Family day out: Denise Richards took her two girls, Sam and Lola to the park in Los Angeles yesterday for an after school picnicDenise Richards took her two girls and the family dog, for an after school picnic yesterday in Los Angeles.
Richards, Sam and Lola looked like a model family as they hung out in the afternoon sunshine, playing games and eating sandwiches and bags of crisps.
Denise, 39, looked cute in some ripped jeans, white T-shirt and newspaper boy style cap pulled down over her long brown hair.
And the two girls, Sam, six and Lola, five were pretty in their little dresses and sandals.
Richards has taken over the day to day parenting of her daughters since their father, and Denise's ex-husband, Charlie Sheen voluntarily relinquished his legal custody rights.
Sheen's decision was made in response to Richards filing for sole custody of the children back in April, following Charlie's 2009 Christmas day arrest for domestic violence.
Charlie was arrested after his wife, Brooke Mueller called cops and accused him of attacking her and threatening her life.
U.S. website TMZ reported that Richards wanted sole custody, given Sheen's recent 'marital turmoil, sobriety issues and criminal problems,' and that Sheen did not put up a fight about signing the agreement.
Single mother: Richards has taken over the day to day parenting of her daughters since their father, Charlie Sheen agreed to sign over his custodial rights in AprilThis wasn't the first time Sheen has been accused of violence against a woman, in 1991 he allegedly shot his then fiance, Kelly Preston in the arm during a fight.
n 1996 Sheen abused his girlfriend Brittany Ashland, he subsequently pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of battery with serious bodily injury.
That domestic dispute involved Charlie causing Brittany to become unconscious when his violence knocked her to the floor.
In Richards' divorce papers that she filed in 2006 she claimed that Sheen was physically and verbally abusive and threatened to kill her or have her killed.
In addition, Richards alleged that Sheen visited prostitutes and was addicted to gambling, prescription drugs and pornography.
In happier times: Richards and Sheen were all smiles at the 2005 Golden Globes, just one year later Richards filed for divorceRichards also alleged that Sheen posted an obscene picture of a body part on his online profile of a 'sex-search type' website and that he frequently viewed pornography featuring 'very young girls,' and websites 'involving gay pornography also involving very young men who also did not look like adults.'
Richards appears to be getting on with her life, and single parenting, quite nicely without her hell raising ex-husband in her life.
She documented her day to day life balancing work and parenting on her E! TV show, Denise Richards: It's Complicated, which finished filming last year.
Nowadays Richards claims to be all about raising her two beautiful daughters: 'I'm definitely a hands-on mom. I need extra help when I'm working, but at the end of the day, I’m raising my girls,' she says.
'I'm still working on balancing it all. For me it's about priorities, and my girls always come first above anything else. I look at it as having a harmonious house more than balancing.'
Family unit: Despite surrendering his custodial rights Sheen still plays a part in his daughters' lives. He is pictured here spending the day with them, and his ex-wife, Denise Richards last monthsource :dailymail
