HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Denise Richards says the hardest day of her life was filing for divorce from Charlie Sheen when she was six months pregnant, but it also gave her a sense of relief.
"I called my mom crying and I said to her, "I escaped the insanity." And that's how I felt, that I had been trapped," the 37-year-old actress reveals in the June issue of Redbook magazine.
That fateful day came in 2005, three years after the couple tied the knot. They have since engaged in a very bitter custody battle involving their two daughters, Sam, 3, and Lola, 2. The most recent outburst came when Richard's wanted to include the ex-couple's children in her upcoming E! reality show — something Sheen vehemently opposed.
"If Charlie and I had decided together to keep our kids away from the media, I would understand where he's coming from now," Richards says. "But we made the decision as a couple not to shield our children."
The "Wild Things" star realizes the public's perception of her has changed in recent years. In addition to her battles with Sheen, she also drew criticism when she started dating Richie Sambora. The relationship began soon after her split from Sheen and may have played a role in Sambora's divorce from Heather Locklear, who was once her close friend.
"I was no longer friends with Heather months before Richie and I got together," Richards says. "I don't want to say what caused the split, but she and I weren't even speaking then."
The former fashion model is currently single and says she obviously has "a lot of crap to get through right now," being her age, divorced with two kids, and having an ex like Sheen. She is also fighting her public image after countless sexy roles to go along with posing for Playboy.
"At home, I don't think of myself as sexy," she says. "I scoop up dog poop and clean up my kids' vomit when they're sick. I wake up looking disheveled and throw on a pair of sweats while I make their breakfast."
"I hope to have a husband who thinks that's sexy, but that's not the perception people have of me," she adds.
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