Charlie Sheen has officially stepped into the world of reality television, making his debut on Bravo’s Denise Richards & Her Wild Things. The Two and a Half Men star reunited with his ex-wife, Denise Richards, and their youngest daughter, Lola Sheen, in an episode that offered a rare glimpse into their complicated family dynamic.
Sami Sheen’s Strained Relationship with Charlie
For Denise, the journey with Charlie has been far from smooth. “The girls have been through a lot with their dad,” she admitted in a confessional. “It has been up and down.” And while Lola was eager to reconnect, their eldest daughter, Sami Sheen, chose to sit this one out. “I would literally do anything else than go to lunch with my father,” the 21-year-old bluntly stated. Her relationship with Charlie has been turbulent, marked by long periods of silence. “Me and my dad haven’t really spoken much in five months now,” she shared, leaving the sentiment hanging in the air.
Lola and Charlie’s Growing Bond
Meanwhile, Lola’s bond with her father has taken a different path. “I’m so close with him right now, and that’s such a blessing,” she shared. One of their favorite traditions? “We started getting pedicures together every two or three weeks, and that’s our favorite thing to do together.” Denise, despite her rocky history with Charlie, acknowledged the importance of fostering a positive co-parenting relationship. “I wish Charlie and I would get together more. It’s important for our daughters to see that we can get along and they need us.”
A Long-Awaited Family Reunion
The much-anticipated reunion took place at a restaurant where Lola once worked, setting the stage for a long-overdue catch-up between the former couple. As Charlie greeted Denise with, “It’s been a minute,” she wasted no time correcting him. “A minute? It’s been a f–king year! I haven’t seen you in f–king forever.” Charlie, clearly taken aback by the warm (and unfiltered) welcome, took it in stride. “Any chance that anyone actually applauds my presence is awesome,” he joked.
As they reminisced, Lola shared a funny anecdote about the time her father visited her at work. “The staff here, nobody knew that you were my dad,” she said. “And when we took a photo, they thought I was a fan.” Charlie, always quick with a quip, playfully asked, “Did you keep it a secret out of shame or just to protect me?” Lola clarified, “I kept it a secret because I didn’t want them to treat me differently.”
Despite his years in the limelight, Charlie confessed that he had never actually been on a reality show before. “You know, I’ve never been on a reality show,” he noted, before revealing that he had only recently seen an episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, where Denise was caught in a heated argument. “I never saw the show until about three days ago, and I stumble into this fight that you’re in with Lisa [Rinna], but I didn’t have the backstory, so I couldn’t really pick a side. I mean, I picked yours for obvious reasons. Our lunch is going to look nothing like that.”
Despite the highs and lows, Denise reminded Charlie of one crucial truth: “I always had your back at the end of the day. I was never gonna hold a press and say this and do that.” While their past may be messy, their present moment—however fleeting—showed glimpses of a family still trying to navigate their way back to some form of connection.
Denise Richards & Her Wild Things airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on Bravo. Be sure to catch up on everything happening with Charlie Sheen right now.
Denise Richards, alum of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, shared she would like to be friends with her ex-husband, Charlie Sheen, the father of her two eldest children, Lola Sheen, age 19, and Sami Sheen, age 21. In an April 1 episode of the Whine Down podcast, Richards said she and her ex-husband do not have a strong co-parenting relationship, as reported by People magazine. Richards and Sheen ended their marriage in 2006 after four years of marriage.
“Truthfully, it wasn’t co-parenting. I parent my way. He parents his way, and there was no co-parenting,” said Richards during the podcast episode. She said while she is “friendly with Charlie,” she would like to have a better relationship with him. “I wish we were friends and that we could talk all the time and be able to be there really for each other with our girls. But that’s just not the relationship we have. Maybe one day. But, I mean right now, there’s nothing. There’s no discord between he and I, which is great,” said Richards in the interview.
She also said she “never talked bad about him in front of the kids.” She said while “that’s hard to do,” she never wanted her children “to feel like they had to choose sides.” She said, however, that she was not sure if she “did a disservice to them” by doing that. “Now that they’re older, they’re discovering things that they didn’t know,” continued Richards.
Denise Richards expressed gratitude for her relationship with Charlie Sheen in a March 2025 episode of the Live From Bed podcast. She said she was “grateful” she married Sheen because they had their daughters together. “Even though he and I didn’t work out. I feel like we were destined to have our daughters. And that was our journey,” said Richards during the podcast episode.
In a March 2025 interview with Entertainment Tonight, Richards gave an update about her dynamic with Sheen. She said their relationship “always changes.” “It’s up and down, up and down. He and I know that. And it is what it is,” said Richards during the Entertainment Tonight interview. “There’s times where it’s really wonderful and times where, like any other family, it’s like eh. But it’s okay. I’m glad that he filmed with us. I think it’s important. It’s about our life. And he’s [Lola and Sami’s] dad. So it’s great.”
In 2015, Charlie Sheen revealed on the Today show that he had been diagnosed with HIV. Denise Richards said she wished Charlie had warned her before announcing his HIV diagnosis publicly. She was forced to pick up her daughters from school early after Charlie Sheen's announcement, for fear that they would learn the news from their classmates. “It was hard to explain,” Denise admitted, emphasizing the difficulty of that conversation.
During their marriage, Sheen was very jealous and wouldn't let her communicate with her ex-boyfriend, Patrick Muldoon. Today, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star is married to Aaron Phypers, with whom she married in 2018. Denise is also the mother of another daughter, Eloise, whom she adopted in 2011.
