making her a mother for the first time but for her health. The actress, 33, has an aggressive form of multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune condition in which a person’s white blood cells attack the nervous system. Symptoms vary, but can include extreme fatigue, problems with vision, muscle spasms, memory issues and loss of balance.

A quirk of the disease is that it often goes into remission during pregnancy. For Bianca, she had her first inkling that she was pregnant when she felt unusually well.

“This big wave came over me and I thought, oh, I’m pregnant! It was almost like an epiphany moment. I beelined to the bathroom and sure enough, within about five minutes, [I had a positive test].”

Hopes dashed

She allowed herself to believe that her symptoms may be gone for good but her hopes vanished two weeks after giving birth.

“MS comes in and it reminds you pretty quickly of who’s in charge. As soon as you get cocky, MS comes in and smacks you across the head.”

Bianca’s first symptoms appeared when she was 17 but she was diagnosed at the age of 25 after an attack that meant that she could not hold a pen. She has had a total of 15 attacks, three on her spinal cord and 12 in her brain.

There is no cure for the condition, which affects 150,000 people in the UK, but Bianca has found some effective ways of avoiding attacks.

“Two things that I have found out of everything I’ve tried – all of the medications, the CBD oils, the exercise – are sleep and remaining stress free.”

Baby joy

Her pregnancy and birth created beautiful memories, even though Mila was born five weeks premature and had to have support for her breathing. 

Bianca and Ioan tried to slow down her labour by watching Alfred Hitchcock films including Psycho, which Ioan had never seen.

“We basically shut our house down. We shut the blinds and we watched only back and white movies together. It’s a time I’m always going to hold dear to me.”

Blended family

Bianca has well-documented difficulties with her blended family with Ioan. Ioan and his former wife Alice Evans separated in 2021 and went through a bitter divorce and legal disputes over his access to their two daughters Ella, 16, and Elsie, 12.

Bianca chooses not to talk about this but has happy memories of her own blended family growing up. Her parents separated when she was three and both found new partners.

“All I’ve ever known is a blended existence. It taught me that love is unconditional. I’ll never forget the moment my dad called us [from Brazil to Australia] to tell us that Leah, my step-mum, was pregnant. We just thought it was the best news ever.”

She visited her family in Brazil and they came to Australia.

“I think that most people are aware that’s not the experience that [Ioan and I] are currently in, but my personal experience with my blended family growing up from the age of three has been beautiful.

Bianca says that motherhood as someone with MS carries the same anxieties and “mum guilt” as those without the condition, but it has also taught her new discipline.

“The absolute number one thing that being a mum with MS has changed for me is I no longer stand up and walk. I stand very still until I know I’m not going to stumble or fall, because I’ve now got a baby in my arms. I’ve got a lot less bruises.”

For Bianca, who is due to appear in the action film Seven Snipers alongside Tim Roth in June and is about to return to work with an as-yet unannounced psychological thriller, Ioan has been “the sweetest, most loving father” to Mila.

“I think she’s going to be a real daddy’s girl. You go through this, the nine months of carrying the baby, only for her to be his spitting image.

“She looks more and more like him. I mean, there are worse looks to have, aren’t there?”

This World MS Day (30 May 2026), the MS community is calling for global action to improve the early and accurate diagnosis of MS. For more information visit www.mssociety.org.uk