Denise Gets a Dose of E!

Tue., Feb. 12, 2008 10:33 AM PST by Gina Serpe

Denise Richards' private life is about to go public.

The onetime Bond girl and ex-wife of Charlie Sheen is looking to transfer public interest from the headlines to prime time, signing on to star, along with her two daughters, in an as-yet-untitled reality show for E! set to debut this summer. (E! Online is a division of E! Entertainment Television.)

The court-approved series will follow the famous mother as she transitions back into life as a single parent and attempts to distance herself from her acrimonious, headline-grabbing divorce from Sheen.

Richards explained her decision to go the reality route to E!'s own Ryan Seacrest, who, as it happens, is executive producing the series. (Hear the entire interview here and here.)

"I've been approached before and the timing wasn't right and I wasn't in the right place in my life with everything going on," she said during Seacrest's L.A. radio show.

"I think there's been so many negative things about me in the press, most of it not true. I've kept quiet about many, many things, and I find the public believes what they hear. And if they're only hearing one side, that's what they're going to believe. So, it's time for people to see what I'm really like."

The show will pay particular attention to how Richards, who turns 37 next week, manages to balance her duties as a mother and actress, and will feature a different type of leading man: Richards' father.

Just one of the many ups—or downs—the onetime Wild Thing star will experience during her reality show's initial run is dealing with her dad, Irv Richards, moving in. Her mother, Joni Richards, died of cancer late last year.

"My mom and dad are the rock of my family, and I would not have gotten through my divorce—with being bashed in the press—if I did not have my mom and dad," Denise said.

"It was very hard, it's very hard to hear those things and read those things, and I imagine it was hard for my parents. So in hindsight, I think I may have handled it in not the right way, so I want people to see what I'm really like and then judge for themselves if they believe these tabloid stories."

Last month, a court commissioner gave the greenlight to Richards' plans for the reality series. The legal go-ahead was required because Sheen had objected to the ex-couple's two daughters, three-year-old Sam and two-year-old Lola, appearing in the show.

During the closed hearing, unspecified ground rules were laid out for filming the minors, though they were not disclosed. Team Sheen declined to comment on the ruling at the time, but a source told E! News that Richards was "very happy" about the terms.