Denise Richards is breaking her silence amid her ongoing divorce from estranged husband Aaron Phypers.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum, 54, shared an emotional update with fans on Instagram Thursday, her first public remarks since Phypers filed for divorce more than two months ago.
“I was just checking in to see how your summer’s been going,” Richards began. “Mine’s been wonderful. It’s actually been s–tty, but I’m going to pretend like it’s all good. I’ve actually been posting on Instagram like nothing is going on in my life, and I can’t do that anymore because there’s something obviously going on.”
Richards thanked fans for their “kind and supportive” messages during what she called a “very, very, very difficult time.”
“It’s so hard to go through a divorce,” she admitted. “Many of you have gone through that. This isn’t my first one—this is my second one. I never thought I’d get divorced again. This is why I always say never say never.”
The actress, who was previously married to Charlie Sheen from 2002 to 2006, said she isn’t ready to share details about the circumstances of her split but hopes to one day.
“For now, I really just want to process everything and get through this,” she said. “It has not been easy, so your messages mean a lot.”
In court documents presented to a judge, Richards described the alleged abuse she says she faced at Phypers’ hands.
“Throughout our relationship, Aaron would frequently violently choke me, violently squeeze my head with both hands, tightly squeeze my arms, violently slap me in my face and head, aggressively slam my head into the bathroom towel rack, threaten to kill me, hold me down with his knee on my back to the point where I would have to plead with him to get off me so that he would not kill me and hack into my laptop and phone and download all of my text messages,” Richards wrote.
Phypers claims he was the one subjected to abuse.
