Denise Richards’ estranged husband Aaron Phypers is attempting to drag Charlie Sheen and Brandi Glanville into his acrimonious divorce battle with the “Wild Things” star.
Phypers’ lawyers named Sheen and Glanville as witnesses in court documents that were obtained by Fox News Digital. The documents were filed on Sept. 29 ahead of the hearings scheduled for Oct. 6 to Oct. 8.
In the filing, Phypers’ attorneys stated that Sheen, who was previously married to Richards, and Glanville, who co-starred with her on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” could testify regarding “Denise’s history of not being truthful and of drug and alcohol abuse.”
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Phypers, 53, filed for divorce from Richards, 54, in June after seven years of marriage. In July, Richards was granted a temporary restraining order against Phypers, after accusing him of domestic violence.
That same month, Phypers accused Richards of having an addiction to Vicodin in a letter to friends and family that was obtained by Page Six. He has also claimed that she cheated on him with another man and alleged that she physically abused him.
Both Richards and Phypers have denied each other’s allegations.
On Sept. 30, Richards responded to Phypers’ witness list by filing an objection that was obtained by Fox News Digital.
“This person is not a percipient witness to abuse committed by Petitioner against Respondent,” the document said of Sheen and Glanville, as well as other named witnesses, including Richards’ father Irv Richards.
Phypers’ witness list stated that Irv’s testimony would include “communications from Denise regarding the case and her plans to violate court orders restricting disposal of assets.”
The witness list also named Richards herself, who would be asked to address “all of the false allegations being made against Aaron as well as her violations of court orders, her lack of fear of Aaron including phone calls and messages and video sent, her unreliability as a witness, and her violence against Aaron.”
In addition, the witness list included Phypers himself and three of his family members who would speak to “all of Denise’s allegations, as well as her [alleged] violations of court orders, her lack of fear, phone calls, messages, video she sent, violence by her, breaking Aaron’s phone, trespassing in family members’ rooms, Denise’s drug and alcohol use.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to representatives for Richards, Phypers, Sheen and Glanville for comment.
Family law attorney Patrick Baghdaserians of Baghdaserians Law Group criticized Phypers for calling Sheen and Glanville to testify, telling Fox News Digital that the “witness testimony scope is not only irrelevant but seemingly geared towards intimidating and embarrassing Ms. Richards.”
“The scope of testimony proffered for Mr. Sheen and Ms. Glanville is largely irrelevant as to whether abuse occurred between the parties,” the legal expert said.
Baghdaserians told Fox News Digital that he found the “inflammatory and derogatory statements” about Richards in the witness list to be “highly unusual.” He went on to say that it was unlikely that Sheen and Glanville would be allowed to take the stand.
“In a domestic violence setting, abuse is based on admissible evidence,” he said. “Character or historical tendencies generally carry very little weight. For example, whether a victim allegedly had a past problem with drugs or alcohol is largely irrelevant when it comes to whether abuse occurred.”
Baghdaserians added, “There is a strong public policy to exclude irrelevant and embarrassing testimony in court. This is even more important when the offered irrelevant testimony is being proffered to seemingly embarrass and or intimidate a purported victim of domestic violence.”
“Given this strong public policy, I cannot imagine the judicial officer in this matter allowing either Mr. Sheen or Ms. Glanville to testify against Ms. Richards.”
Sheen and Richards were married from 2002 to 2006 and share daughters Sami, 21, and Lola, 20. In 2005, Richards filed for divorce, citing Sheen’s drug addiction as a contributing factor in the breakdown of their marriage.
The “Two and a Half Men” star has been open about his own past struggles with alcoholism and substance abuse, and he has been sober since 2017. Sheen has never publicly accused Richards of drug use.
For several years, the two battled in court over child custody and financial support. However, they have since developed an amicable relationship. In a 2023 interview with People, Sheen told the outlet that he and Richards are “absolutely friendly.”
“We went through so much s— together that I don’t think either one of us has any energy left to be divisive,” he said. “The only thing that matters is the kids. We knew we had to park our nonsense and focus on the children, because they had nothing to do with any of our crud.”
“Even in the hottest portions of depths of the inferno, we were still able to maintain a perspective that yes, the children need to come first,” Sheen added. “Now we’re super friendly, and we’re actually able to process so much of it through humor these days.”
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In April, Sheen made an appearance on Richards’ reality show, “Denise Richards & her Wild Things.” During the episode, the former couple had dinner with Lola and discussed their relationship.
“The one thing I will say about you and I going through the difficulty we did with our divorce, you knew I always had your back, at the end of the day,” Richards told Sheen, according to InStyle.
“I appreciate that,” Sheen replied. “If you didn’t, then we wouldn’t be able to have more moments like this.”
Last month, Richards attended the premiere of Sheen’s Netflix documentary, “aka Charlie Sheen.” While on the red carpet, the two hugged and posed together for photos.
Meanwhile, Glanville and Richards’ relationship has been rocky and fraught with tension in recent years. The two formerly co-starred on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” but Richards left the show in 2020 after Glanville claimed that they had an affair while the “Starship Troopers” actress was married to Phypers.
During a 2020 episode of the show, Glanville claimed that Phypers was “OK” with their alleged affair and that she “knew” that the former couple “have an understanding.”
“Like, she could be with girls if she wanted to. And as long as, you know, it wasn’t with a guy,” Glanville said.
Richards has vehemently denied Glanville’s claims. In February 2020, she replied to a fan’s comment on Instagram, saying that she and Phypers “absolutely” did not have an open marriage and she was “100% monogamous to my husband.”
In a report published by Page Six last week, Phypers defended Glanville, telling the outlet, “Call Brandi Glanville what you like, but she is not a liar!”
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A source also spoke to the outlet, shedding some light on why Phypers wanted Glanville to take the witness stand amid his divorce from Richards.
“In [an] effort to not allow this [divorce] case to be a Brandi 2.0, Glanville is being called to testify on Richards’s credibility and manipulative moves,” the insider said.
“Denise did [Glanville] dirty,” the source added. “Aaron Phypers’ witness list includes people who can deny Denise Richards credibility on telling the truth.”
However, family law attorney Holly Davis of the firm Kirker Davis agreed with Baghdaserians’ assertion that it was unlikely Glanville and Sheen would be allowed to provide witness testimony during the hearings.
The legal expert said, “The only way this testimony actually gets in to the record over a relevancy objection is if the attorney can somehow show that Denise Richards has a modus operandi when she divorces people, otherwise dragging a person into court to testify that a person lied or did drugs ten years ago is a waste of the court’s time and could be achieved by the testimony of Denise and her husband.”
“This is a messy, ugly, high conflict case that will eat up all of the parties’ resources,” Davis added. “Denise and her husband need to settle the case, move on with their lives, and forget they ever met if they know what’s good for them. If they continue at this rate, both sides will lose ultimately at a final hearing.”
