Denise RichardsDenise Richards has confessed she didn’t want to let the chance to date Richie Sambora slip by just because it was a messy situation.

Denise started dating the Bon Jovi guitarist in the spring when her split from Charlie Sheen was getting sticky - and when Richie had only just split from Denise’s former friend Heather Locklear.

Denise told Harper’s Bazaar she didn’t want to miss the opportunity to date him though: “I couldn’t pass it up. I know how hard it is to meet that great guy.”

But Denise insists she had ended her friendship with Heather months before she started dating Richie: “If I was still friends with Heather, I wouldn’t have crossed that line.”