(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Denise Richards has been dealing with Charlie Sheens behaviour for years and says his colourful lifestyle is nothing new.

The troubled actor is currently receiving treatment at his home, following a string of problems. They culminated last month after he was hospitalised with severe abdominal pains, following an alleged two days of partying with porn stars. Those close to Charlie insisted he was suffering from a hernia.

Although he has been praised for agreeing to get help, his decision means production of his TV show Two and a Half Men has halted.

Last year, he was hospitalised in New York after allegedly being found drunk and naked in a hotel room while on a family holiday to New York with his ex-wife Denise and their kids.

The star has now spoken her former partners ongoing problems, admitting its difficult to know what to say to Sam, six, and five-year-old Lola.

This has been something I have dealt with for years. This is not a new situation, she said on the View.

There are times where his life is more colourful than others, more public than others, and as the kids get older it's a difficult thing. I'm learning as I go too. I have never had to deal with this and this was a subject I had hoped to talk with my children about as they got older. But it's hard.

Denise, 40, has not shied away from talking to the children about addiction issues. She finds thats the best way to help them understand whats going on, and uses books to make her point.

One in particular, I'm blanking on the title, it explains addiction to children, she explained. There are images and pictures that a child can understand. I don't know what they fully comprehend from these conversations. They don't know what some of these things are. So I do the best I can and it's not easy.

I mean, you know this is Charlie's lifestyle. He makes no bones about it. And it is what it is. (C) Cover Media