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