Denise Richards is opening up about what she describes as a stunning betrayal in her tumultuous marriage to estranged husband Aaron Phypers — claiming she unknowingly paid the salary and severance of a woman he was allegedly having an affair with.
During an appearance on 'The Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg Show,' Richards got candid about the financial toll of the marriage. 'A woman he was having an affair with at his work, an employee. I paid her payroll, her severance,' Richards said during the October 13 episode. 'I don't know how she looked me in the face.' The former 'Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' star, who has been embroiled in a bitter divorce and legal battle with Phypers for over a year, said she didn't discover the alleged infidelity — plus 'multiple' other affairs — until after the couple separated.
Representatives for Richards and Phypers did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
The latest allegations arrive nearly a year after Richards was granted a five-year restraining order against Phypers following a contentious court battle involving accusations of physical and emotional abuse. Richards was granted the permanent restraining order on November 7, 2025, after accusing Phypers of abuse; the order is set to expire on November 7, 2030.
Phypers was arrested in court in October 2025 on spousal abuse charges stemming from two separate incidents in 2017 and 2022, according to documents obtained by Fox News Digital. Richards testified in court at the time that Phypers attempted to destroy her reputation during the fallout of their relationship and, at one point, allegedly leaked nude photos of the 'Drop Dead Gorgeous' actress after she claimed he stole her laptop.
The marriage's collapse has been one of the ugliest celebrity splits of the past year, unfolding across court filings, restraining order hearings, and now daytime radio confessions. Richards, who rose to fame in films like 'Starship Troopers' and 'Wild Things' before her reality television stint, has framed herself as a woman discovering the depth of the deception only after the marriage ended. Phypers, a businessman who has largely stayed out of the entertainment spotlight, has not publicly answered the latest claims. With the divorce still grinding through the courts, the October 13 interview suggests Richards is far from done telling her side of the story.
The Richards-Phypers split is the latest turbulent chapter in a personal life that has rarely been out of the headlines. Richards was previously married to actor Charlie Sheen, with whom she shares two daughters, in a marriage that ended in 2006 amid its own storm of tabloid coverage. She later joined 'The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,' where her marriage to Phypers — a businessman who runs a wellness center — was presented as a stabilizing, low-drama partnership. The collapse of that image has been swift and total: restraining orders, abuse allegations, a courthouse arrest, and now claims of infidelity discovered only after the fact. With the divorce still unresolved, each new revelation adds another layer to a split that has become one of reality television's darkest cautionary tales.