February 25, 2025 • 33 mins
She’s been a “Bond girl,” flew through space in “Starship Troopers,” and burst a breast implant on the set of a reality show. ’90’s icon and reality star Denise Richards reflects on her exceptional life and celebrates her upcoming reality show, “Denise Richards and Her Wild Things,” out March 4. She opens up about navigating Hollywood’s challenges, her experience with the media, and how she’s worked to protect her daughters from the darker sides of the industry. Denise also discusses her past with Charlie Sheen and her current marriage to Aaron Phypers, and addresses some rumors about her in a game of “Wild or Mild.”
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hey, besties, Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Today on the bright Side, Denise Richards is with us.
She's making her return to Bravo in her new docuseries
Denise Richards and Her Wild Things, where she's giving you
the real deal on her home, happiness and Hollywood in
the nineties.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
It's Tuesday, February twenty fifth. I'm Siman Boyce.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I'm Danielle Robe and this is the bright Side from
Hello Sunshine. Denise Richards has been a familiar face in
Hollywood since she first burst onto the scene in the nineties.
She starred in films like Starship Troopers and The World
Is Not Enough as a bond girl, and then of
course in Wild Things and we Can't Forget That Unforgettable
(00:44):
Love actually cameo. You know her as an actress, a model,
and a mom, and now she's coming back to TV
with a brand new look at her life, her whole life.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Listen.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
She would be the first to admit that she has
been through a lot, and she's done it all in
the public eye. So today we're getting the full story
from Denise Richards herself.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Absolutely, let's bring it in. Denise, Welcome to the bright Side.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Thank you for having me and we're so happy to
have you.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Okay, So your brand new reality show debuts tomorrow, and
it has been sixteen years since we followed your life
in Denise Richards. It's complicated.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
Has it been that long? Does it feel like it's
been allow?
Speaker 5 (01:26):
It doesn't because and it's so funny because my older
girls they were turning three and four when we started.
It's complicated and now and then I Alois wasn't even
boring yet, so to now see us, the older girls
are nineteen twenty and Alois is thirteen. But then also
I did Housewives in between, yes, which the girls weren't
(01:46):
on very much.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
But so how are things going to be different this
time from when we did the first reality show?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (01:53):
Oh gosh. Well, when the girls were so young, it
was they, you know, had to do what I told
them to do.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Still need to do what you tell them to do. Well,
you'd be surprised.
Speaker 5 (02:07):
It's very different because it's the dynamic of with two
teenagers and Sammy who's now twenty. It is a very
different dynamic.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
And now I'm married. I wasn't married when we.
Speaker 5 (02:18):
Did the first reality show, So it's blending the family
and seeing a lot of familiar faces on there. It's
a lot of fun. My girls have no filter. There
are times where I'm almost like, oh, I wish you
wouldn't say that, or maybe don't, but they are themselves.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
What do you hope to convey this time?
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Is there something that you want to get across to
the audience that maybe challenges the perceptions that have been
out there about you, either in the tabloids or in
the media, anything like that.
Speaker 5 (02:46):
No, I've had so much stuff said over the years
about our family, about myself. This was an opportunity for
us to do a show as a family together, and
it was a big decision and we all talked about
it and just we are who we are. Not everyone's
going to love watching us. Some people will love watching
us hopefully, and we're just on this journey of raising
(03:08):
kids in Hollywood and them adapting to that too as adults,
and them sharing their experience and it's just, you know,
our family reality show. I you know, people will take
away from it whatever they can. There have been a
lot of stuff that's been written and said, But I'm like, whatever,
people won't believe in seeing whatever what they want.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Do you feel desensitized to it?
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Almost at this point that I feel desensitized.
Speaker 5 (03:33):
It's more about I used to be such a people pleaser,
and then when I went through my divorce with Charlie,
it really it was really difficult for me, and I
had to just kind of put myself on a bubble
from listening to stuff, and it really I was always
like cautious what I say in interviews and before my divorce,
(03:53):
and so after I thought, you know, I'm just going
to be my true, authentic self because I want to
be me people. It was the first time I went
through even having any bad press during that time, and
so I'm just gonna be myself, and so it's more
about being me, not everyone's gonna love you. Yeah, and
(04:13):
don't worry about all the negative comments.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
It is what it is.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I can imagine that that time, like the bad press,
must have been so shocking, because when I was thinking
about your career last night, I was like, Okay, she
moved from Illinois. You were kind of naive, like you
had no I listened to your interview with Bethany Frankel,
like you said, you basically had no understanding of Hollywood
and the industry and it is a business, right and
(04:39):
you get here and you're very pretty, you know, and
so people take advantage. And I'm curious now that you
have three daughters that are in the industry with this
reality show, is there anything in particular that you really
want to shield them from.
Speaker 5 (04:56):
I've been wanting to shield them since social media started
and trying to, you know, not have them on there
at all, and they would sneak and get on anyway,
and they figured out how to get their phone where
the parental control was often stuff. They're much smarter than
you think kids, but I wish actually my older daughters,
(05:18):
they are so much more confident, more savvy than I
was at their age, and I wish I had that
when I was their age.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Do you have any PTSD from those early years of Hollywood.
Speaker 5 (05:30):
I wouldn't say PTSD. I think it's even through not
just the younger years.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Later too.
Speaker 5 (05:37):
I've had stuff happen and go on, and I think
it's more about I can compartmentalize things and move on
and move forward.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
It doesn't define who I am.
Speaker 5 (05:47):
It's just obviously there's such situations that I'm of course
very cautious or so I am overprotective of my daughters
and they even talk about it on the show. They
say it, but I it's because I know more than
they know, and I've experienced more than they have. And
so as any mom or dad with boys and girls
(06:09):
coming of age, it's really hard.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
What would you say is the biggest thing that you
want them to take away from your experiences?
Speaker 4 (06:18):
Well, just to always follow their gut.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
And this is something my mom always told me, and
to listen to that guardian angel in that voice that's
telling you if something doesn't feel right to it. But
it is also such a different time than when I
grew up in the business.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
I didn't there wasn't social media.
Speaker 5 (06:37):
I feel that now there's just such you're so vulnerable
even if you're not in the public and you're on
social media and you're out there. But obviously having parents
that are in the public eye and doing a show
like this, they're going to be more out there. But
just I don't think I'll ever stop worrying as their parents.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
Comes with the territory.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
In one of the episodes of your reality show, it's
actually the first episode, you say that your kids have
a lot of explaining to do about their parents.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
Tell me what you meant by that.
Speaker 5 (07:07):
Well, all I need to say, I think is their
parents are Denise Richards and Charlie.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
She Okay, that's your kids.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
You can't clump Denise Richards and with Charlie.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
She I agree with you.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
Thank you for saying that I did cover up a
lot of stuff for them, protecting them, And they now
are sometimes get angry at me that I why didn't
I share this?
Speaker 4 (07:33):
Why didn't I say anything? Because they find out about
it on their area.
Speaker 5 (07:37):
Yeah, and but I've told them as they've gotten older,
if you ever have any questions or just come to me.
But when they do discover things and they're like, why
wouldn't you say anything? Why didn't you tell us that?
What am I going to say at your age? Like
certain things?
Speaker 3 (07:52):
You know?
