Denise Richards revealed that she was having a hard time accepting that she had “split” her and Charlie Sheen’s family after their divorce.
The 51-year-old ‘Wild Things’ star spoke candidly about her infamous divorce from 56-year-old Sheen on the episode of Caroline Stanbury’s podcast ‘Divorced Not Dead’.
Richards – who filed for divorce when she was six months pregnant with their second daughter, Lola – said she “felt guilty for splitting the family unit.”
“I struggled with that for years,” she told Stanbury, 46, who stars in “The Real Housewives of Dubai.”
However, the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” alum said she felt compelled to file a case when, “I said to myself, ‘Would I want my daughters to marry this man?’ I don’t mean to offend him, but I think he would take that and understand what I’m saying, and then I thought, ‘Well, why am I accepting this?’”
She confessed that the two reconciled shortly after Lola’s birth, but broke up shortly after, calling the marriage “very toxic.”
The couple married in 2002 but divorced after four years. Richards adopted a daughter, Eloise, as a single parent and in 2018 she married Aaron Phypers.
The actress also revealed that she often told falsehoods to daughters Sami, 18, and Lola, while the ‘Two and a Half Men’ star went on a very public battle with addictions.
“I gave them a lot of shelter, and then they started to get to an age where ‘so-and-so said this,’ and I lied out my ass and covered for him,” she revealed.
“As they get older, they are more aware of more things. That’s why I say I don’t know if I did them a disservice when they were younger.”
The couple, who have always had tough times, recently bumped into each other after their daughter Sami joined OnlyFans. Richards followed suit by creating her own account.