Denise Richards worried fighting with ex Charlie Sheen adversely affected their two daughters: "I f—ed up a lot with their dad"
Tuesday's episode of 'Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' saw Denise Richards getting extremely emotional as she reflected back on some tough times during her divorce from ex-husband Charlie Sheen, all the while also wondering how they might have affected their two daughters.
The 48-year-old reality TV star was working out with current husband Aaron Phypers when she suddenly got to thinking about how much her daughters with Sheen -- Sami and Lola -- had grown. And even though it all started off as a sweet memory, the moment also left her examining the past choices she made.
“It’s surreal when you start to see your kids become adults. It makes me cry,” she said, her eyes welling up. “I just feel like I f—ed up a lot with their dad. I don’t want them to look back at their childhood and remember [fights].”
“My girls have been through a lot,” she told audiences. “How I chose to relate to the dysfunction that was going on with their father was to hide it from the kids. I don’t know if I did a disservice or not. … It just made me realize how fast it goes. Life is so short and their childhood is so short.”
But the 'Wild Things' actress had her 46-year-old husband to support her throughout. “You protected them from a lot,” Phypers said. “You did the best you could. You’ve got to know it. And you’re right, life is short. So focus on right now and enjoy every moment. From my own perspective in my life, I wouldn’t change anything. Because it led me to right now — this moment with you.”
Sheen and Richards tied the knot in 2002 and split in 2005 while the actress was six months pregnant with daughter Lola. Fans would recall that it was an extremely nasty divorce, one that only got worse after Sheen relapsed on drugs and alcohol, going on bizarre rants about tiger’s blood and “winning.”
“[It was] extremely disheartening,” Richards told People back in February, reflecting on it. “Times were extremely negative and I would have to tell myself, ‘This too shall pass.’ … I was never bitter about my divorce. Going through everything, it changed me. But I love life and I’m a glass-half-full kind of person. And I did my best to rise above.”
However, the couple is indeed fine now and happily co-parenting their daughters. In fact, Sheen was recently spotted giving his 'cool dad' persona a chance as he joined his daughter, Sami, along with a couple of other young friends, at the famed Coachella music festival, held in Indo, California.