Denise Richards is opening up about her daughters’ relationship with their dad, Charlie Sheen, and admitting that her oldest daughter, Sami Sheen, is not afraid to stand up to him.
During a recent appearance on Bunnie Xo’s Dumb Blonde podcast, Denise discussed her co-parenting relationship with Charlie and how she has encouraged her daughters, Sami and Lola Sheen, to have their own conversations with their father now that they are older.
At one point, Bunnie shared her take on Sami’s dynamic with Charlie.
“I feel like, and we can cut this out if you want me to, but I feel like she’s kind of Charlie’s karma in a way,” Bunnie said.
Denise laughed and replied, “You don’t have to cut it out.”
Bunnie then added, “I feel like she gives him a run for his money.”
Denise agreed, saying Sami is the one who challenges Charlie the most.
“Oh, she does,” Denise said. “She, out of all the kids, I feel stands up to him the most. And you know, and he does need it. We all do.”
Denise also praised Sami’s confidence, while admitting she sometimes wishes her daughter had a little more of a filter.
“I wish I had her confidence when I was her age,” Denise shared. “However, I do wish sometimes she filtered herself a little bit. When she’s saying stuff, sometimes.”
Still, Denise made it clear that she admires Sami for being unapologetically herself.
“But, I’d rather her be the way she is,” Denise said. “She’s not afraid to be who she is and that’s something that I really admire in her.”
Denise and Charlie were married from 2002 until their divorce in 2006. The former couple share two daughters, Sami, born in 2004, and Lola, born in 2005.
Denise also explained that Sami and Lola could not be more different.
“And she and Lola could not be more opposite,” Denise said.
Sami, 22, has built a career as a model and promotes her OnlyFans content online, while Lola, 21, is outspoken about her Christian faith and often shares religious content on social media.
Denise said the differences between her daughters remind her of her own relationship with her sister.
“My dad reminded me. My sister and I are very opposite too,” Denise said. “They don’t even look alike. My girls.”
She then joked, “Looks like I was with the milkman or something.”
Denise also reflected on what it was like raising Sami and Lola while Charlie’s personal struggles were playing out publicly.
The actress said she tried to shield her daughters from a lot of what was happening when they were young, but now believes there should come a time when they ask Charlie questions for themselves.
“I do think that there should come a time where they should really talk to their dad because so much happened when they were growing up,” Denise said.
She explained that there were moments when Charlie would not show up, including on holidays, and she would try to protect him in front of the girls.
“And ask him questions because there would be times where he wouldn’t show up on Christmas and I would have to lie and make up stuff and I protected him,” Denise shared.
Denise said she did not want to tell her young daughters the painful truth at the time.
“I wasn’t gonna tell them the truth,” she said. “How do you tell this to little girls? What’s really going on?”
She added that while some people might judge her for how she handled things, her goal was to protect her children.
“And some people would judge me,” Denise said. “They’re already so fragile… Even though I try to keep as much from them as possible, they’re aware, they pick up on energy.”
Despite her very public divorce from Charlie, Denise said it was always important to her that Sami and Lola have their own relationship with their father.
“During our divorce, which was so public, I wanted the girls to have their relationship with him without, you know, any negativity around it,” Denise explained.
Denise said she wanted her daughters to know Charlie as their dad, not just as the public figure they might read about online.
“I wanted them to know their dad as dad, not as Charlie Sheen, because there was many years where I didn’t know if he was gonna be here,” Denise said, referencing Charlie’s very public struggles with addiction.
She continued, “And I didn’t want the kids to only know about their father from what they were gonna read about him.”
Denise said that whenever Charlie was in a good place and able to spend time with the girls, she supported it.
“And so every, any time he was in a good space where they could spend time with him, I encouraged it,” Denise said. “I never spoke badly about him in front of the kids.”
While Sami may give Charlie “a run for his money,” Denise seems proud that her daughter has grown into someone who is confident, outspoken and unafraid to stand up for herself.