‘It was a big decision, and they’re excited about it’: Denise Richards on returning to reality TV with her daughters – on her own terms
As she teases a move to Australia, Denise Richards opens up about her former marriage to Charlie Sheen – and why it was a ‘big decision’ to have her daughters on her new reality series.
Stellar
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Denise Richards would move here in a heartbeat. “Australia is like Malibu, but with nice people,” she tells Stellar with a laugh.
“I’m sure the people in Malibu won’t love that. But it’s true.”
Sydney’s laid-back charm, and an encounter with a koala, first won her over during a visit in 2019 to promote her role on The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills.
She has been eager to return ever since, but has had trouble convincing husband Aaron Phypers and daughters Sami, 20, Lola, 19, and Eloise, 13, to join her. “I have told them: ‘Don’t worry about it. When you get there, it’s worth it.”
In fact, she says, “I could live there. I’m not sure how that would work legally with visas. But you guys are so nice, and it’s beautiful.”
For now, Richards gets her fix watching The Real Housewives Of Sydney: “I love it … I love the whole cast,” she says. She walked away from the franchise herself in 2020, although she continues to make guest appearances.
And now she is returning to the reality TV fold with a new series, Denise Richards And Her Wild Things – her first solo venture in the genre since 2008’s Denise Richards: It’s Complicated.
“When I did the first show I was going through a divorce [from first husband Charlie Sheen]. I was very single and my father lived with us,” she says.
“Now I’m remarried. We have a blended family. I don’t think it matters if you are in the public eye or not – the issues are what a lot of parents deal with.
“My older girls have had to live in the shadows of their parents, and it’s a different situation. It was a big decision, and they’re excited about it. It’s been fun.”
It’s Complicated was, well, complicated somewhat by Sheen launching proceedings to block Sami and Lola (then four and three) from appearing.
A nonchalant Richards downplays the legal wrangling, which involved a court hearing: “Even though it sounded stressful, it was like a one [court hearing] and done, easy situation. And this time Charlie makes an appearance”.
“We do our best to keep things as positive as possible.”
Richards’ rollercoaster relationship with Sheen long ago transformed her personal dealings into public headlines.
Part of the appeal of doing a show like this, she says, is that it allows her to take better control of the narrative. Equally, though, she knows it could put her in line for more scrutiny.
“I opened myself to judgement when I divorced a famous person,” she says of splitting from Sheen in 2005, while still pregnant with Lola.
“From that day on, I realised I didn’t have a choice. Once you’re out there with the personal stuff – even if you don’t want it to be – you can’t control it.”
As such, Richards has come to accept that people are always going to have opinions about what she does. “People can love me or hate me,” she reasons. “And that’s OK. That’s why I’m always trying to convey to my girls: be your true, authentic self. Don’t read [the comments], don’t listen to the negative noise. You can’t live your life trying to please everyone.”
While her wide range of screen work over the past three decades – from a stint as a Bond girl to a romp with Kevin Bacon and Neve Campbell in the 1998 erotic thriller Wild Things – garnered her a loyal fan base, her daughters are not among them.
“My older daughters don’t watch my work,” she tells Stellar. “But Sami was watching Friends
– like so many of those younger generations who’ve discovered it – and she was like, ‘I didn’t know you were on Friends!’ And I said, ‘Well, you never asked.’”
Denise Richards And Her Wild Things premieres on Wednesday on Hayu. For more from Stellar and the podcast, Something To Talk About, click here. Read the full interview with Denise in Stellar. Inside The Sunday Telegraph (NSW), Sunday Herald Sun (VIC), The Sunday Mail (QLD) and Sunday Mail (SA) tomorrow.
Originally published as ‘It was a big decision, and they’re excited about it’: Denise Richards on returning to reality TV with her daughters – on her own terms
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