Speaker 5 (07:53):
So I said, there's no handbook for this, like I
did the best I could going through it.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
You were doing your best, And I mean you brought
up your ex husband, Charlie Sheen, and I remember watching
his very public downfall, and I remember feeling so much
empathy for you as a wife and a mother going
through that.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
How is he doing now? He's doing good? Yeah, yeah, no,
he's doing good. He's Uh.
Speaker 5 (08:17):
That was the journey he had to take to go
through everything he did, and obviously it was so public
and it was very humiliating and embarrassing later now for
him and also for his kids. You don't sometimes I
think the kids were so young. But still I don't
think he was in the headspace of what were my
kids think?
Speaker 4 (08:37):
But that's what addiction does to you, ack right.
Speaker 5 (08:39):
Yeah, I mean he's definitely in a much better place
now than he was back then, and it was difficult
on all the kids.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Well, we can't talk about family without talking about your
current husband, Aaron. You've been married since twenty eighteen. How
has this marriage healed you?
Speaker 4 (08:57):
Well? I think I was keelled before I got married.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
Otherwise I wouldn't have been in the place to get married,
and I didn't. I was never the type that had
to have a boyfriend, even when I was younger, in
my twenties and when I started dating, I was never
that girl. And so when after my divorce, which was
incredibly painful, and it wasn't just like the divorce was
(09:21):
done and over, it was we still were and art
in each other's lives because we do have kids, and
a lot of stuff actually happened after our divorce that
I was trying to help Charlie with, and especially during
the time when all that stuff was so public, and
so I wasn't in a place to be in a relationship.
(09:44):
I was so consumed with taking care of our kids,
and there was a period when I was helping take
care of his kids. So that's where my focus was
so as time and me just you know, healing from
all of that. I think that's when I was in
a good place to attract a man like Aaron, who
(10:06):
is very opposite from my ex and in a very
different and so this is no disrespect to Charlie.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
He was different when we got married, but.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
He's been such a wonderful, you know, person and human
and husband, and he's a great step dad and a
great dad to Eloise.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Does Charlie give you credit for all that?
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Like hearing you just say you took care of his
kids at some point like that's you have to have
a lot of space in your heart for that.
Speaker 5 (10:36):
I think there have been a couple thank yous over
the years, but not in death, not enough. It sounds
like we didn't have that sit down conversation like Hay,
but that's not Charlie.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
I think it's actually probably hard for him too.
Speaker 5 (10:51):
He's not the warm and fuzzy I was always the
warm and fuzzy person.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
And I'll joke around with him more.
Speaker 5 (10:56):
He jokes around too, but it takes a little bit
for us to get on the loosen ofp of it.
He and I do, though, have a sense of humor
about yeah, because it's so bad that we have to.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
That's huge, having a sense of humor and marriages everything.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
We laugh at it.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
So but where did that come from for you? Like,
if you're not doing it for thanks, which it's clear
you're not.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
I think it came from my mom.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
My mom was such a great woman that she was
always so fair about everything, and a lot of my
ex boyfriends before she passed, they would still call her
for advice and she just was that woman. And so
I've learned a lot from her and from my dad.
And my mom was always a big advocate of doing
(11:40):
things for the kids. Sometimes people would judge me so
much when I was trying to help Charlie and be there,
But it's truly I want him to be the best
version of himself for our kids and for his kids
because I have such an amazing relationship with my dad,
and I want that for all the kids.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
You know, do you ever have a longing for that,
like to give your kids the upbringing that you had,
which was this very like quintessential simple Midwest upbringing and
like you guys have had a whole different life.
Speaker 5 (12:11):
When my kids were really little, right after Lola was born,
my mom, I'll never forget her saying this, she said
to me, you need to let.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
Go of the white pick of unds.
Speaker 5 (12:22):
She said that, she said that, and I was like, Okay,
she goes, it's never going to be that. It's don't
try to have it's not. You know, your kids are
growing up very differently, and it's okay. But I will
say pre pandemic. A couple years prior to that, I
did want to move out of California. But it's hard
(12:46):
with our job to move out of state. And in hindsight,
I really wish I did. I wish I raised my
kids somewhere else. You grew up in Illinois. Grew up
in Illinois, I.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
Was born here. I moved around all all over the place, Denise,
But okay, don't count I'm joking. Yeah, a Miami.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Miami is like where I spent my childhood. It was
actually a great place to grow up.
Speaker 5 (13:10):
But it's it's different here, and I always would try
to defend, Oh no, it's you know, the family you
make while you're here. But if they were younger, I
would have moved them out. But they're doing good. They
actually have a huge They have a good head on
their shoulders, much more than I did when I moved here.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
That's awesome.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
I was so naive.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
I was too, I guess I think that's why I
asked you that question.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
Moved here. I was twenty two, okay.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
And I think I asked you that question about like,
do you have PTSD from moving here?
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Because I have a little bit of it.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
I think you do.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yeah, I mean not in the like diagnostic sense, but
just it's different. It's so different, and I I didn't
understand people's intentions, and I like, I remember the guy
that was cutting my hair tried to sleep with me
and I called my mom crying, and I was like
even the hairdressers like has weird morals.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
It was just like so disorienting.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
It is different.
Speaker 5 (14:03):
And for me what I remember because we moved here
when I was fifteen, my dad got a job trends
or he used to work for Illinois Bell, which was
a long time ago, and the girls were just so mean.
I'm sure and they are. And when we say we're
going to meet someone for dinner or lunch, we're there
(14:23):
five minutes early, or we don't just not show up
at all, and like, oh, I didn't know we were
still going. Well, we said we were going, Why do
we need to also confirm like five minutes before.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Totally.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
That was the thing that was hard for me to
get used to moving to California.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
People I'm sure would like cancel your meetings the day out, and.
Speaker 5 (14:42):
You didn't know sometimes because it wasn't re re reconfirmed.
So now I know we have to re reconfirm everything.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
We've got to take a quick break, but don't go anywhere.
We'll be right back with Denise Richards. And we're back
with Denise Richards. Well, you also started working in Hollywood
(15:11):
in a very different time. I mean this was pre
me too. This was free fall of Harvey Weinstea and
all that stuff. Did you ever experience that dark side
of Hollywood? The stuff that came to light? I didn't
me too. Movement in what content you I've never.
Speaker 5 (15:28):
Really talked about it publicly because I made the decision
to not, especially when all that stuff came out with
me too, to not. I didn't want to mention names
because they have families and stuff, and I just didn't
want to do that to their families, which is and
(15:50):
some people will be angry at me for not, but
I made the choice even though I felt vulnerable and
it was a different time. But I made the choice
now being more of an adult, to not only because
of there are situations.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Well, it's also it's your story and you get to
decide if and when you're ready to share it. And
that's a very you know, I don't know the details.
I've experienced some sexual assault and sexual harassment myself, and
so I have the utmost respect for anybody who has
experienced that and you don't have to share it.
Speaker 5 (16:24):
I think you would be hard to find a woman
in this industry who didn't experience anything at all. Correct,
you know, it's uh, I don't know. Especially when I
started out, it was just a different time, Yeah, very different.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
I have this written on my whiteboard at my house
and it says the universe keeps the score and so
so true. Sometimes you don't always have to be the
one right if it doesn't feel like you need to
ring the best.
Speaker 5 (16:53):
I think the truth comes out eventually, yes, But for me,
I will eventually talk about the actual experience, but won't
say names. I think eventually I will my daughters know. Wow,
you know I've talked to them about it.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Why was it important to share it with them?
