Denise Richards has been a fixture of our screens since the early 1990s.
After a breakthrough role in TV’s Starship Troopers, she found movie stardom in Wild Things, before reaching the pinnacle of her career: becoming a Bond Girl.
But Richards’ private life has brought as many headlines, thanks to her high-profile marriages to Charlie Sheen and Aaron Phypers.
Now, as she mourns the loss of her long-time friend and former boyfriend, Patrick Muldoon, let’s look back at her dating history and the friend she lost along the way.
John Stamos
It was during her early days as a model in Los Angeles that Richards reportedly first had a brief relationship with actor John Stamos.
He was eight years her senior and already a star, thanks to his role on Full House.
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Richards famously described Stamos as a great lover during a 2009 interview with Howard Stern.
The two reportedly dated off and on for a number of years, in between their other relationships, most recently around 2006.
Patrick Muldoon
Soon after moving to LA from Oceanside, San Diego, Richards started attending acting classes, and it was at the very first one that she met Patrick Muldoon.
She reflected on that first meeting in an Instagram post this week.
“We met in our first acting class,” she wrote. “I was 19 [and] never had an acting job, and you were 21, a student at USC doing a recurring role on Who’s the Boss?“.
The two started dating, and the relationship continued off and on for the next five years as they forged their careers.
Richards went on to make her acting debut in a 1990 episode of TV show Life Goes On.
In 1991, she appeared on the popular sitcom Saved by the Bell – the same year Muldoon guest starred in three episodes of the show.
In the early days of their relationship, Muldoon was the bigger star of the two, having first won a recurring role in the soap opera Days of Our Lives in 1992.
Over the next couple of years, Richards made numerous guest appearances in TV shows before winning a small role in the 1993 film Loaded Weapon 1.
By 1996, both had won a role on the hit Aaron Spelling drama series Melrose Place.
Muldoon played Richard Hart in 35 episodes of seasons three and four of the show, which aired between 1995 and 1996, while Richards guest starred in three episodes of the same season as Brandi Carson, with the two even appearing in scenes together.
But as their careers soared, their relationship began to crumble, with Muldoon eventually breaking things off to pursue Aaron’s daughter Tori Spelling.
Richards touched on the period during a 2025 episode of her reality TV show Denise Richards & Her Wild Things.
She told Spelling she was “so jealous” when Muldoon ended their on-and-off relationship to date her.
Despite her heartache, the pair remained firm friends for the next three decades, appearing together in her breakthrough TV series Starship Troopers, which first aired in 1997.
In later years, the pair worked together again on the 2015 TV movie A Christmas Reunion and the new action-thriller Dirty Hands, which is set to be released this year.
He also appeared on her reality TV shows The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Denise Richards & Her Wild Things.
Following the announcement of Muldoon’s death this week at 57, Richards mourned his loss in an Instagram post.
“This is so hard for me to put into words. I am deeply heartbroken and devastated losing you,” she wrote.
“You were my best friend and my family. Here we are. 36 years later. My whole adult life and I don’t know it without you.
“The friendship, love, support, respect and loyalty we had was unconditional and rare.
“We’ve been each other’s rock. Our memories together are endless. You’ve had my back and protected me more than anyone. I don’t know what I’m going to do without you here.
“You’re my voice of reason and pillar of strength. Especially during this last year of pain and heartache.
“And now I need you more than ever, for this pain and heartache losing you.
“We thought we’d live forever or at least into our 90’s. I need to know you’re still here with me. I love you so much and miss you dearly.”
Paul Walker and Scott Baio
During her on-off relationship with Muldoon, Richards also dated a number of other actors, including Paul Walker, her co-star on the 1994 film Tammy and the T-Rex.
Richards was also linked to actor Scott Baio after he claimed the two dated in the ’90s during an appearance on the The Howard Stern Show in 2007. She later said they were never serious.
Richards got the biggest break of her career when she appeared in the 1998 erotic thriller Wild Things.
The following year she reached superstardom when she played nuclear physicist Christmas Jones in the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough.
Charlie Sheen
Richards first met Charlie Sheen in 2000 on the set of the 2001 R-rated film Good Advice.
A year later, she was offered a recurring guest role on his hit sitcom Spin City as his character’s girlfriend.
She eventually agreed to go on a date with the actor.
Richards previously told People she immediately thought Sheen was “The One”.
