Denise Richards has revealed she was forced to tell her daughters that their father, Charlie Sheen, is HIV positive.
The actress, 54, shares Sami, 21, and Lola, 19, with the actor, 59, who revealed in 2015 that he had been diagnosed with HIV several years before, but thanks to retroviral drugs, the virus is undetectable.
She shared that she had to tell them about their father’s HIV diagnosis after he unexpectedly made the reveal on the Today show in 2015.
She told host Jana Kramer on Monday’s episode of the Whine Down podcast: ‘It was everywhere.
‘I think I picked them up early from school that day because I didn’t want kids at school to tell them.’
Denise added she was ‘kind of upset with Charlie’ because he ‘didn’t warn’ her beforehand, and admitted it was ‘hard to explain’.
Denise Richards has revealed she was forced to tell her daughters that their father, Charlie Sheen , is HIV positive
The actress, 54, shares Sami, 21, and Lola, 19, with the actor, 59, who revealed in 2015 that he had been diagnosed with HIV several years before
The Mad Families star has been sober since 2017, revealing that being too drunk to drive one of his daughters to an appointment was the final straw for him.
Sheen credits that decision with making him a better father to all of his children.
‘I have a very consistent lifestyle now. It’s all about single dad stuff, and raising my… twin boys Max and Bob,’ he said of the now 16-year-olds he shares with ex Brooke Mueller to People in December 2023.
Richards is also mom to 13-year-old Eloise, whom she adopted.
When the girls were little, Richards said she put up a good front for her children, in spite of their father’s struggle with drugs and the law, including charges of domestic assault. ‘I never talked bad about him in front of the kids, and that’s hard to do — to hold your tongue and not say certain things at times,’ the World Is Not Enough actress said.
‘I don’t know if I did a disservice to them with that as well because now that they’re older, they’re discovering things that they didn’t know.’
Richards and Sheen have mended their fences enough for Sheen to appear on the latest episode of her reality show, which debuted Tuesday on Bravo.
In the episode, the exes get together for a dinner with their daughters, and Sheen gives advice to Lola about how to deal with fame.
The famous pair were married from 2002-2006; Pictured in Los Angeles in January 2004
Richards and Sheen have mended their fences enough for Sheen to appear on the latest episode of Denise Richards and her Wild Things, which debuted Tuesday on Bravo
‘Don’t read anything,’ the Emmy nominee advised. ‘Don’t read anything about it. Because if you don’t read it, it doesn’t exist.’
The first few episodes that have already dropped focus on siblings Lola and Sami’s rivalry and how the actress tries to repair their months-long feud.
Apart from their differences, the sisters grew further apart after drama that unfolded following Sami’s breakup with her boyfriend, who happened to be Lola’s best friend.
In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, Lola, Denise and Charlie’s youngest daughter who was recently baptized, opened up about her tarnished relationship with her sister, shared her thoughts on OnlyFans and plastic surgery and where her relationship with her famous father stands now after her parents went through a nasty custody battle that played out in the public.
Prior to filming the show over the summer of 2024, Lola said that she didn’t know whether she’d sign on to be a part of it – until three days before filming began.
‘I sat with the Lord on it for a really long time and then I decided it would be a good opportunity to spread his light in that business where it’s not really common for people to talk about Jesus,’ she revealed.
Filming her personal life – something that she’s kept private all these years – was something ‘so vulnerable’ to her, but she realized that because she ‘serves an audience of one’ – referring to Jesus – it ‘doesn’t really matter what people think’ of her.
‘I was very judgmental of myself in the beginning, but I realized, like, “It’s okay to be different. It’s okay to not be like everybody else on TV.”
‘So that was the hardest part for me I think,’ she said.
During the March 4 debut, fans found out for the first time that Lola and Sami did not speak to each other for a year because of drama with a man – which was ‘very misinterpreted on the show,’ according to Lola.
The Sheen sisters shocked fans in a recent episode of their Bravo show by telling cameras that they’ve been feuding for an entire year
During the March 4 premiere episode, fans learned that their feud initiated over drama with a guy, which, Lola told DailyMail.com was ‘very misinterpreted’
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Denise Richards shares shock parenting revelation about ex Charlie Sheen
The restaurant hostess summarized it to DailyMail.com as when she was 16, she, her boyfriend at the time and his friend ended up getting into a car crash.
Afterwards, she ended up becoming really close to her boyfriend’s friend because of the ‘traumatic experience.’
Her sister then met her guy friend and they dated for a short time before breaking up.
‘I didn’t want to just end my friendship with him because I still had sort of the same friends,’ she explained. ‘So initially, she was just upset that I still had him a part of my life, but it felt unfair to me, because I was best friends with him before.’
Lola revealed that everything is ‘definitely good today’ between her and Sami and teased that Sami could be back together with the man that drove a wedge between them in the first place.
The content creator, who just launched her own Heavenly Bonded podcast, went on to say that she and Sami mended their relationship on Thanksgiving 2024 when the family was celebrating together at Denise’s house.
‘It was so special. We just like ended up talking. And then our best friends were there,’ she recalled. ‘So they were like, “Guys, you just have to work this out.”
‘And then we ended up talking and laughing together, and it was really sweet.’
New episodes of Denise Richards and Her Wild Things every Tuesday at 9pm ET on Bravo
Shedding light on their sibling dynamic, she stated, ‘We have never been really best friends. When I was young, maybe.
‘We’ve never been the sisters that are like really best friends, you know. It’s like she gets weirded out if I even try to hug her. That’s just normal – she loves in a different way towards me. It’s always been that way.’
Lola and Sami had their big fight while filming was going on, with Lola recalling it was ‘hard to film with her’ because the duo were ‘at such odds.’
Going through filming together, however, actually brought the sisters ‘closer again,’ she spilled since they had to film scenes together.
‘I think we will always fight, but it’s not so intense like sisters always fight, whether it’s clothes or whatever it is,’ she said, explaining they have ‘different styles’ and aren’t the kind of sisters that share each other’s clothes and accessories.
Lola told DailyMail.com that, if there is a second season of the show, she’d love for fans to see that the two are back to their old ways and how their relationship has evolved.