'I Didn't Judge Him': Denise Richards Was 'Incredibly Naive' About Charlie Sheen's Drug Addiction
Denise Richards did not know what she was getting herself into when she married Charlie Sheen.
During The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum's Wednesday, November 8, appearance on Bethenny Frankel's "Just B" podcast, Richards opened up about how "incredibly naive" she was about the depths of the Wall Street actor's battle with addiction when they first got together.
"For me, it was no question," she told the former The Real Housewives of New York City star. "I said, 'No,' I didn't know that person. I only knew who I met. And that was a man who had been sober for four years. I didn't judge him for his past because I figured, well, his past made him who he is today. And the person that I met was very different from the person that spiraled…"
Richards — who was married to Sheen from 2002 until they split in 2005 — admitted she "wouldn't have dated him if I met him when he was in his addiction, deep into his addiction."
"He was sober and a completely different person. So that's who I met," the Wild Things actress – who shares daughters Sami and Lola Sheen with the sitcom star — noted.
When Frankel asked Richards if she found sober Sheen "boring" when they first got together, she revealed, "It wasn't boring. I wasn't a partier."
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"I wasn't thinking, 'Oh, shoot. I just started dating Charlie Sheen and I just read all these crazy stories about him and how come we're not doing [those things]?" Richards explained.
Although the insane stories about her then-husband were out there, the Starship Troopers actress admitted she "didn’t know" which of the stories were actually true. "I just knew the person I met," she said.
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While sorting out their headline-making divorce, Sheen relapsed on drugs and alcohol. "[It was] extremely disheartening," Richards revealed in a 2019 interview. "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."
As OK! previously reported, during the sit-down with the businesswoman, the blonde beauty revealed the Platoon actor has recently calmed down about their daughter being on OnlyFans. "He changed his tune when she bought a Mercedes and moved into a house," she said. "When she first did OnlyFans, he was not happy."