The Real Girl Next Door

A raw, revealing, and ultimately uplifting memoir, The Real Girl Next Door peels back the Hollywood persona to reveal Denise Richards’s journey through fame, heartbreak, motherhood, and resilience—and the real woman who survived it all with humor, grit, and heart.

The world has seen Denise Richards as a seductive screen star in films like Starship Troopers and Wild Things, a tabloid fixture, and a reality television personality. But behind the public image is a woman whose real life has been far more complicated—and far more human.

Growing up as a small-town girl with big Hollywood dreams, Denise followed her ambitions west with the support of her close-knit family. After rising to fame, she faced intense public scrutiny, a painful and highly publicized divorce from Charlie Sheen, and the challenge of raising two young daughters alone while her mother battled cancer. Writing with honesty, humor, and optimism, Denise opens up about her childhood dreams, her move to Hollywood, the pressures of living in the spotlight, and the personal controversies that shaped her life.

Raw, inspiring, and deeply personal, this memoir offers an intimate look at the lessons Denise learned while healing and growing. It reveals the resilient woman behind the bombshell persona—the devoted mother, loyal friend, and survivor her family has always known—as she finally shares the truth of who she really is.