july 26 2011151 shes the exwife of one of the most controversial men in hollywood in the annals of celebrity motherhood denise richards might have one of the toughest jobs of all shielding her daughters sam 7 and lola 6 from father charlie sheens drama which has played out for all the world to see my first thing is to protect them thats all that matters to me richards said in an interview with abc news juju chang it has forced her to talk to her daughters about their dads alleged drug use i was lying so much to them and making excuses and i just had to explain whats been going on richards said richards 40 said she works hard at doing what so many divorced women struggle with getting along with the ex for the sake of the children charlie and i we will be in each others life the rest of our lives so if i want to be mad all the time and create drama around these crazy circumstances its toxic energy and i just dont want that i want to be positive and have a healthy relationship and a healthy dynamic for my family richards said richards has written a memoir titled the real girl next door because she believes her story is universal she said a lot of women cant relate to being married to charlie sheen or divorcing him but they can relate to going through a divorce and how did it make them feel the feelings of anger and hurt and sadness richards said i take it day by day she went on and today charlie and i are in a really really good place i think its good for the girls to see that we get along one such time made for a surprising scene in october the divorced couple took their children on a family trip to new york city but what began with a visit to the american girl doll store ended in one of the most infamous nights in their lives we had a great time until a certain incident happened and then it kind of went south richards said laughing sheen invited richards to a latenight dinner party at a fancy new york restaurant the night ended in scandal with a nude woman locked in the bathroom of sheens suite at the plaza hotel police on the scene and sheen in the hospital accused of assaulting the woman richards said sheen invited her to the dinner because she quoted him as saying i didnt want you to feel left out i honestly thought wed have a nice time i thought oh this is really great we can be friends richards said they would get dinner for the children then have a grownup night with some friends she said those friends turned out to be escorts sheen had hired i knew within 20 minutes less than that richards said i know