Denise Richards: Parenting Charlie Sheen’s daughters is ‘a difficult situation’

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Denise Richards made one thing very clear Friday about being Charlie Sheen‘s ex-wife and mother of two of his kids: ‘It’s a difficult situation.’

Richards, who rarely comments specifically about Sheen’s exploits, actually didn’t say very much to Barbara Walters and the gang when she guest-hosted Friday on ‘The View’ (Walters admitted being the ‘designated hitter’ tapped to broach the subject), but she did acknowledge how awkward it is for her from a mother’s perspective.

‘I’m learning as I go,’ said Richards, who explained she can easily control what’s on television at home, but still has to deal with what her two girls might pick up at school.

She said she has used a book that explains addiction in terms young kids can understand -- though at first she described the book as one that helps kids ‘learn about different things going on’ instead of simply saying it was about addiction.

Unlike Sheen’s young twin sons with Brooke Mueller, Sam and Lola are old enough to cross paths with news floating around about dad’s crazy life. (Sam turns 7 in March; Lola is 5½.) The girls were with mom in an adjacent room when Sheen had an allegedly drunken meltdown at the Plaza Hotel in New York; with ‘Two and a Half’ men on hiatus at the time, he’d been spending some time with the kids while his ex-wife did publicity back East for ‘Blue Mountain State.’

Also unlike Mueller, Richards was spotted at the hospital after Sheen’s most recent hospitalization.

‘This has been something I’ve dealt with for years,’ Richards said. ‘This is not a new situation. There are times when his life is more colorful than others and more public than others, and as the kids get older it’s a difficult thing.’

Still, she said: ‘It’s honestly not my place to judge the situation.’

Mmm-kay. Though we feel good about the fact that our mom never had to send out a message to friends and family along the lines of, ‘No ‘adult film star’ will be babysitting our kids!’ -- we applaud Richards for drawing that line.

Incidentally, happy birthday to the actress, who turned 40 on Thursday.

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PREACH IT! Denise Richards is keeping Charlie Sheen’s private life private. Seriously.

-- Christie D’Zurilla