Los Angeles, April 7 (IANS) Hollywood actress Denise Richards is revisiting some dark memories as she looked back on her complicated past with her ex-husband Charlie Sheen.

The actress recalled one Christmas when the actor, 59, ended up in jail, reports ‘People’ magazine.

Speaking on the latest episode of ‘Sibling Revelry with Kate Hudson and Oliver Hudson’ podcast, the 54-year-old actress, who shares daughters Sami Sheen, 21, and Lola Sheen, 19, with the actor, said, “He was arrested on Christmas, and he called me from jail to say ‘Merry Christmas’ to the girls. And they were busy playing with their toys. They're like, ‘We'll talk to Dad later’. I go, ‘I think Dad's gonna be a little busy later’”.

As per ‘People’, she added that she didn’t clue her kids in to the truth of the situation.

“I didn't say, your dad just got f****** arrested and he's in jail so come say ‘Merry Christmas’ right now”, the ‘Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ alum noted.

Charlie Sheen was arrested in 2009 on Christmas Day after his then-wife Brooke Mueller accused him of assault. He later pleaded guilty to the charges and spent 30 days in jail.

The actress revealed that throughout her daughters’ adolescence, she attempted to keep Sheen’s struggles private.

“If I was at a school performance and he was supposed to show up and I get a call, ‘Something happened sideways, hospital, whatever’. I'm not going to tell the kids the truth”, she said. “I told them I lied and I said, ‘Dad had to work’. Some of the things were so outrageously bad where I'm like, ‘I can't say that’”.

The impact of that decision is still affecting the mother of three today. “I actually sheltered the kids almost to a point of where now as they're getting older, they're discovering things and they were at first getting upset with me, like, 'Why didn't you tell me this?'", she said.

The actress shared that her main goal was to “protect their relationship” with Sheen. “There was a time I didn't know if he was gonna live, and I didn't want the girls to ever get to know their dad, [from] what they would read”, she said. “I wanted it to be their experience and their relationship. And I also didn't want to put my feelings on them because that's not fair to them and their relationship with him”.