In a recent interview with “Real Housewives of Dubai” star Caroline Stanbury on her “Divorced Not Dead” podcast, actress Denise Richards opened up about her 2006 divorce from actor Charlie Sheen. Richards, who was married to Sheen for four years, revealed that there were many factors that led to their split.

“The behind-the-scenes stuff was way worse than what was out there,” Richards said, adding that she often felt that people outside their marriage thought things were great.

She explained that she tried to shield her children from the drama as much as possible. Richards and Sheen share three daughters: Sam, 18, Lola, 17, and Eloise, 11.

“I never wanted the girls to — and I don’t know, maybe I did them a disservice, there’s no handbook for this, especially when you’re in the public too, and you have to deal with all this crap — but I never wanted them to sense any discord between us because I didn’t want them to feel unsettled,” Richards said.

Richards admitted that she often “covered for him” with her children, even going so far as to lie to protect Sheen.

She said that as her daughters have gotten older, they are more aware of what was happening and she sometimes wonders if she did them a disservice by shielding them from the truth.

Despite the challenges, Richards said that she knew it was time to end the marriage when she thought about the possibility of her daughters marrying someone like Sheen.

“I said to myself, would I want my daughters to be married to this man? No offense to him, but it’s true,” Richards said. “I think he would take that — he would understand what I’m saying. That’s when I was like, ‘Well, why am I accepting this?'”

Richards revealed that she filed for divorce when she was six months pregnant with Lola. She said that once the public learned of the split, her professional life suffered greatly.

“It was incredibly difficult,” Richards said of the time. “It was really so hard for me.”

In the midst of the divorce, Richards’ mother, Joni Richards, was battling cancer. Richards said that she was in the tabloids “for about two years straight” during this time.

Joni Richards ultimately passed away from cancer in November 2007.

Despite the hardships, Richards said that she doesn’t regret her marriage to Sheen because it brought her three daughters and they now co-parent together.

“To this day, Charlie does know he can call me at any time, no matter what,” she said. “I don’t care what he says or does, I will show up and be there because I always wanted him — and still do — to be the best dad for our daughters.”

After their divorce, Richards went on to marry Aaron Phypers in 2018. Sheen married actor Brooke Mueller in 2008, but they divorced in 2011.