Denise Richards says she once made what she called "white trash" sandwiches for escorts at the Los Angeles home of her then-husband Charlie Sheen during a period the actor later described as drug-fueled, she recounts in the second episode of Sheen's Netflix documentary "aka Charlie Sheen."
Richards, 54, told documentary-makers she was repeatedly called to check on Sheen after he had been missing for two days while filming the sitcom Two and a Half Men. "They would call me all the f---ing time to go there because I can’t get fired. I was your ex-wife, I was already fired," she says in the episode, describing pounding on his door and trying to rouse him.
On one of those visits, Richards said she arrived with food and found Two and a Half Men's co-star Jon Cryer at the house. She described making sandwiches because Sheen "hasn't eaten," and recalled a moment when two or three escorts came downstairs. When Cryer purportedly asked whether she was making sandwiches for them, Richards said she replied, "Well, yeah. What am I gonna say? Sorry, because of what you do for a living, you don't get one of my white trash mayo, mustard, turkey, cheese, lettuce sandwiches?"
"It wasn't like I was making a gourmet sandwich. Like, I'm trying to help keep him good," she added in the episode. The comments are among several candid recollections from Richards in a documentary that revisits Sheen's personal and professional struggles.
Richards and Sheen married in June 2002 after less than a year of dating. They had two daughters during their marriage and were legally declared single in November 2006 following a divorce filed in March 2005 that cited irreconcilable differences. During their custody dispute, Richards accused Sheen of exhibiting "inappropriate behavior ... and conduct," including an attraction to underage women and sexually explicit conduct online, according to court filings cited in press coverage at the time.
Sheen publicly disclosed in 2015 that he is HIV-positive; media reports later said a source told People that Richards had known "for a number of years" and that Sheen was infected after the couple divorced. Richards sued Sheen for $1.2 million in 2016; the two have since appeared to reconcile publicly and attended the documentary's premiere together in what outlets described as their first joint red-carpet appearance in about 20 years.
Both episodes of "aka Charlie Sheen" are available to stream on Netflix. The documentary includes interviews and archival footage that cover Sheen's rise to fame, struggles with substance use, and the personal controversies that have followed him since his television success.
