Denise Richards doesn’t need a man — or a lawyer. During the season 10 premiere of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills on Wednesday, April 15, the actress opened up to her costars about her child support battle with her ex-husband, Charlie Sheen, with whom she shares daughters Sam, 16, and Lola, 14.
Teddi Mellencamp informed Denise, 49, during a girls’ trip that she had some news to share that was going to “piss [her] off.” She explained that Charlie, 54, released a statement calling out his ex-wife for “behaving like a coward” and warning that his “day in court is painfully overdue.”
At first, the Wild Things star seemed taken aback. “He called me a coward?” she asked.
But then, she changed her tune. “I’ve been called worse by him. Actually, that’s tame,” she said with a laugh.
Denise went on to tell Teddi, 38, Erika Jayne and series newcomer Garcelle Beauvais that the Two and a Half Men alum allegedly hadn’t paid “child support in over a year.”
“He’s very lucky because I never took him to court,” she added. “It is such a toxic road. It brings up so much, like, anxiety.”
Erika, 48, proceeded to ask Denise whether she had an attorney who could help. When the Real Girl Next Door author insisted that she did not “necessarily want to go down that road,” the “XXPEN$IVE” singer urged her to reconsider and “get a plan” of action.
Erika then took matters into her own hands and called her husband, Tom Girardi, who is a lawyer, at the table during the women’s meal.
“My friend Denise’s ex-husband has filed documents saying that he no longer wants to pay child support. Does she have to show up or does she not have to show up?” she asked.
Tom, 80, responded on speakerphone, “We gotta be on the safe side. You have to show. But she should be there with me or somebody else.”
Erika laughed at her husband volunteering his services, but Denise was still uninterested in their help. Instead, she told the ladies that she would “deal with this when I get back to L.A.”
In a confessional, the Bold and the Beautiful star added, “I appreciate the f–king advice, but if anyone knows Charlie, it’s me and I know how to handle it. It’s not your family, it’s mine. I’m not even gonna show up to that court date.”
Charlie filed court documents in August 2018 alleging that he could no longer afford child support payments to his ex-wives Denise and Brooke Mueller, with whom he shares twin sons Bob and Max, now 11. A year later, Denise filed paperwork claiming the actor owed $450,000 in back child support, which prompted him to release the statement that Teddi read aloud in Wednesday’s episode.
After Denise and Charlie divorced in 2006, she adopted a third daughter, Eloise, now 9. The former model later married Aaron Phypers in 2018.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs on Bravo Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
