Denise Richards Said She Couldn't Get a Job After Charlie Sheen Divorce

Denise Richards is getting candid about the fallout from her rocky divorce from Charlie Sheen -- revealing it didn’t just rattle her personal life, it also seriously impacted her acting career.

The actress didn’t hold back on "The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast" -- saying that in the late 2000s, work totally dried up for her 'cause industry folks saw her as the villain in her split from Charlie, who was riding high on the success of "Two and a Half Men" at the time.

Denise explained that Charlie’s star power back then meant he had major support from top networks and studios -- while she, on the other hand, had to deal with a wave of negativity and harsh assumptions about herself plastered all over the internet.

She reflected that, at times, there was no point in clapping back -- 'cause any response would just spark another headline. So, she figured it was better to stay quiet and let the noise die down on its own.

But she did eventually take back control of the narrative -- jumping into reality TV with "Denise Richards: It’s Complicated" in 2008, all in an effort to show the world who she really was.