“Many people would ask me when I got together with him, ‘Aren’t you afraid he’s going to relapse?’ And I naively said no,” Richards admitted.

Denise Richards claims Charlie Sheen’s security would call her to deal with him during ‘tiger blood days’ so they wouldn’t get fired

“Many people would ask me when I got together with him, ‘Aren’t you afraid he’s going to relapse?’ And I naively said no,” Richards admitted.

By Marina Watts

Marina Watts

Marina Watts is a news writer for with seven years experience covering entertainment, pop culture and celebrity news. Her previous work appears in PEOPLE, Bustle and Newsweek.

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August 4, 2026 12:09 p.m. ET

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Denise Richards at Lincoln Center in New York in September 2010; Charlie Sheen at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles in September 2011. Credit:

Larry Busacca/Getty; Brian To/FilmMagic

- Denise Richards reflected on the “tiger blood days” with ex-husband Charlie Sheen.

- “His security would often call me to help him because they would get fired if they knocked on his bedroom door. He was just so bad,” she said.

- Richards and Sheen were married from 2002 to 2006.

Denise Richards is reflecting on the “tiger blood days” with Charlie Sheen.

The *Real Housewives of Beverly Hills* star opened up about her relationship with the *Two and a Half Men** *actor, recalling the period after they had divorced when Sheen struggled with substance abuse and his 2011 *20/20* interview where he infamously claimed to have “tiger blood” in his veins.

“The person I met had been sober for four-and-a-half years, went to AA, was very focused and just a very calm, nurturing person. That’s who I fell in love with,” Richards admitted of Sheen during the Aug. 3 episode of *Dumb Blonde*. The former couple met in 2000 on the set of *Good Advice*.

When asked if the actress believed that was “the real Charlie,” Richards appeared conflicted. “I don’t know, [because] I went back and forth with that too. Like, on one hand, I do know that whatever went sideways with our marriage, the one thing I don’t doubt [is] that he didn’t love me. I really believe that he loved me.”

Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen at the Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills in January 2002.

Gregg DeGuire/WireImage

“But I feel I was also very ignorant and uneducated in addiction. Many people would ask me when I got together with him, ‘Aren’t you afraid he’s going to relapse?’ And I naively said no.”

Richards then said that she had never seen cocaine as a young adult in Hollywood, as people she was close with knew she didn’t “do drugs,” adding, “I didn’t see it until during [Sheen’s] tiger blood days.”

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“And then when things went sideways, they went sideways. But during his tiger blood days... his security would often call me to help him because they would get fired if they knocked on his bedroom door. He was just so bad. It was just really bad.”

“It was actually a shame, the people around him, because he was on such a hit show, made a boatload of money and... they almost in a weird way enabled it,” concluded Richards.

“It was hard for me to watch — that everyone turning their head to how bad he was and almost propping him up to do his show at that point.”

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our ******EW Dispatch newsletter******.***

* *contacted reps for Sheen and did not receive an immediate response.

Denise Richards at ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ BBTV Launch Event in West Hollywood in March 2026.

Brianna Bryson/Getty

Sheen and Richards were married from 2002 to 2006 and went through a tumultuous period as they navigated coparenting daughters Sami Sheen and Lola Sheen.

The *Wall Street *actor wrote about his drug use, along with his decades-long Hollywood career, in his 2025 memoir *The Book of Sheen*.

*If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.*

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