Speaker 5 (17:11):
Because they're at that age of getting into the industry
and I want them to know that because they see
me as strong, because I can be a hard ass now,
but they don't know what I was like back then.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
But also during the year certain things and.
Speaker 5 (17:29):
Even though you're older and more wise, you still can
find yourself in different situations. But just to make them aware,
like this did happen to me. And this is why
I'm also overprotective, because sometimes they would get angry at me,
like Mom, I'm like, no, I want you to know
because these things did happen to me, and if it
(17:51):
could happen to me, it could happen to you. And
I just want you to be more aware and have
a voice and stand up for yourself.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
That's really I think admirable that you said something to them.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
I feel like I had to. They're women, and they're young,
they're beautiful, and they're so vulnerable.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Do you feel like you're able to be open about
some of the experiences that you had with other actors
who came up alongside you during that time. Do you
feel any sense of sisterhood with some of the actresses
that you were in the same circles with.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
Yes, that's good. Yeah, definitely. I think there's so much
power in that too.
Speaker 5 (18:29):
There was something about the nineties. When it was good,
it was good. When it was bad, it was real bad.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
There was some bad things, but when it was good
it was good too. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Well, that's actually cool to think about because you really
were in You were in it in the.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Heyday of Valleyway.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:44):
My kids are so jealous. They're like, wish I had
the nineties and it's so funny.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
Totally.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
I think we always have nostalgia for a simpler time
or what we think was a simpler time.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
And the movies were so fun and different, so good.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Yes, I have so much nineties nostalgia for the soundtracks,
all of it. Yeah, so good, characters, everything.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Have you had this like sort of guiding philosophy as
you've been navigating everything like Hollywood, reality, TV, public scrutiny, parenthood.
Do you have a guiding philosophy through it all?
Speaker 4 (19:17):
Just following what I want to do?
Speaker 5 (19:20):
And also when I did start out acting, you were
either you either did movies or you did TV. When
you did a talk show or an interview, you were
there was a mystery because you needed people to see
you as that character. And I love, actually, though that
it's all that we are more connected with fans and
(19:40):
be able to have that interaction because that's why we
all have a job, and it's nice to have that.
But I think I love though that the business has changed,
and I love that we're able to do like doing
a podcast, doing reality, doing a TV show, doing movies.
It's all entertainment, and so I love that there's just
(20:03):
such so many more platforms to be able to express
yourself creatively.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Speaking of entertainment, Denise, you did a reality show called
Special Forces on.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Fox Entertainment at its finest.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
I love that show so much.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
Same I don't know why I did it, So why
did you do it? Okay, I don't know. They asked
me for a while and I finally decided to do
it to take myself out of my comfort zone, and
I figured this would be something I will never ever
have another opportunity to do this. And I did briefly
(20:41):
touch on what you were talking about, Yeah, sexual assault
and stuff like that. And the reason why I did
even bring that up on that show is because when
I did decide to make the commitment to do the show,
I wanted to do what I could get out of
it because these men, I have so much respect for
the military and what they've gone through that I really
(21:01):
I didn't want to just be shut down and I
wanted to be myself on it. Yeah, afterwards, I was like,
oh gosh, why did I say certain things and whatever?
But I'll tell you it was one of the craziest
experiences I've ever gone through.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Why how so, like, what what are the moments that
kind of stick out in your mind?
Speaker 5 (21:20):
The first moment when we got pushed off a boat
and have to swim, and we didn't have our phones
and we were swimming in the Irish Sea, so I
wasn't able to google, like, we didn't know we're being
pushed off. Oh my god, So we were. I was
in the front of the boat, so it was so noisy,
you couldn't hear. They would pick us up, like walk
us to the back, but you can't hear because our
(21:41):
heads are down where.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
I haven't seen the show. By the way, I don't
watch it. You haven't watched it back.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
It's traumatizing for you or what?
Speaker 4 (21:47):
Well? Both? First number one, I don't like to watch myself,
and it's hard to watch yourself. It's hard for me
to even listen to myself.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
And I hated that we had no glam selfishly, we
really truly did not get to have any.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
On Special Forces and you have an epic LAMB team.
I know that is an iconic glayard. And I couldn't
even bring mascara. They would have taken it from me.
So I was like, I'm not why would I want
to watch myself? And also what I shared too, I
was like, I didn't want to watch that back. But
it was a combination of things. But yeah, I think
(22:21):
from the moment everyone meets all of us getting in
the water, and then when we had to jump on
the helicopter and the water, we didn't have a I
didn't have my phone to google, like is there a
shark in there?
Speaker 4 (22:32):
Is there?
Speaker 5 (22:33):
Which is probably good thing that I didn't know what's
you can't see anything? And yeah, I was kind of nervous.
What's down there? Yeah, and I'm afraid of heights. So
but I'm proud of myself that I did jump off
the bridge because I am terrified of heights.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
So I can't believe I did that.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
Sounds like an exercise and trust in a lot of
ways or stupidity.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Have your girls watched it?
Speaker 5 (22:55):
They can't watch it, they won't watch it. They did
not want me to do the show. I actually gotten
an argument with.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Them, really, yes, because they were scared for your safety. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
I would be for my mom too.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
I know, I get it.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
It's time for another short break, but stay with us.
We'll be right back with Denise Richards. And we're back
with Denise Richards.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
I need to go back to an earlier part of
the interview, okay, because I love the nineties so much,
and that's.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
All you've been thinking about. So I talk about Special Forces.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
You're like, no, But your iconic film Wild Things came
out in nineteen ninety eight.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
What I'm glad you know the year. I don't even
know what was it like to be Denise Richards in
nineteen ninety eight. That's so funny. Okay.
Speaker 5 (23:45):
So Starship Troopers came out and four months later it
was Wild Things, so two completely different movies. It was
very surreal walking into a grocery store and seeing myself
on the cover of a magazine or you know, I
did a lot of covers and a lot of sexy
stuff and labeled a sex symbol, and here I am
(24:06):
and jeans and a T shirt and like people could
only see me on my real life. It's surreal, and
it's you know, I always say it's people say sometimes
it's overnight. It's not. What's overnight? Is that one job
that changes your career. That part's overnight when you do
get that one job. You could get rejected all these
(24:27):
years and do different things that no one sees. But
the one job that people recognize you for and all
of a sudden people come up to you on the
street or as for your autograph or stuff like that
or a picture or whatever. That part I felt, and
I say, is like overnight. And that's a thing that
was such an adjustment for my family to deal with
(24:49):
because I.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
Don't come from a Hollywood family.
Speaker 5 (24:51):
I came from my mom who was a stay at
home mom and my dad who worked at a phone company,
and all of a sudden, their daughter is they have
neighbors asking and things like that. So that was a
big adjustment I think for my family.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
How do you reflect on the sex symbol label now? Now?
I'm like, well, shit, I wish I embraced it more
now that I'm older. That's all how gom I was
kind of shy. I was, really, yes, I was.
Speaker 5 (25:21):
I was much more shy and awkward and uncomfortable when
people would say stuff, even on a red carpet. I
would get embarrassed when people would take photos.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
I just was.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
It's funny because I was more comfortable playing a part
than presenting an award at an awards showing myself. I'd
be so nervous and I would just have to tell myself, okay,
just pretend like it's a role and you're walking out there,
because it's so daunting and nerve wracking. But it's a
it's just a different thing and different feeling of all
(25:54):
of a sudden people seeing you in a way.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
So right now, people if they're interesting, and it's particularly
famous people, they just dm somebody to go out on
a date. But in nineteen ninety eight, you blow up,
You're on the cover of magazines. What is your life
like in terms of dating? Is everyone asking you out?
