Denise Richards Shares ‘Terrifying’ Sexual Assault Story for the First Time on ‘Special Forces’

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test Season 3 premiere.]

Denise Richards got extremely vulnerable in the Season 3 premiere of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test. The former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star referenced a 2022 incident where she was shot at while driving in Los Angeles, comparing it to another “terrifying” moment in her life that she’d never spoken about publicly before.

“We were physically shot at in [my husband’s] truck. I sat on the floor and was literally … I peed. I was so scared. I froze,” she told the instructors in a private meeting during the Wednesday, January 8, episode. “The first time I ever experienced that, I was 15. I noticed a man following me. He came up from behind me, put his hand around my mouth, grabbed my vagina, and started dragging me. I froze. I couldn’t even scream for help.”

Denise said that her husband, Aaron Phypers, is the only person she’d previously told about this incident. “It’s so scary to have that situation at that age and to be so vulnerable,” she added. “I have three daughters. I want them to be able to never go through that. And also, if something, God forbid, happened, to be strong enough.”

The actress struggled with the first several tasks on Special Forces, which is what led to the Directing Staff (DS) calling her in for a meeting. “I haven’t addressed a lot of what I have gone through, and it’s very terrifying,” she said. “I don’t know if I would be able to get over my past.”

This was Denise’s motivation to compete on the Fox series and prove to herself that she’s stronger than she thought. The competition was not easy, and Denise even suffered an injury while taking on daunting tasks in Wales.

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‘Special Forces’: Denise Richards Says She Ruptured Her Breast Implants Filming Season 3

“I jumped off a bridge and that’s when I ruptured my [breast] implants, off of that thing,” she said on Sirius XM’s Jeff Lewis Live on January 3, adding, “I still have to get them redone. I was supposed to a month ago, but couldn’t because we were filming.”

Unfortunately, Denise did not last long on the show. She was eliminated at the end of the January 8 episode after pulling herself out of the competition during a “surf immersion” challenge that required the players to link arms and sit submerged in the water without breaking the chain.

Denise was the first one to unlink. “Between the bungee off the bridge and the backpack, I have a lower back problem. I can barely walk,” she said, adding, “I don’t want to leave, but I can’t f**king move.”

While Denise asked to sit out and “rest” for the remainder of the challenge, she was told that wasn’t an option. She could either continue … or withdraw, which ultimately led to her handing in her armband and becoming the second person to leave the course. Stephen Baldwin left earlier in the episode.

Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, Wednesdays, 8/7c, Fox