Denise Richards overcame her initial fears to appear on Special forces: the toughest test in the world.
The actress, 53, admitted she initially “passed up” on the chance to compete in the second season of the Fox bootcamp-style reality series before agreeing to join the cast for the upcoming third season.
“It was an opportunity to do something I’ve never done before, very challenging and completely out of my comfort zone,” she said during an interview with Hey! News. “It’s unlike anything I’ve ever done and I was scared to death to do it. I actually missed the second season because I saw the first season and said ‘no way’.”
She added: “And then [I’m] I’m grateful they asked me for a third season, but it was challenging.”
Denise Richards with her daughters.
Tommaso Boddi/Getty; Instagram
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Despite her initial reluctance, she learned that “I’m stronger than I thought,” adding, “But I wish I was stronger.”
“I’ve learned that when you put your mind to something, even if you go as far as you can, at least try,” she said. “I think it’s important for my kids, too.”
While the show can teach The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills The alum’s daughters — Sami, 20, Lola, 19, and Eloise, 13 — an important lesson, weren’t “very happy” that Richards agreed to do the show.
While Richards was “in the gym every day” for three weeks before the show, she said her daughters had doubts about competing, explaining, “My daughters were terrified. They didn’t want me to do it. They [thought] that I might not make it home.”
Richards shares her older daughters, Sami and Lola, with her ex-husband Charlie Sheen. She later adopted Eloise in 2011, and her current husband, Aaron Phypers, began the process of legally adopting Eloise after their surprise wedding in Malibu in 2018.
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Denise Richards and her daughter Sami Sheen.
Instagram/deniserichards
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Richards previously told PEOPLE that her daughters were “very upset” when they signed up for the third season.
“They didn’t want me to do it,” she recalled. “They were afraid that I would get hurt or killed, but in fact they were very angry. It was the first time in all the times I’ve been doing different projects or traveling that they’ve been really mad at me.”
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Denise Richards in the third season of ‘Special Forces’.
Pete Dadds / FOX
Still, Richards says she was up to the task and willing to step outside her comfort zone.
“I’m not athletic at all – everyone intimidated me so much,” she said. “I didn’t know who was going to be there, but I heard there were athletes and I couldn’t compete with that. But that’s also the biggest thing, because it’s not about competing against anyone but yourself, and that’s why they strip us raw, physically and mentally and emotionally and all of that.”
“I thought, ‘This is the most challenging thing I’ll ever do, so why not do it?'” she continued. “I was terrified, but once I committed to doing it, I was there.”
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Special forces: the hardest test in the world season 3 premieres with a two-hour episode on Wednesday, January 8 at 8:00 PM ET on Fox.
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Source: HIS Education