Is no one asking you out because they're intimidated our
agents setting you up?
Speaker 5 (26:17):
Usually they will ask their publicist to ask the other
publicist if someone's interested.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
That's how it usually was.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Is it still like that?
Speaker 5 (26:28):
Well, I'm married. I've been with my husband for god
over eight years.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
So yeah.
Speaker 5 (26:34):
Prior to that, I don't know, because I wasn't interested
in dating. No, it was like the Raya or whatever.
I think that's ry or whatever. I don't even say
it right, I don't even know the name of the
fricking sit.
Speaker 4 (26:47):
Is that still popular? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (26:49):
I think it's on the decline, but it is still popular.
What's the new ones?
Speaker 2 (26:52):
You know?
Speaker 4 (26:53):
Are you thinking? Am? Okay? So not that you're on it?
If you will, I am? I out? Okay? Which ones
are you on?
Speaker 2 (27:00):
I'm on? Well?
Speaker 4 (27:02):
What's the what's the best one?
Speaker 2 (27:04):
There's Bumble, there's Hinge, there's Rayah. It's not an app girl,
I like an in person.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
So how do you meet people?
Speaker 5 (27:11):
I don't So do you not meet anyone on the
the apps?
Speaker 4 (27:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (27:16):
They're usually just pen pals, and I'm not a great texter,
so it ends up.
Speaker 6 (27:19):
Physicing texture even in the friend zone.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
That's actually really cute. It's true. So is it because
you don't want to go out with them? Or oh
this is good. This is a great question.
Speaker 5 (27:32):
Today because value, I mean, you can cut whatever you
want to cut. You have control over this interview. I
bet a lot of you all would love to know
this because it's a big thing with dating.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
No, it's a big thing. Okay, So I will tell
you when I go other places. When I'm in New York,
I get asked out a lot. In LA No one
really asked me out. And I don't know if it's
the energy I'm putting out or I think the culture
of conversation here is like nobody really chats.
Speaker 4 (28:05):
New York is so different.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
It's really different. I like a more like I think
aggressive guy.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
I mean to me, you seem like New York vibe.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
I am wearing a leather coat today and it might
be yeah, K look extra New York today.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Yes, your hair pulled back, very sleek.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
But you don't really you tried kind of living in
New York for a little bit and you were like,
I don't know if this is for me.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Well, by day I really love New York.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
And by day three I got into a fight with
a FedEx guy over two dollars, and I thought I
did too.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Much therapy and have lived in LA too long.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
I was so calm to have yelled at a fed
Ex man over two bucks.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
I gotta get back.
Speaker 5 (28:45):
Well, people are a little bit more straightforward there. Yeah,
but being from Chicago. The weather in New York is
a little tough too in the winter.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
I would your girls ever move or they're LA for.
Speaker 5 (28:58):
They would move, I don't know if they would move
to New York. We have talked about Tennessee. I think
that they possibly would go to Nashville, but I don't
know if they would. I don't think they'd moved to
Chicago because it's just so damn cold. Yeah, you know,
as much as I love it there.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
Do your girls keep you in the loop about their
love life? Oh? Yes, okay, so you guys have that open, real,
very open. Okay, thank you my advice? Yes, my husband
gave some advice.
Speaker 5 (29:24):
I won't say which daughter because I don't want her
to get mad, gave some advice the other night, and
it was good. They are very open, much more open
with me than I was more open with my mom
as I got older, but not at their age. I
was much more private because I'd be really a good girl,
so I couldn't tell my mom certain things. But we
(29:45):
definitely have that communication, which is great. You're trying to
get off the subject of her dating.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
No, I.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
Won't put you on the spot.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Okay, Well, Denise, you want to play a little game
with you in honor of Wild Things, your new show,
We're going to play around of wild or mild.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
So this is basically true or false.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
We're going to give you some rumors that we've heard
about you to see.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
You about me.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Okay, this interview took a turn to see if it's mild,
if it's false, and excuse. If it's true, it's mild,
and if it's false, it's wild.
Speaker 4 (30:19):
Okay, Okay.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Wild or Mild Denise has three town homes, one house,
four dogs, three daughters, and one husband to manage.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
Mild mild Okay.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Wild or Mild Denise is known to crash a Hollywood
party uninvited.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Wild Denise had to replace her breast implants after jumping
off a bridge.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
Mild Okay, I need more details.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
I'm so sorry.
Speaker 4 (30:41):
First of all, painful.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
They're getting replaced to I haven't had the downtime to
do it, so it's coming up when I'm down with
thought my press. But yes, when I jumped off the bridge,
the harness, the pressure because it wasn't like a bungee,
it was like a rope that kind of stopped you
in It ruptured every thing on me was painful.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
At that point, I've been thinking about getting one, but
I have been don't get them, don't get them.
Speaker 4 (31:07):
I've been reading terrible. If I could do it all
over again, don't get them. Nope, just be a flat
jested battie. Yeah, okay.
Speaker 5 (31:14):
My oldest daughter got them, and I try to talk
her out of it, okay, and she many reasons. It's,
first of all, the saint just my second set coming in.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Yeah, you have to replace them every ten years, right.
Speaker 5 (31:26):
When things go sideways, you replace some. But they do
say ten years. But and when you're I got them
at nineteen. When you're nineteen, you don't think you're like, oh,
ten years is so far away, But the older you get,
ten years isn't so far away. Yeah, But it's just
a constant thing. And plus they're not the healthiest. Yeah,
but my oldest daughter, she's I think she's wishing she
(31:47):
kind of didn't soothe.
Speaker 4 (31:48):
She wishes she listened to me. But you don't get them,
don't get them. Okay, all right, Denise.
Speaker 5 (31:53):
You know what they're coming out with so much technology
where you could hold off.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Yeah, I'm gonna wait until yeah they perfect that fat
injection process.
Speaker 6 (32:03):
Wait, okay, all right, what's the other wild mild? Okay, okay,
we have a couple more. Okay, Wilder Mild. See Denise
likes the game now, Okay, Wilder Mild. Denise is a
pasta pro and about to release her first cookbook, wild
I wish it was true.
Speaker 5 (32:19):
I'm trying to be a pasta pro, and I know
I am so far from having my own cookbook and
be like what not to do in the kitchen?
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Okay, the last Wilder Mild Denise will forever be an
unfiltered queen.
Speaker 4 (32:32):
Oh Mild, perfect way to.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
End, Denise, Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
We can't wait to see all of your new adventures unfold.
And thank you for joining us on the bright side.
Speaker 4 (32:43):
Thank you so much for having me the girls are
so fun.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
You're fun too.
Speaker 4 (32:47):
You're fun too. Thanks for rolling with our crazy games.
I love it.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Denise Richards is an actor and reality star. Her new docuseries,
Denise Richards and Her Wild Things, premieres on Bravo on Marsh.
Speaker 4 (33:05):
That's it for today's show.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
Tomorrow, It's well this Wednesday, we're talking all about the
surprising superpowers of the mommy brain with clinical psychologist and
author doctor Nicole Pensac. Join the conversation using hashtag the
bright Side and connect with us on social media at
Hello Sunshine on Instagram and at the bright Side Pod
on TikTok Oh, and feel free to tag us at
(33:27):
Simone Voice and at Danielle Robe.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
Listen and follow The bright Side on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
See you tomorrow, folks, Keep looking on the bright side.
