Unpacking Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen's Messy History Before Daughter Sami's Estrangement From Dad (2025)

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Sami Sheen Uses Charlie Sheen’s Drug Comments to Defend Estrangement

Denise Richards didn't marry Charlie Sheen anticipating their union would devolve so spectacularly.

"When I met Charlie, he truly was, in my eyes, the man I wanted to have a life with," theWild Things starsaid onThe Viewin 2008. "I was ignorant to a lot of different things in his past, but I believe everyone deserves a second chance."

For Sheen, however, wedding Richards in 2002 was more like his fifth chance, and it didn't prove to be the charm any more than the third one did.

Richards insisted she "didn't know that person," the one who accidentally shot then-girlfriend Kelly Preston in the arm in 1990 or who testified in court to spending upward of $53,000 on escorts over two years.

As the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum toldPeoplemore recently, "Everyone told me not to go out with him, but I didn’t want to judge him based on the tabloids. I judged him as the man I met. I said ‘Well, unless he murdered someone, I can’t judge him for the past.'"

Nor, incidentally, does she judge him for the past now.

The 54-year-old, who's been married to Aaron Phypers since 2018, continued, "It was such a difficult hard time. He knows I will always be there for him and I’m there for his sons [Bob and Max, his 16-year-old twins with third ex-wife Brooke Mueller). Now we look back and we're like, 'Oh, God...' But at the end of the day, we’re here for each other."

Sheen said as much back in 2023, tellingPeople he and Richards were "absolutely friends" and had been "through so much s--t together that I don't think either one of us has any energy left to be divisive."

Ultimately, theTwo and a Half Men alum added, "The only thing that matters is the kids. We knew we had to park our nonsense and focus on the children, because they had nothing to do with any of our crud."

Then he started texting "some crazy stuff," the OnlyFans model continued, not specifying what that entailed.

And after she blocked his number, Sami added, "I had to block his email as well, and then he actually got a new number on Christmas to text me other crazy stuff where I had to block that number. I had to put a stop to it and tell him, ‘Do not contact me ever again because this is crazy.’”

Sami, who made her reality TV debut at 4 on E!'s Denise Richards: It's Complicated,also noted that she doesn't hang out with or really talk to her stepdad either, but she's cool with him because he makes her mom happy.

But considering what Richards and Sheen—who's also dad to daughter Cassandra Estevez, 40, from a previous relationship—went through and still came out cordial on the other side, there's hope for any fence that needs mending.