One Joke With Denise Richards Cost Charlie Sheen $1 Million

Charlie Sheen crashes back into the spotlight with a no-filter KFC Radio confession involving ex-wife Denise Richards—another wild chapter from the Two and a Half Men star that refuses to fade.

Charlie Sheen telling an outrageous story is not exactly rare, but this one still made me do a double take. On a podcast, he said he once wrote Denise Richards a $1 million check as a birthday gag. She held onto it. Then she cashed it a month later. Yes, really.

The million-dollar birthday check that did not bounce

On KFC Radio, Sheen dropped the anecdote like it was nothing and then confirmed it was not a bit gone too far in his head.

"I wrote a check to Denise once for $1 million on her birthday. And she kept it, not as a joke. And then, a month later, f**king cashed it, you know?"

He could not remember whether they were actually married at that point, which he admitted made the whole thing sting a little more. To be fair, he also said that if he were in her shoes, he probably would have cashed it too. His only gripe: he wishes she would have given him a heads-up before the bank did. He also joked that the real miracle is the money was actually in the account.

For anyone keeping score: Sheen and Richards got engaged in 2001 and married six months later on June 15, 2002. They were together for four years and finalized their divorce in 2006. During the split, Richards obtained a temporary restraining order after alleging he threatened her life (via People). They even crossed paths professionally before things fell apart: Richards popped up in Two and a Half Men season 1, in the Thanksgiving episode, back when they were still on good terms.

Meanwhile: the Netflix doc is getting dragged

Sheen is back in the conversation thanks to a Netflix documentary that assembles a lot of familiar faces. It is packed with cameos, including exes and former collaborators:

• Sean Penn
• Chris Tucker
• Chuck Lorre (creator of Two and a Half Men)
• Jon Cryer (Sheen's former co-star)
• Denise Richards
• Brooke Mueller

On paper, that lineup screams definitive tell-all. Critics did not see it that way. The Guardian called it surface-level, saying Sheen does not dig in much and does not show much real contrition. The Hollywood Reporter found it exhausting because there is not a lot of new information — just a glossy retread of stories the public has heard for decades — and the structure is so scattered it becomes frustrating. Variety took aim at the Andrew Renzi-directed film for lacking focus and economy, arguing it mostly underlines how much Sheen is still defined by his most notorious chapters.

So, yes: writing a $1 million birthday check as a joke is the most Charlie Sheen sentence imaginable. The punchline arriving at the bank 30 days later is even more on brand. And if the doc was meant to reframe the narrative, the reviews suggest it is not doing him many favors.