Denise Richards is finally speaking her truth, and who better to do it with than Bunnie Xo?
Appearing on the latest episode of the Dumb Blonde podcast on Monday, August 3, the actress-slash-model revealed what actually happened with her ex-husband Aaron Phypers — who filed for divorce in July 2025 after six years of marriage — and where she stands with Charlie Sheen, the father of her children.
Reflecting on her “abusive marriage” — both physical and emotional — Richards said she felt “conned” by Phypers, who “turned into a different person” shortly after their September 2018 wedding.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum claimed that the first time he struck her was after he got his green card. “I was like, ‘Oh f***. There’s no going back from this.’”
Richards said that over time, the abuse became “normal” and she was “f***ing scared to leave” her then-husband, whose alleged violent tendencies only worsened whenever she tried to seek help. But her daughter, Sami Sheen, always “saw through” Phypers.
Richards shares daughters Sami, 22, and Lola, 20, with her ex-husband Charlie Sheen. The pair got married in 2002, just a year after they began dating. However, she filed for divorce in 2005 while pregnant with Lola.
Despite ups and downs over the years, Denise was adamant in maintaining an amicable co-parenting relationship with Sheen. She even appeared in his 2025 docuseries, aka Charlie Sheen, and spoke warmly about him.
However, she told Bunnie — who recently went through a divorce of her own with country star Jelly Roll — that people “misunderstood” her words.
“I love him as [my kids’] dad,” she clarified. “We’re friends… I can’t talk to him the way I can talk to some other friends of mine. And I love him. I always have love for him being their dad. But as far as romantic love, no. Not at all.”
Richards revealed that the Two and a Half Men star lives nearby. “I can give him s*** and joke around with him. He respects me, and I respect him, too,” she said, emphasising that she wants “only the best for him.”
The former Bond Girl is currently in the midst of a tumultuous divorce from Phypers, who has continuously denied the “completely false and deeply hurtful” abuse allegations.
