Denise Lee Boyd Richards (born February 17, 1971)
is an American actress and a former fashion model. She has appeared in numerous films, including
Starship Troopers (1997),
Wild Things (1998),
Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999),
The World Is Not Enough (1999) as a Bond girl, and in
Valentine (2001). She played Monica and Ross Geller's cousin on
Friends (2001). From 2008 to 2009, she starred on the E! reality show
Denise Richards: It's Complicated. Between 2010 and 2011, she was a series regular on the comedy
Blue Mountain State.
Richards was born in Downers Grove, Illinois,
the daughter of Joni Lee, a coffee shop owner, and Irv Richards , a telephone engineer.
She has one sister, Michelle. Her ancestry includes German and French.
Richards grew up in both Mokena and Downers Grove.
In 1986, she appeared in the Double music video: "The Captain of Her
Heart," when she was 15 years old. She graduated in 1989 from El Camino High School in Oceanside, California. As a child, she was the "only girl on the baseball team."
Richards was raised Roman Catholic and still practices today.
Richards first met actor Charlie Sheen on the set of
Loaded Weapon 1 in 1991. They became engaged on December 26, 2001, and married in a Roman Catholic ceremony on June 15, 2002, at the estate of
Spin City creator Gary David Goldberg.
They have two daughters together, Sam J. Sheen (born March 9, 2004)
and Lola Rose Sheen (born June 1, 2005).
In March 2005, while pregnant with their second daughter, Richards filed for divorce from Sheen. The couple briefly reconciled and sought marriage counselling. However,
on January 4, 2006, Richards' representative announced that she was
continuing with the divorce. She later sought a restraining order
against Sheen, alleging death threats against her.
On April 19, 2006, Richards filed formal legal papers seeking a divorce from Sheen under the laws of the state of California.
In 2008, Richards decided to include her two daughters with Charlie Sheen in her confessional reality program on E!,
Denise Richards: It's Complicated, which premiered on May 26, 2008. He deemed her plans "greedy, vain and exploitative".
On January 25, 2008, Richards won a court case against Sheen so that she could include her daughters in the show.
When a judge rejected Sheen's request to block it,
Sheen urged fans to boycott it.
An agreement was reached between Sheen and Richards in the custody of
the children, with Sheen stating in April 2009 that “we had to do what’s
best for the girls.”
By mid-2012, Richards and Sheen were on good terms, often spending time together with their children. In 2012, he made a cameo appearance in her movie
Madea's Witness Protection and she appeared in Sheen's television series,
Anger Management on the FX network.
In a move supported by Sheen, in May 2013, Richards was awarded
temporary custody of Bob and Max, the twin sons born in 2009 to Sheen
and third wife Brooke Mueller, after the children were removed from Mueller's home by child protective services due to concerns over drug use.
Richards had previously cared for the children on other occasions as
well.
