Denise Richards has been granted a temporary restraining order against her estranged husband Aaron Phypers after she accused him of domestic violence, verbal abuse and showed the court photos of a black-eye she endured.
The 54-year-old actress filed for a domestic violence restraining order on Wednesday in the Superior Court of California and it was granted the same day.
It comes after Phypers, 49, filed a petition for a dissolution of marriage on July 7. The couple were married in September 2018 and share no children.
In her request for the restraining order, Richards listed several instances of abuse, including from July 4 to July 14.
Richards wrote that on July 4, she told Phypers that his family had to move out of the family home they once shared, which she moved out of in 2023. When she told him, he became “enraged” and started screaming degrading profanities at her, and grabbed her left arm tightly, the request said.
The next day, she said Phypers showed up at one of her townhouses and he once again got in her face and started yelling insults at her, according to the request. Later, the request said she found him in the garage and he grabbed both of her arms forcefully and pushed and dragged her down to the ground, and she landed on the stairs. Aaron’s father, Steven Phypers, also began to yell at her saying he was going to tell the media and internet that she is a “whore,” her request said.
Richards said in the request that Phypers “repeatedly abused me during the marriage” and “threatened to kill me and himself and the police.”
She said he owns at least eight unregistered guns.
Richards also described an abuse incident on May 21 when Phypers allegedly downloaded information from her iCloud, took pictures of her private text messages and transferred it to his own laptop while she was asleep.
Phypers then woke her up and screamed insults at her, according to the request. Later, as she was using the bathroom, Phypers allegedly “smashed” the top of her head with the palm of his hand and screamed at her repeatedly to hand over her phone.
Richards wrote in the request that Phypers would frequently “violently choke me, violently squeeze my head with both hands, tightly squeeze my arms, violently slap me in my face and head, aggressively slam my head into the bathroom towel rack, threatened to kill me.”
Phypers allegedly regularly threatened to “break” her jaw and would “cry, beg me to stay, and promise to get help — none of which ever happened,” the request said.
She said Phypers caused her at least three concussions.
She also described a prior abuse incident on Jan. 17, 2022, where Phypers used the heel of his palm to strike her in the eye and called her a “f—ing b—-.” The next morning her eye was swollen and black and blue, and the bruising took over a month to heal. Richards supplied a photo of the black eye with her filing.
Richards asked the court for a no contact order and a demand that Phypers return her laptops, pictures, recordings and cellphones, and asked that Phypers be prohibited from using or disclosing any items taken from her phone or laptop.
Richards said she was afraid to report him or file for a restraining order “because he has repeatedly threatened to kill himself and me if I reported him to the police.”
Phypers was ordered by the court to stay 100 yards away from Richards, her homes, workplaces and cars. The order expires after a hearing set for Aug. 8.
Representatives for Richards and Phypers did not immediately respond to NBC News requests for comment.
Richards and Phypers recently had a Bravo reality series about their family life entitled “Denise Richards & Her Wild Things” that premiered in March. Phypers also appeared on TV with Richards when she was a cast member on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.”
Richards was previously married to Charlie Sheen from 2002 to 2006. They share two children together: Sami Sheen, 21, and Lola Sheen, 20. Richards is also a mom to daughter Eloise Joni Richards, 14, whom she adopted in 2011 as a single mom.
