Denise Richards Biography

Name

Denise Richards

Date of Birth

February 17, 1971

Birth Place

Downers Grove, Ill.

Relationships

Richie Sambora, ex-boyfriend (2006 to 2007) Charlie Sheen, ex-husband (2001 to 2006) Patrick Muldoon, ex-boyfriend (1999 to 2000)

Children

Sam Sheen, daughter (3/9/2004) Lola Sheen, daughter (6/1/2005

1986

California Girl

"She was fairly quiet," investment analyst Jon Fellows, who claims to have shared Richards' first kiss in seventh grade, tells PEOPLE. "You wouldn't have thought she would become a star." But by high school, when Richards' family moves to Oceanside, Calif., the skinny kid with the glasses emerges from her shell and starts working part-time as a model. She moves to L.A. after graduating high school in 1989, where she spends years staying afloat with bit parts on television shows including Saved by the Bell, Married With Children and Beverly Hills, 90210.

1997

November 07

Science Fiction Vixen

Richards lands a lead movie role as futuristic fighter pilot Carmen Ibanez in the box-office dud turned cult classic Starship Troopers. "It was not my best performance," she bluntly tells EW in 1998. "I had this smile plastered on my face throughout the whole movie. I was so annoying."

1998

March 20

Party of Three

"Men love to see women together," Richards says to Entertainment Weekly. "Why is that? Explain it to me." She's talking about her saucy role in Wild Things, specifically her infamous threesome scene with Neve Campbell and Matt Dillon that turns her into a major sex symbol. "[My parents] definitely want to see the movie," she adds, "but I don't want my dad to see my breasts. I'm just hoping he'll cover his eyes."

1999

November 08

Bond Ambition

As nuclear physicist Christmas Jones, Richards joins the long legacy of Bond Girls in the 19th 007 film, The World Is Not Enough, opposite Pierce Brosnan's Bond. "That's what is so fun about being a Bond girl – the names. I'm very happy with mine," Richards tells PEOPLE. "I think my name is one of the more innocent ones you can have as a Bond girl."

2001

September 18

Spin Zone

Richards appears in the first of her four-episode guest spots on the sitcom Spin City, starring Heather Locklear and Charlie Sheen. Although she previously met Sheen while filming the comedy Good Advice in 2000, sparks fly during this recent encounter. "You'd walk by and in a little corner they'd be kissing, so it was pretty obvious," Locklear tells PEOPLE in 2002.

2002

June 15

Major League Wedding

In front of 85 friends and relatives, Richards and Sheen tie the knot in an outdoor wedding at the Brentwood estate of Spin City creator Gary David Goldberg. During the ceremony, the celebrant Rev. Michael Kennedy refers to the couple as Nellie and Pip, the nicknames they call each other. "She was laughing so hard," Locklear, who came with her husband, Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora, tells PEOPLE. "She said, 'You are so cute, Pip!' It broke the seriousness of it all." The couple's dance to Journey's "Open Arms" before launching into an elegant dance routine choreographed by Fame star Debbie Allen.

2003

October 24

Spoofing Spouses

Parodying the movie Signs in Scary Movie 3, Sheen – in the Mel Gibson role – and Richards appear as a farmer and his wife whose cornfields are suddenly overcome with a mysterious appearance of crop circles. Richards is killed when she is pinned to a tree by a truck.

2004

March 09

Sam's Club

Going into contractions the night before her scheduled C-section, Richards rushes to a Tarzana, Calif., hospital, where she gives birth to a baby girl named Sam. Throughout the pregnancy, Richards indulges her cravings and refuses to step on the scale. "After I hit the 10 lb. mark," she tells PEOPLE, "I didn't want to know.