Hey, besties, Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Today on the bright Side, Denise Richards is with us.
She's making her return to Bravo in her new docuseries
Denise Richards and Her Wild Things, where she's giving you
the real deal on her home, happiness and Hollywood in
the nineties.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
It's Tuesday, February twenty fifth. I'm Siman Boyce.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I'm Danielle Robe and this is the bright Side from
Hello Sunshine. Denise Richards has been a familiar face in
Hollywood since she first burst onto the scene in the nineties.
She starred in films like Starship Troopers and The World
Is Not Enough as a bond girl, and then of
course in Wild Things and we Can't Forget That Unforgettable
(00:44):
Love actually cameo. You know her as an actress, a model,
and a mom, and now she's coming back to TV
with a brand new look at her life, her whole life.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Listen.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
She would be the first to admit that she has
been through a lot, and she's done it all in
the public eye. So today we're getting the full story
from Denise Richards herself.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Absolutely, let's bring it in. Denise, Welcome to the bright Side.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Thank you for having me and we're so happy to
have you.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Okay, So your brand new reality show debuts tomorrow, and
it has been sixteen years since we followed your life
in Denise Richards. It's complicated.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
Has it been that long? Does it feel like it's
been allow?
Speaker 5 (01:26):
It doesn't because and it's so funny because my older
girls they were turning three and four when we started.
It's complicated and now and then I Alois wasn't even
boring yet, so to now see us, the older girls
are nineteen twenty and Alois is thirteen. But then also
I did Housewives in between, yes, which the girls weren't
(01:46):
on very much.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
But so how are things going to be different this
time from when we did the first reality show?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (01:53):
Oh gosh. Well, when the girls were so young, it
was they, you know, had to do what I told
them to do.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Still need to do what you tell them to do. Well,
you'd be surprised.
Speaker 5 (02:07):
It's very different because it's the dynamic of with two
teenagers and Sammy who's now twenty. It is a very
different dynamic.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
And now I'm married. I wasn't married when we.
Speaker 5 (02:18):
Did the first reality show, So it's blending the family
and seeing a lot of familiar faces on there. It's
a lot of fun. My girls have no filter. There
are times where I'm almost like, oh, I wish you
wouldn't say that, or maybe don't, but they are themselves.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
What do you hope to convey this time?
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Is there something that you want to get across to
the audience that maybe challenges the perceptions that have been
out there about you, either in the tabloids or in
the media, anything like that.
Speaker 5 (02:46):
No, I've had so much stuff said over the years
about our family, about myself. This was an opportunity for
us to do a show as a family together, and
it was a big decision and we all talked about
it and just we are who we are. Not everyone's
going to love watching us. Some people will love watching
us hopefully, and we're just on this journey of raising
(03:08):
kids in Hollywood and them adapting to that too as adults,
and them sharing their experience and it's just, you know,
our family reality show. I you know, people will take
away from it whatever they can. There have been a
lot of stuff that's been written and said, But I'm like, whatever,
people won't believe in seeing whatever what they want.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Do you feel desensitized to it?
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Almost at this point that I feel desensitized.
Speaker 5 (03:33):
It's more about I used to be such a people pleaser,
and then when I went through my divorce with Charlie,
it really it was really difficult for me, and I
had to just kind of put myself on a bubble
from listening to stuff, and it really I was always
like cautious what I say in interviews and before my divorce,
(03:53):
and so after I thought, you know, I'm just going
to be my true, authentic self because I want to
be me people. It was the first time I went
through even having any bad press during that time, and
so I'm just gonna be myself, and so it's more
about being me, not everyone's gonna love you. Yeah, and
(04:13):
don't worry about all the negative comments.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
It is what it is.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I can imagine that that time, like the bad press,
must have been so shocking, because when I was thinking
about your career last night, I was like, Okay, she
moved from Illinois. You were kind of naive, like you
had no I listened to your interview with Bethany Frankel,
like you said, you basically had no understanding of Hollywood
and the industry and it is a business, right and
(04:39):
you get here and you're very pretty, you know, and
so people take advantage. And I'm curious now that you
have three daughters that are in the industry with this
reality show, is there anything in particular that you really
want to shield them from.
Speaker 5 (04:56):
I've been wanting to shield them since social media started
and trying to, you know, not have them on there
at all, and they would sneak and get on anyway,
and they figured out how to get their phone where
the parental control was often stuff. They're much smarter than
you think kids, but I wish actually my older daughters,
(05:18):
they are so much more confident, more savvy than I
was at their age, and I wish I had that
when I was their age.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Do you have any PTSD from those early years of Hollywood.
Speaker 5 (05:30):
I wouldn't say PTSD. I think it's even through not
just the younger years.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Later too.
Speaker 5 (05:37):
I've had stuff happen and go on, and I think
it's more about I can compartmentalize things and move on
and move forward.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
It doesn't define who I am.
Speaker 5 (05:47):
It's just obviously there's such situations that I'm of course
very cautious or so I am overprotective of my daughters
and they even talk about it on the show. They
say it, but I it's because I know more than
they know, and I've experienced more than they have. And
so as any mom or dad with boys and girls
(06:09):
coming of age, it's really hard.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
What would you say is the biggest thing that you
want them to take away from your experiences?
Speaker 4 (06:18):
Well, just to always follow their gut.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
And this is something my mom always told me, and
to listen to that guardian angel in that voice that's
telling you if something doesn't feel right to it. But
it is also such a different time than when I
grew up in the business.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
I didn't there wasn't social media.
Speaker 5 (06:37):
I feel that now there's just such you're so vulnerable
even if you're not in the public and you're on
social media and you're out there. But obviously having parents
that are in the public eye and doing a show
like this, they're going to be more out there. But
just I don't think I'll ever stop worrying as their parents.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
Comes with the territory.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
In one of the episodes of your reality show, it's
actually the first episode, you say that your kids have
a lot of explaining to do about their parents.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
Tell me what you meant by that.
Speaker 5 (07:07):
Well, all I need to say, I think is their
parents are Denise Richards and Charlie.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
She Okay, that's your kids.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
You can't clump Denise Richards and with Charlie.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
She I agree with you.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
Thank you for saying that I did cover up a
lot of stuff for them, protecting them, And they now
are sometimes get angry at me that I why didn't
I share this?
Speaker 4 (07:33):
Why didn't I say anything? Because they find out about
it on their area.
Speaker 5 (07:37):
Yeah, and but I've told them as they've gotten older,
if you ever have any questions or just come to me.
But when they do discover things and they're like, why
wouldn't you say anything? Why didn't you tell us that?
What am I going to say at your age? Like
certain things?
Speaker 3 (07:52):
You know?
Speaker 5 (07:53):
So I said, there's no handbook for this, like I
did the best I could going through it.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
You were doing your best, And I mean you brought
up your ex husband, Charlie Sheen, and I remember watching
his very public downfall, and I remember feeling so much
empathy for you as a wife and a mother going
through that.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
How is he doing now? He's doing good? Yeah, yeah, no,
he's doing good. He's Uh.
