Denise Richards Opens Up About Charlie Sheen

It's the interview that would make Charlie Sheen cringe.

"Had he been abusive to you?" Oprah asked Denise Richards.

[sighs] "At times yes," admitted Richards.

"You just took a deep breath before you said that...Did you not want to say that?" Oprah asked.

"Well it's...I can't lie. I'm going to be honest; and I can't sit here and say, 'No he didn't,' " Richards said.

Sheen's ex-wife is speaking for the first time about what she calls the dark side of Charlie Sheen, and about his notorious Christmas Day fight with his current wife, Brooke Mueller.

Oprah: "Do you think he has a problem?"

Richards: "Yeah. I think that Charlie has a very sharp tongue."

Sheen was arrested in Aspen after Brooke called 911. Richards says Sheen called her that day from jail.  

Richards: "I actually got, on Christmas, a collect call, from Charlie, and I thought it was odd that he was calling collect. And he said, 'Yeah, they won't let me use my cell phone here, I'm in jail.' He told me that he and Brooke had gotten into a fight and she had called the cops and he couldn't get into it because he said they were recording our conversation."  

Richards says she's not surprised that Sheen and his current wife are having vicious fights.

Oprah: "Did he push you? Shove you?"

Richards: "He did, yes."

Oprah: "So aren't you scared now? Because he knows you're here."

Richards: "Yeah, I told him I was here."

Oprah: "Hi Charlie."

TV's highest paid actor has denied ever abusing Richards or threatening his current wife, who was hospitalized last week with a life-threatening infection resulting from tooth surgery.

As for Denise Richards, she says she hopes Sheen and his new wife can work out their issues.

Sheen and Mueller, who has been released from the hospital, will appear in court in February in connection with the alleged Christmas Day domestic dispute.