Celebrity News

Denise Richards admits relationship with daughter Sami is ‘strained’

Denise Richards says her relationship with her eldest Sami remains “strained” after some very public drama last fall.

“Honestly, I have a strained relationship with her,” the “Wild Things” star, 50, revealed Friday on SiriusXM’s “Jeff Lewis Live,” People reports.

“It’s very difficult. I know we’ll get back to where we were eventually but right now, it is strained.”

Richards shares Sami, 17, and daughter Lola, 16, with ex-husband Charlie Sheen.

Currently, Sami lives with her father — also a point of contention for the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” alum.

“Obviously I would love for her to live with me. She lived with me all these years.”

“But I think it’s very difficult raising teenagers now and especially in Los Angeles when there’s access to everything. We didn’t grow up with Postmates and Uber where you have everything that you want,” she continued.

“There are certain rules and I enforce them. And [at Sheen’s], there’s different rules at that house and that’s okay.”

Richards also said that Sami is “not in school” at the moment.

Adding that, she does not “agree with certain things” that Sheen does, she went on: “But that’s okay. We can agree to disagree,” she said, noting that she doesn’t consider herself “a strict mom” but does have “rules and boundaries.”

Last September, Sami posted a TikTok video that she subsequently made private after it went viral.

Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards.
Richards and Sheen were married for four years before divorcing. Getty Images

Over an emotional video of her looking distraught, the teen wrote: “1 year ago today: trapped in an abusive household, hated myself, would go days without eating or sleeping, insanely depressed, hated school, etc…”

Then, alongside a happier video of herself, she wrote: “now: finally moved out of the hell house, had a spiritual awakening, own 2 cats, happy single, full of self love, and dropped out of high school :).”

Richards and Sheen married in 2002 and she filed for divorce in 2005 while pregnant with Lola. In 2011, the “Starship Troopers” actress adopted another daughter, Eloise Joni. She married Aaron Phypers — who is now in the process of adopting Eloise — in 2018.