Speaker 5 (08:17):
That was the journey he had to take to go
through everything he did, and obviously it was so public
and it was very humiliating and embarrassing later now for
him and also for his kids. You don't sometimes I
think the kids were so young. But still I don't
think he was in the headspace of what were my
kids think?
Speaker 4 (08:37):
But that's what addiction does to you, ack right.
Speaker 5 (08:39):
Yeah, I mean he's definitely in a much better place
now than he was back then, and it was difficult
on all the kids.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Well, we can't talk about family without talking about your
current husband, Aaron. You've been married since twenty eighteen. How
has this marriage healed you?
Speaker 4 (08:57):
Well? I think I was keelled before I got married.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
Otherwise I wouldn't have been in the place to get married,
and I didn't. I was never the type that had
to have a boyfriend, even when I was younger, in
my twenties and when I started dating, I was never
that girl. And so when after my divorce, which was
incredibly painful, and it wasn't just like the divorce was
(09:21):
done and over, it was we still were and art
in each other's lives because we do have kids, and
a lot of stuff actually happened after our divorce that
I was trying to help Charlie with, and especially during
the time when all that stuff was so public, and
so I wasn't in a place to be in a relationship.
(09:44):
I was so consumed with taking care of our kids,
and there was a period when I was helping take
care of his kids. So that's where my focus was
so as time and me just you know, healing from
all of that. I think that's when I was in
a good place to attract a man like Aaron, who
(10:06):
is very opposite from my ex and in a very
different and so this is no disrespect to Charlie.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
He was different when we got married, but.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
He's been such a wonderful, you know, person and human
and husband, and he's a great step dad and a
great dad to Eloise.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Does Charlie give you credit for all that?
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Like hearing you just say you took care of his
kids at some point like that's you have to have
a lot of space in your heart for that.
Speaker 5 (10:36):
I think there have been a couple thank yous over
the years, but not in death, not enough. It sounds
like we didn't have that sit down conversation like Hay,
but that's not Charlie.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
I think it's actually probably hard for him too.
Speaker 5 (10:51):
He's not the warm and fuzzy I was always the
warm and fuzzy person.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
And I'll joke around with him more.
Speaker 5 (10:56):
He jokes around too, but it takes a little bit
for us to get on the loosen ofp of it.
He and I do, though, have a sense of humor
about yeah, because it's so bad that we have to.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
That's huge, having a sense of humor and marriages everything.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
We laugh at it.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
So but where did that come from for you? Like,
if you're not doing it for thanks, which it's clear
you're not.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
I think it came from my mom.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
My mom was such a great woman that she was
always so fair about everything, and a lot of my
ex boyfriends before she passed, they would still call her
for advice and she just was that woman. And so
I've learned a lot from her and from my dad.
And my mom was always a big advocate of doing
(11:40):
things for the kids. Sometimes people would judge me so
much when I was trying to help Charlie and be there,
But it's truly I want him to be the best
version of himself for our kids and for his kids
because I have such an amazing relationship with my dad,
and I want that for all the kids.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
You know, do you ever have a longing for that,
like to give your kids the upbringing that you had,
which was this very like quintessential simple Midwest upbringing and
like you guys have had a whole different life.
Speaker 5 (12:11):
When my kids were really little, right after Lola was born,
my mom, I'll never forget her saying this, she said
to me, you need to let.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
Go of the white pick of unds.
Speaker 5 (12:22):
She said that, she said that, and I was like, Okay,
she goes, it's never going to be that. It's don't
try to have it's not. You know, your kids are
growing up very differently, and it's okay. But I will
say pre pandemic. A couple years prior to that, I
did want to move out of California. But it's hard
(12:46):
with our job to move out of state. And in hindsight,
I really wish I did. I wish I raised my
kids somewhere else. You grew up in Illinois. Grew up
in Illinois, I.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
Was born here. I moved around all all over the place, Denise,
But okay, don't count I'm joking. Yeah, a Miami.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Miami is like where I spent my childhood. It was
actually a great place to grow up.
Speaker 5 (13:10):
But it's it's different here, and I always would try
to defend, Oh no, it's you know, the family you
make while you're here. But if they were younger, I
would have moved them out. But they're doing good. They
actually have a huge They have a good head on
their shoulders, much more than I did when I moved here.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
That's awesome.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
I was so naive.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
I was too, I guess I think that's why I
asked you that question.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
Moved here. I was twenty two, okay.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
And I think I asked you that question about like,
do you have PTSD from moving here?
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Because I have a little bit of it.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
I think you do.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yeah, I mean not in the like diagnostic sense, but
just it's different. It's so different, and I I didn't
understand people's intentions, and I like, I remember the guy
that was cutting my hair tried to sleep with me
and I called my mom crying, and I was like
even the hairdressers like has weird morals.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
It was just like so disorienting.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
It is different.
Speaker 5 (14:03):
And for me what I remember because we moved here
when I was fifteen, my dad got a job trends
or he used to work for Illinois Bell, which was
a long time ago, and the girls were just so mean.
I'm sure and they are. And when we say we're
going to meet someone for dinner or lunch, we're there
(14:23):
five minutes early, or we don't just not show up
at all, and like, oh, I didn't know we were
still going. Well, we said we were going, Why do
we need to also confirm like five minutes before.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Totally.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
That was the thing that was hard for me to
get used to moving to California.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
People I'm sure would like cancel your meetings the day out, and.
Speaker 5 (14:42):
You didn't know sometimes because it wasn't re re reconfirmed.
So now I know we have to re reconfirm everything.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
We've got to take a quick break, but don't go anywhere.
We'll be right back with Denise Richards. And we're back
with Denise Richards. Well, you also started working in Hollywood
(15:11):
in a very different time. I mean this was pre
me too. This was free fall of Harvey Weinstea and
all that stuff. Did you ever experience that dark side
of Hollywood? The stuff that came to light? I didn't
me too. Movement in what content you I've never.
Speaker 5 (15:28):
Really talked about it publicly because I made the decision
to not, especially when all that stuff came out with
me too, to not. I didn't want to mention names
because they have families and stuff, and I just didn't
want to do that to their families, which is and
(15:50):
some people will be angry at me for not, but
I made the choice even though I felt vulnerable and
it was a different time. But I made the choice
now being more of an adult, to not only because
of there are situations.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Well, it's also it's your story and you get to
decide if and when you're ready to share it. And
that's a very you know, I don't know the details.
I've experienced some sexual assault and sexual harassment myself, and
so I have the utmost respect for anybody who has
experienced that and you don't have to share it.
Speaker 5 (16:24):
I think you would be hard to find a woman
in this industry who didn't experience anything at all. Correct,
you know, it's uh, I don't know. Especially when I
started out, it was just a different time, Yeah, very different.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
I have this written on my whiteboard at my house
and it says the universe keeps the score and so
so true. Sometimes you don't always have to be the
one right if it doesn't feel like you need to
ring the best.
Speaker 5 (16:53):
I think the truth comes out eventually, yes, But for me,
I will eventually talk about the actual experience, but won't
say names. I think eventually I will my daughters know. Wow,
you know I've talked to them about it.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Why was it important to share it with them?
Speaker 5 (17:11):
Because they're at that age of getting into the industry
and I want them to know that because they see
me as strong, because I can be a hard ass now,
but they don't know what I was like back then.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
But also during the year certain things and.