“I knew that this is The One, but I wouldn’t tell him that. I didn’t want to scare him away by saying, ‘You’re my future husband!’ and have him run for the hills.”
The pair became engaged in December of that year after less than three months of dating and married in 2002.
They welcomed their first child, daughter Sami, in March 2004.
Richards was six months’ pregnant with their second child, daughter Lola, when she filed for divorce in March 2005, citing “irreconcilable differences” stemming from Sheen’s substance abuse, gambling and threatening behavior.
Following Lola’s birth in June 2005, the couple reconciled in August of that year, however, by the following January it was over.
They divorced in November 2006, but their relationship continued to hit the headlines in the decades that followed.
The pair continued to clash, mostly over child support and Sheen’s lifestyle, and Sheen regularly attacked Richards on social media platform Twitter.
After years of unrest, the pair finally buried the hatchet, and Richards even appeared in his 2025 Netflix documentary aka Charlie Sheen and appeared alongside her ex at the premiere.
Ritchie Sambora
Following her split from Sheen, Richards started dating Bon Jovi member Ritchie Sambora.
The couple first dated from 2006 to 2007, and again from 2011 to 2012, but the relationship led to the end of Richards’ friendship with Heather Locklear, Sambora’s former wife.
The Sheens and the Samboras were neighbours and it was Richards who reportedly urged Locklear to file for divorce.
But there was also another link between the two couples.
Locklear joined Spin City in season 4 as a series regular, portraying Caitlin Moore.
She even appeared in scenes with Richards during her appearance on the show.
For her part, Richards denied anything untoward happened and said the relationship with Sambora only started after they leaned on each other following their divorces and experiences caring for ill parents.
The two got back together in 2011 before splitting up for good in 2012.
However, Richards and Locklear remain estranged, with Locklear reportedly calling her former friend a backstabber.
As recently as 2025, Star reported an insider as saying Locklear had no plans to reunite with Richards.
“Heather has a long memory. She’s not trying to take pleasure in Denise’s misery, but there is part of her that says this is a classic case of karma biting Denise in the butt.”
Nikki Sixx
Richards was first linked to Motley Crue bass player Nikki Sixx in 2010 and confirmed they had “gone on a couple of dates” during a December 2010 appearance on Andy Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live.
“The God’s honest truth is we’re taking it very slowly,” she said.
“He’s been my neighbour for years. I may have borrowed some sugar from him once or twice.”
But just weeks later, Rolling Stone reported the relationship had already run its course.
Aaron Phypers
Richards was first spotted with Aaron Phypers in September 2017.
At the time, he was still married to actress Nicollette Sheridan, the former wife of actor Harry Hamlin and the long-time partner of singer Michael Bolton. The two married in 2015 but separated just six months later.
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During episodes of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Richards said she met Phypers when she visited his Malibu wellness clinic for treatment.
They reportedly became engaged the following January after dating a few months.
Their relationship, wedding and sex life were major storylines during her two seasons on Housewives.
They wed during a ceremony at Malibu in September 2018 and Phypers started the process of adopting Eloise, the little girl Richards’ adopted in 2011 as a single mother.
The adoption was never finalised but Phypers helped raise Eloise, who was diagnosed with a chromosomal deletion when she failed to reach her developmental milestones.
As a result, she suffers developmental delays and has never spoken.
In an episode of Real Houswives, the actress denied rumours Eloise was Sheen’s child with a prostitute.
Phypers appeared regularly on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. In one such appearance, he was heard on camera threatening to crush Richards’ hand.
He also worked behind the scenes on the OnlyFans account Richards launched in 2022.
Phypers filed for divorce on July 7, 2025, citing irreconcilable differences and listing their separation date as July 4.
He also requested spousal support and asked to be allowed to continue to live in a rental home leased in Richards’ name, prior to a judge evicting them both over failure to pay rent.
Media outlet Us later confirmed Richards had requested a restraining order against Phypers amid claims he physically abused her throughout their marriage.
“Aaron has caused me at least three concussions. Aaron has told me that he has left recording devices to record me while I was alone in hotel rooms and at my townhouses,” she alleged.
“Aaron repeatedly got within two inches of my face and screamed at me degrading profanities.”
In November 2025, Richards was granted a five-year restraining order. He was also arrested for domestic violence and faces potential criminal charges.
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