Denise Richards’ marriage to Charlie Sheen never fails to come up on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
“I’m struggling with parenting right now with my teenagers. Sami, I think sometimes she does things hoping to get a reaction out of me. It’s not easy,” the 49-year-old actress admitted to the Bravo cameras on the Wednesday, May 20, episode. “A lot of people have an impression of me being wild and crazy, but Charlie was sober when we got married, so we were not this swinging couple that people might assume. We weren’t.”
Richards and Sheen, 54, finalized their divorce in 2006 after four years of marriage. They share daughters Sami, 16, and Lola, 14. The Wild Things star also adopted daughter Eloise, 9, in 2011.
“When I got pregnant with Lola, things started to change rapidly,” Richards said in a confessional on Wednesday’s episode. “It was a very dark time, very toxic, and I filed for divorce when I was six months pregnant with her. I did whatever I could to hide Charlie’s behavior. How do you tell kids what’s really going on? I would say, ‘Dad had to go to work, but he loves you so much. He wants to be there for you girls.’”
Sheen celebrated two years of sobriety in December 2019 after years of public struggles with alcohol and substance abuse. While Richards revealed during the RHOBH season 10 premiere that the former couple were arguing over child support, she told Us Weekly earlier this month that they were on good terms.
“Communication’s great with him. [My husband] Aaron [Phypers] and I actually saw him the other day,” she told Us on May 4, noting that the actor doesn’t watch Bravo. “I don’t even think he knows [what’s airing]. … We try to keep [the show] separate from things, but he hasn’t even said anything other than very positive [feedback]. It’s all good.”
Based on the trailer for the next week, Sheen will be a topic of conversation again on the May 27 episode of RHOBH.
“You talk about the hookers around your kids?” Lisa Rinna asks a shocked Richards in the teaser. “About the hookers that Charlie brings around?”
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs on Bravo Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