Speaker 5 (17:29):
Even though you're older and more wise, you still can
find yourself in different situations. But just to make them aware,
like this did happen to me. And this is why
I'm also overprotective, because sometimes they would get angry at me,
like Mom, I'm like, no, I want you to know
because these things did happen to me, and if it
(17:51):
could happen to me, it could happen to you. And
I just want you to be more aware and have
a voice and stand up for yourself.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
That's really I think admirable that you said something to them.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
I feel like I had to. They're women, and they're young,
they're beautiful, and they're so vulnerable.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Do you feel like you're able to be open about
some of the experiences that you had with other actors
who came up alongside you during that time. Do you
feel any sense of sisterhood with some of the actresses
that you were in the same circles with.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
Yes, that's good. Yeah, definitely. I think there's so much
power in that too.
Speaker 5 (18:29):
There was something about the nineties. When it was good,
it was good. When it was bad, it was real bad.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
There was some bad things, but when it was good
it was good too. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Well, that's actually cool to think about because you really
were in You were in it in the.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Heyday of Valleyway.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:44):
My kids are so jealous. They're like, wish I had
the nineties and it's so funny.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
Totally.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
I think we always have nostalgia for a simpler time
or what we think was a simpler time.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
And the movies were so fun and different, so good.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Yes, I have so much nineties nostalgia for the soundtracks,
all of it. Yeah, so good, characters, everything.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Have you had this like sort of guiding philosophy as
you've been navigating everything like Hollywood, reality, TV, public scrutiny, parenthood.
Do you have a guiding philosophy through it all?
Speaker 4 (19:17):
Just following what I want to do?
Speaker 5 (19:20):
And also when I did start out acting, you were
either you either did movies or you did TV. When
you did a talk show or an interview, you were
there was a mystery because you needed people to see
you as that character. And I love, actually, though that
it's all that we are more connected with fans and
(19:40):
be able to have that interaction because that's why we
all have a job, and it's nice to have that.
But I think I love though that the business has changed,
and I love that we're able to do like doing
a podcast, doing reality, doing a TV show, doing movies.
It's all entertainment, and so I love that there's just
(20:03):
such so many more platforms to be able to express
yourself creatively.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Speaking of entertainment, Denise, you did a reality show called
Special Forces on.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Fox Entertainment at its finest.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
I love that show so much.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
Same I don't know why I did it, So why
did you do it? Okay, I don't know. They asked
me for a while and I finally decided to do
it to take myself out of my comfort zone, and
I figured this would be something I will never ever
have another opportunity to do this. And I did briefly
(20:41):
touch on what you were talking about, Yeah, sexual assault
and stuff like that. And the reason why I did
even bring that up on that show is because when
I did decide to make the commitment to do the show,
I wanted to do what I could get out of
it because these men, I have so much respect for
the military and what they've gone through that I really
(21:01):
I didn't want to just be shut down and I
wanted to be myself on it. Yeah, afterwards, I was like,
oh gosh, why did I say certain things and whatever?
But I'll tell you it was one of the craziest
experiences I've ever gone through.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Why how so, like, what what are the moments that
kind of stick out in your mind?
Speaker 5 (21:20):
The first moment when we got pushed off a boat
and have to swim, and we didn't have our phones
and we were swimming in the Irish Sea, so I
wasn't able to google, like, we didn't know we're being
pushed off. Oh my god, So we were. I was
in the front of the boat, so it was so noisy,
you couldn't hear. They would pick us up, like walk
us to the back, but you can't hear because our
(21:41):
heads are down where.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
I haven't seen the show. By the way, I don't
watch it. You haven't watched it back.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
It's traumatizing for you or what?
Speaker 4 (21:47):
Well? Both? First number one, I don't like to watch myself,
and it's hard to watch yourself. It's hard for me
to even listen to myself.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
And I hated that we had no glam selfishly, we
really truly did not get to have any.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
On Special Forces and you have an epic LAMB team.
I know that is an iconic glayard. And I couldn't
even bring mascara. They would have taken it from me.
So I was like, I'm not why would I want
to watch myself? And also what I shared too, I
was like, I didn't want to watch that back. But
it was a combination of things. But yeah, I think
(22:21):
from the moment everyone meets all of us getting in
the water, and then when we had to jump on
the helicopter and the water, we didn't have a I
didn't have my phone to google, like is there a
shark in there?
Speaker 4 (22:32):
Is there?
Speaker 5 (22:33):
Which is probably good thing that I didn't know what's
you can't see anything? And yeah, I was kind of nervous.
What's down there? Yeah, and I'm afraid of heights. So
but I'm proud of myself that I did jump off
the bridge because I am terrified of heights.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
So I can't believe I did that.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
Sounds like an exercise and trust in a lot of
ways or stupidity.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Have your girls watched it?
Speaker 5 (22:55):
They can't watch it, they won't watch it. They did
not want me to do the show. I actually gotten
an argument with.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Them, really, yes, because they were scared for your safety. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
I would be for my mom too.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
I know, I get it.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
It's time for another short break, but stay with us.
We'll be right back with Denise Richards. And we're back
with Denise Richards.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
I need to go back to an earlier part of
the interview, okay, because I love the nineties so much,
and that's.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
All you've been thinking about. So I talk about Special Forces.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
You're like, no, But your iconic film Wild Things came
out in nineteen ninety eight.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
What I'm glad you know the year. I don't even
know what was it like to be Denise Richards in
nineteen ninety eight. That's so funny. Okay.
Speaker 5 (23:45):
So Starship Troopers came out and four months later it
was Wild Things, so two completely different movies. It was
very surreal walking into a grocery store and seeing myself
on the cover of a magazine or you know, I
did a lot of covers and a lot of sexy
stuff and labeled a sex symbol, and here I am
(24:06):
and jeans and a T shirt and like people could
only see me on my real life. It's surreal, and
it's you know, I always say it's people say sometimes
it's overnight. It's not. What's overnight? Is that one job
that changes your career. That part's overnight when you do
get that one job. You could get rejected all these
(24:27):
years and do different things that no one sees. But
the one job that people recognize you for and all
of a sudden people come up to you on the
street or as for your autograph or stuff like that
or a picture or whatever. That part I felt, and
I say, is like overnight. And that's a thing that
was such an adjustment for my family to deal with
(24:49):
because I.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
Don't come from a Hollywood family.
Speaker 5 (24:51):
I came from my mom who was a stay at
home mom and my dad who worked at a phone company,
and all of a sudden, their daughter is they have
neighbors asking and things like that. So that was a
big adjustment I think for my family.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
How do you reflect on the sex symbol label now? Now?
I'm like, well, shit, I wish I embraced it more
now that I'm older. That's all how gom I was
kind of shy. I was, really, yes, I was.
Speaker 5 (25:21):
I was much more shy and awkward and uncomfortable when
people would say stuff, even on a red carpet. I
would get embarrassed when people would take photos.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
I just was.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
It's funny because I was more comfortable playing a part
than presenting an award at an awards showing myself. I'd
be so nervous and I would just have to tell myself, okay,
just pretend like it's a role and you're walking out there,
because it's so daunting and nerve wracking. But it's a
it's just a different thing and different feeling of all
(25:54):
of a sudden people seeing you in a way.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
So right now, people if they're interesting, and it's particularly
famous people, they just dm somebody to go out on
a date. But in nineteen ninety eight, you blow up,
You're on the cover of magazines. What is your life
like in terms of dating? Is everyone asking you out?
Is no one asking you out because they're intimidated our
agents setting you up?
