They may have split up earlier in the year but Denise Richards is still keen to stress that she wasn’t doing anything wrong when she dated Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora.

The couple were together for almost a year from April 2006 until March this year - but the relationship caused raised eyebrows since it came so soon after Denise separated from husband Charlie Sheen and Richie from his wife, and Denise’s former friend, Heather Locklear.

Denise, currently involved in a bitter custody battle with Charlie over their two daughters, told the New York Post recently that the timing wasn’t as suspect as people believe: “Heather and I had already moved on. Richie and I, both legally separated, were friends.”

Denise’s mum was then, and still is, undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer while “[Richie’s] dad was suffering from lung cancer, so we shared grief. He was kind to my mother.”

“He was [also] good to my kids. Cooked them meals. Made them laugh. He brought back what hadn’t been in my house. Everyone adored him, and we talk all the time. My kids still ask about him.”