December

Hot Momma

Richards appears nude in a photo spread for the December issue of Playboy Magazine. The pictures are shot in the Bahamas in August, just months after Richards delivers Sam. "[Sheen] was very supportive," Richards tells USA Today, noting that he helped her pick the final photos. "Charlie's been a Playboy fan for years." To lose the baby weight in time for the shoot, Richards goes on the Zone diet and hires a trainer for daily cardio workouts.

2005

March 02

Pregnant but It's Over

Six months pregnant with her second child, Richards surprises the couple's family and friends by filing for divorce from Sheen. She cites irreconcilable differences and asks for legal and physical custody of Sam and their unborn child. Sheen's rep issues a statement denying reports that Richards ended the relationship due to his client's misbehavior. "He did not cheat. He did not have a relapse. There is no scandal. He is not going into rehab," Stan Rosenfeld tells PEOPLE. "Sometimes marriages don't work."

2005

June 01

Another Delivery, Different Circumstances

"We're thrilled to finally meet our beautiful daughter," Richards and Sheen say in a statement following Lola Rose's birth. Despite their impending divorce, Richards grants Sheen's request to be in the delivery room. Three days later, Richards is back at home with family and friends such as neighbor Heather Locklear. "I can't worry about being a single parent," Richards tells PEOPLE. "I just want to be a good one." The two briefly reconcile later in the year, but proceed with their divorce in January 2006.

2006

April 21

Wild Things

Richards is granted a temporary restraining order against Sheen, filing a 17-page statement after he requests overnight privileges with their daughters. She objects to the request, accusing him of bringing prostitutes to his Agoura Hills home, indulging in online pornography, making bets with bookies and of being "unstable and irrational." Sheen dismisses her accusations as "vile, unconscionable and without merit," telling PEOPLE: "This is about hurting, about punishing. I'm not going to lower myself to become a mudslinger."

April 23

Bad Medicine

Asked in late April if she's still pals with Richards, Locklear replies sarcastically, "Yes, my best friend." So what happened between the former neighbors? Just days earlier, Richards and Locklear's soon to be ex-husband Richie Sambora publicly kissed outside a neighborhood café. "I wish Heather well," Richards tells PEOPLE, insisting that her relationship with Sambora was platonic until after Locklear filed for divorce in February. "Unfortunately our friendship had to dissolve and I'm sad about that." In May 2007, Sambora and Richards announce their break up.

October 15

Call a Truce

Tensions drop between Sheen and Richards, with Richards dropping the restraining order against Sheen. On Ellen DeGeneres' show, Sheen comments on Richards' relationship with Sambora, "At least I knew the guy that she wound up with...To know that it's somebody decent and smart and a good parent to be around your children, that's a good thing."

November 08

Smashing A Dell

Richards throws a photographer's laptop off a balcony while on the set of Blonde and Blonder (also starring Pamela Anderson), after he refuses to leave the set. "I am not justifying my behavior. It was wrong," she tells Access Hollywood. "He got really belligerent and was saying vulgar, nasty things to me and made a derogatory remark about my family. I just did what I did, and I feel terrible." Richards agrees to pay for damages to the laptop.

2007

August

Bitter Battle Over Babies

Sheen and Richards disagree over custody arrangements for their two daughters. Sheen requests more visitation rights, while Richards asks a judge to protect their children from Sheen, who says Richards "behaves as though she owns our children."

2008

Denise's Reality Comeback

Richards is granted permission to let daughters Sam and Lola appear in her reality series. After Sheen–who marries Brooke Mueller in May–urges viewers to boycott the show, Denise Richards: It's Complicated premieres on E!. While the show fails in the ratings, Richards doesn't give up on reality TV: she'll compete on ABC's Dancing with the Stars in 2009.

2009

March 24

Denise Exits DWTS

After performing a samba dance-off against contestant Holly Madison, Richards is eliminated from Dancing with the Stars. "I had fun!" Richards tells PEOPLE. "When else am I going to get to dress up like this, work with someone like [partner] Maks [Chmerkovskiy] and be able to do a family show that my daughters can watch together."