Co-parenting isn't easy. For celebrities whose lives are played out in the headlines, matters can be made even more difficult. Denise Richards knows this all too well.
Denise's relationship with ex-husband Charlie Sheen dominated headlines for years. Although things seemed great at first, once the cracks became apparent, there was no stopping their spread. Denise filed for divorce while six months pregnant with their second child together, Lola.
Their run of co-parenting post-split has seen some good times and some really awful ones. Charlie lashed out at Denise many times during his public downward spiral. At times, their daughters were in the middle of the contentious relationship.
On a recent episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Denise opened up about her latest struggles with Charlie. The two are amidst an ongoing court battle regarding child support. Denise emphasized how important it is to her that her girls, now teenagers, maintain a good relationship with their dad despite the adversity between him and Denise.
Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen's relationship has seen countless ups and downs. The two were madly in love when they got married in 2002. Two years later, they welcomed their first child together, daughter Sam.
In 2005, Denise filed for divorce while six months pregnant with their second child, Lola. They briefly reconciled after her birth but decided to move forward with the split in 2006.
The accusations laid out in the divorce weren't pretty. Denise accused Charlie of substance abuse, violent mood swings, and a serious gambling problem. There were many occasions where he publicly lashed out in response.
Denise and Charlie have fought over custody and child support in the years since. While they've been able to co-parent through it, it hasn't always been pretty. Amid their latest court battle over child support, Denise discussed her feelings about it all on a recent episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
In the episode, Denise explains to husband Aaron Phypers that she learned Charlie had publicly responded to a court filing claiming he owes nearly half a million dollars in back child support.
"So, in New York, Charlie said something publicly about the document that I was court-ordered to file," she said, going on to explain Charlie had publicly called her "a coward."
"A coward for what?" Aaron asked her.
"I had to file something for his filing," she explained. "He filed and you had to, like, file an answer because he filed."
Charlie's filing that Denise referred to happened in August 2018. He requested child support payments to Denise and his other ex-wife, Brooke Mueller, to be modified. He claimed he couldn't afford the payments because he has "been unable to find steady work, and [has] been blacklisted from many aspects of the entertainment industry."
Denise replied to the filing about a year later with an income and expense declaration regarding his request, which is where the $450,000 figure came from.
Denise's filing did contain some scathing statements that appear to be true from what we've seen play out in public.
Denise's filing claims that Charlie "squandered over $24,000,000 from the sale in his interest in Two and a Half Men to pay his personal debts and to support his extravagant lifestyle at the expense of support payments for his children. During the time frame since our last stipulation/order in 2016, he has failed to pay $450,000 in support while diverting over $600,000 in assets to adult family members and converting thousands of dollars into cash for his own personal use."
In a confessional interview, Denise explained she isn't interested in going after Charlie's money.
"I’m not going after child support. I did not file saying he hasn’t paid me," she explained. "I wasn’t going to say a word. He’s the one that filed saying he didn’t want to pay me at all, even though he hasn’t paid me for quite some time now."
Denise was hoping to avoid a day in court, as she explained to Aaron. "So now I have a hearing set for November. But I do not want to go through all of that. I just don’t," she said.
"‘Cause it’s not just a one-time thing where you just show up to court. It’s like an ongoing thing where you can have depositions, declarations from different people. And that’s something, you know, the girls are going to be able to hear."
"I know you want to protect them," Aaron acknowledged.
"If he doesn’t want to pay child support, that’s on him. But it would be nice to not say anything negative about me with the kids that hear about it," she replied.
"There’s a lot that the kids don’t know about their dad, and I want to keep it that way," she explained in a confessional.
Denise also noted she's made a point of not speaking negatively about Charlie to or around the girls, now 16 and 14.
"Even though he’s Charlie Sheen, that is still to them their dad," she noted. "I never talk badly about him and I want him to be part of their lives because I met a lot of the women that Charlie entertained and a lot of them had father-daughter issues. And I do not want that to be our girls."
Denise had the girls' well-being at mind when expressing her nervousness about undergoing surgery to remove hernias.
"I don’t know why I’m so nervous going under. Obviously I was put under having my implants put in years ago, but being put under after having kids, I feel weird about it," she explained to Aaron.
"God forbid something happens. I don’t want to leave them. I’m not ready."
"I think at this point where they are in their life, they still need their mom. And, you know, these are very tender ages and they’re influenced by so many different things," Denise said in a confessional.
"I want to make sure my kids are safe and that they’ll make good choices."