Speaker 5 (26:17):
Usually they will ask their publicist to ask the other
publicist if someone's interested.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
That's how it usually was.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Is it still like that?
Speaker 5 (26:28):
Well, I'm married. I've been with my husband for god
over eight years.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
So yeah.
Speaker 5 (26:34):
Prior to that, I don't know, because I wasn't interested
in dating. No, it was like the Raya or whatever.
I think that's ry or whatever. I don't even say
it right, I don't even know the name of the
fricking sit.
Speaker 4 (26:47):
Is that still popular? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (26:49):
I think it's on the decline, but it is still popular.
What's the new ones?
Speaker 2 (26:52):
You know?
Speaker 4 (26:53):
Are you thinking? Am? Okay? So not that you're on it?
If you will, I am? I out? Okay? Which ones
are you on?
Speaker 2 (27:00):
I'm on? Well?
Speaker 4 (27:02):
What's the what's the best one?
Speaker 2 (27:04):
There's Bumble, there's Hinge, there's Rayah. It's not an app girl,
I like an in person.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
So how do you meet people?
Speaker 5 (27:11):
I don't So do you not meet anyone on the
the apps?
Speaker 4 (27:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (27:16):
They're usually just pen pals, and I'm not a great texter,
so it ends up.
Speaker 6 (27:19):
Physicing texture even in the friend zone.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
That's actually really cute. It's true. So is it because
you don't want to go out with them? Or oh
this is good. This is a great question.
Speaker 5 (27:32):
Today because value, I mean, you can cut whatever you
want to cut. You have control over this interview. I
bet a lot of you all would love to know
this because it's a big thing with dating.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
No, it's a big thing. Okay, So I will tell
you when I go other places. When I'm in New York,
I get asked out a lot. In LA No one
really asked me out. And I don't know if it's
the energy I'm putting out or I think the culture
of conversation here is like nobody really chats.
Speaker 4 (28:05):
New York is so different.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
It's really different. I like a more like I think
aggressive guy.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
I mean to me, you seem like New York vibe.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
I am wearing a leather coat today and it might
be yeah, K look extra New York today.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Yes, your hair pulled back, very sleek.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
But you don't really you tried kind of living in
New York for a little bit and you were like,
I don't know if this is for me.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Well, by day I really love New York.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
And by day three I got into a fight with
a FedEx guy over two dollars, and I thought I
did too.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Much therapy and have lived in LA too long.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
I was so calm to have yelled at a fed
Ex man over two bucks.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
I gotta get back.
Speaker 5 (28:45):
Well, people are a little bit more straightforward there. Yeah,
but being from Chicago. The weather in New York is
a little tough too in the winter.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
I would your girls ever move or they're LA for.
Speaker 5 (28:58):
They would move, I don't know if they would move
to New York. We have talked about Tennessee. I think
that they possibly would go to Nashville, but I don't
know if they would. I don't think they'd moved to
Chicago because it's just so damn cold. Yeah, you know,
as much as I love it there.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
Do your girls keep you in the loop about their
love life? Oh? Yes, okay, so you guys have that open, real,
very open. Okay, thank you my advice? Yes, my husband
gave some advice.
Speaker 5 (29:24):
I won't say which daughter because I don't want her
to get mad, gave some advice the other night, and
it was good. They are very open, much more open
with me than I was more open with my mom
as I got older, but not at their age. I
was much more private because I'd be really a good girl,
so I couldn't tell my mom certain things. But we
(29:45):
definitely have that communication, which is great. You're trying to
get off the subject of her dating.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
No, I.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
Won't put you on the spot.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Okay, Well, Denise, you want to play a little game
with you in honor of Wild Things, your new show,
We're going to play around of wild or mild.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
So this is basically true or false.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
We're going to give you some rumors that we've heard
about you to see.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
You about me.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Okay, this interview took a turn to see if it's mild,
if it's false, and excuse. If it's true, it's mild,
and if it's false, it's wild.
Speaker 4 (30:19):
Okay, Okay.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Wild or Mild Denise has three town homes, one house,
four dogs, three daughters, and one husband to manage.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
Mild mild Okay.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Wild or Mild Denise is known to crash a Hollywood
party uninvited.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Wild Denise had to replace her breast implants after jumping
off a bridge.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
Mild Okay, I need more details.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
I'm so sorry.
Speaker 4 (30:41):
First of all, painful.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
They're getting replaced to I haven't had the downtime to
do it, so it's coming up when I'm down with
thought my press. But yes, when I jumped off the bridge,
the harness, the pressure because it wasn't like a bungee,
it was like a rope that kind of stopped you
in It ruptured every thing on me was painful.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
At that point, I've been thinking about getting one, but
I have been don't get them, don't get them.
Speaker 4 (31:07):
I've been reading terrible. If I could do it all
over again, don't get them. Nope, just be a flat
jested battie. Yeah, okay.
Speaker 5 (31:14):
My oldest daughter got them, and I try to talk
her out of it, okay, and she many reasons. It's,
first of all, the saint just my second set coming in.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Yeah, you have to replace them every ten years, right.
Speaker 5 (31:26):
When things go sideways, you replace some. But they do
say ten years. But and when you're I got them
at nineteen. When you're nineteen, you don't think you're like, oh,
ten years is so far away, But the older you get,
ten years isn't so far away. Yeah, But it's just
a constant thing. And plus they're not the healthiest. Yeah,
but my oldest daughter, she's I think she's wishing she
(31:47):
kind of didn't soothe.
Speaker 4 (31:48):
She wishes she listened to me. But you don't get them,
don't get them. Okay, all right, Denise.
Speaker 5 (31:53):
You know what they're coming out with so much technology
where you could hold off.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Yeah, I'm gonna wait until yeah they perfect that fat
injection process.
Speaker 6 (32:03):
Wait, okay, all right, what's the other wild mild? Okay, okay,
we have a couple more. Okay, Wilder Mild. See Denise
likes the game now, Okay, Wilder Mild. Denise is a
pasta pro and about to release her first cookbook, wild
I wish it was true.
Speaker 5 (32:19):
I'm trying to be a pasta pro, and I know
I am so far from having my own cookbook and
be like what not to do in the kitchen?
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Okay, the last Wilder Mild Denise will forever be an
unfiltered queen.
Speaker 4 (32:32):
Oh Mild, perfect way to.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
End, Denise, Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
We can't wait to see all of your new adventures unfold.
And thank you for joining us on the bright side.
Speaker 4 (32:43):
Thank you so much for having me the girls are
so fun.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
You're fun too.
Speaker 4 (32:47):
You're fun too. Thanks for rolling with our crazy games.
I love it.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Denise Richards is an actor and reality star. Her new docuseries,
Denise Richards and Her Wild Things, premieres on Bravo on Marsh.
Speaker 4 (33:05):
That's it for today's show.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
Tomorrow, It's well this Wednesday, we're talking all about the
surprising superpowers of the mommy brain with clinical psychologist and
author doctor Nicole Pensac. Join the conversation using hashtag the
bright Side and connect with us on social media at
Hello Sunshine on Instagram and at the bright Side Pod
on TikTok Oh, and feel free to tag us at
(33:27):
Simone Voice and at Danielle Robe.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
Listen and follow The bright Side on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
See you tomorrow, folks, Keep looking on the bright side.
Hosts And Creators
Simone Boyce
Danielle Robay
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