The chilling moment Denise Richards‘ now ex Aaron Phypers threatened to ‘crush’ her hand has resurfaced after the star accused him of physical abuse this week.
Phypers, 52, filed for divorce earlier this month after six years of marriage, listing July 4 as the official date of separation.
The filing cited ‘irreconcilable differences’ as the reason for the breakup — and he’s asking the court to grant him spousal support from Richards, 54.
Now court documents — including graphic photos — obtained by DailyMail.com revealed that on July 16, Denise filed for protection, accusing Phypers of horrific abuse that allegedly spanned their entire relationship.
An unsettling incident played out in front of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cameras in 2020 when Phypers was caught on camera threatening Richards following a confrontation with her co-stars Kyle Richards and Teddi Mellencamp.
In the unsettling Season 10 episode Richards told her partner not to ‘say a f*****g word’ as they walked off hand-in-hand following the dispute.
The chilling moment Denise Richards’ now ex Aaron Phypers threatened to ‘crush’ her hand has resurfaced after the star accused him of physical abuse this week
Phypers, 52, filed for divorce earlier this month after six years of marriage, listing July 4 as the official date of separation(seen in 2023)
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum now seeking court-ordered protection following a string of disturbing allegations; (photo from Richards’ Request for Domestic Violence Retraining Order)
Phypers responded: ‘Don’t tell me what to say. I’m going to crush your f*****g hand. Stop it.’
After the moment aired, Richards, Mellencamp, and Erika Jayne took to Twitter to react to Aaron’s shocking words.
‘Wait! What did he just say??,’ tweeted Jayne to her 474,300 followers, which Richards and Mellencamp also shared on their accounts.
To give even more specificity to her tweet, Jayne reposted a captioned clip of Phypers saying he was ‘gonna crush [Denise’s] f**king hand.’
During Richards’ BBQ, Richards felt she was being attacked for not bringing her children, Sami, Lola and Eloise, to the event.
But she had earlier told her castmates she did not like the way they discussed salacious stories near her girls, and it upset her that they cited her history of sexy film roles as a reason she shouldn’t mind.
During the barbecue, Phypers tried to defend Denise to the women, but every word he said came off as tone-deaf and inflamed matters further.
Months after the episode aired, Richards addressed the concern over the tense exchange during The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills with Andy Cohen.
Phypers responded: ‘Don’t tell me what to say. I’m going to crush your f*****g hand. Stop it’
The threatening remark toward Richards came after she was confronted by her former costars Kyle Richards and Teddi Mellencamp about not trusting her kids around them
The pair discussed the moment after Cohen told her he received ‘a lot of questions about’ about it.
‘Denise, what was going on there? I believe he said he was going to crush your hand,’ the host asked.
Richards confirmed: ‘Yeah, he was going to crush my hand.’
‘I did, um, because I didn’t even know that either and I played it for him and he said, “I don’t even remember saying that. I don’t know why I would say that, because I’m afraid of you.”‘
Andy then questioned why Phypers would be ‘afraid’ of her.
‘No, it’s in a joking way,’ she said while breaking a smile.
Despite her attempt to put an end to the backlash over Phypers’ comment, her co-stars voiced their disapproval.
‘Zero tolerance,’ Sutton Stracke said. ‘Zero. Unacceptable.’
Garcelle Beauvais stated: ‘I didn’t hear it on the show, but I saw it on social media and that’s when I was like, “Oh my God!’ And I was, you know, I was worried.”‘
In the filing, Denise submitted several photos as evidence — pictures from a red carpet event (above), where she claimed she forgot to conceal marks allegedly left by Aaron
‘Throughout our relationship, Aaron 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, threaten to kill me, hold me down with his knee on my back to the point where I would have to plead with him to get off me so that he would not kill me and hack into my laptop and phone and download all of my text messages,’ Denise stated in her Request for Domestic Violence Retraining Order.
DailyMail.com has not received a response to its request for comment from reps for both Richards and Phypers.
She also alleged that ‘Aaron regularly threatened to ‘break my jaw’ and would cry, beg me to stay, and promise to get help — none of which ever happened.’
She claimed, ‘Aaron has caused me at least three concussions. Aaron has told me that he has left recording devices to record me while I was alone in hotel rooms and at my townhouses.’
Detailing a July 4 alleged confrontation, Denise said, ‘Aaron repeatedly got within two inches of my face and screamed at me degrading profanities, including calling me a ‘c*** w****’ and a ‘piece of s***.’”
The following day, she alleged, ‘Aaron came into her townhouse with his father and ‘got within inches of my face and began yelling at me, calling me a ‘c*** w****’ multiple times and with his right hand violently hit the bill of my hat with the back of his hand which caused my hat to fall off my head.’
Richards added that ‘Aaron repeatedly grabbed my left arm tightly.’
In the filing, Denise submitted several photos as evidence — including two showing her with a severe black eye, the bruising dark purple and visibly swollen.
‘On the evening of January 17, 2022, at approximately 7:30 PM, an incident occurred at Aaron’s workplace in Malibu, after hours. A female family member was present. Aaron brought several potted plants into the center and became paranoid that they contained listening devices,’ Denise wrote.
‘A police officer, who was in the parking lot (where officers often stop to complete paperwork or use the restrooms), approached the door after hearing the yelling. After the officer left, Aaron resumed screaming, then used the heel of his palm to strike me in the eye while calling me a ‘f****** bitch.’
‘The family member present witnessed the assault and immediately retrieved frozen food to reduce the swelling. A true and correct copy of a picture of my black eye is attached hereto as Exhibit “3”’
She also included pictures from a red carpet event, where she claimed she forgot to conceal marks allegedly left by Aaron.
So far, Phypers has not publicly responded to the abuse claims.
Denise has two children from her previous marriage to Charlie Sheen – Sami, 21, (far left) and Lola, 20 (far right) – and she adopted Eloise, 14, in 2011 (in front)
Phypers was the founder of the Malibu wellness center, Q360 Club (also known as Quantum 360), until he chose to shut it down last year, on October 1, 2024.
According to his petition for divorce, filed on July 7, he has not made any income since.
Richards, allegedly makes $250,000 per month from being on OnlyFans, TV shows, having brand deals and doing appearances, he noted in the income and expense declaration obtained by the Daily Mail.
He’s requesting spousal support since he alleges his monthly expenses total $105,000, and is demanding he and Richards split 50 percent of their production company, Smoke & Mirrors Entertainment.
