The Bold and the Beautiful’s Denise Richards Reveals Why She Had ‘Fear and Anxiety’ About Her 50th Birthday: ‘Maybe I’m Not Alone Feeling This?’
The actress let down her guard and opened her heart to her followers.
A day after she turned the big five-oh on February 17, Denise Richards posted a video to Instagram in which she blows out the candles on not one but two birthday cakes. But there was more on her mind than sweet treats.
“I still can’t believe I’m 50!” she wrote. “How is the chick from Wild Things and Starship Troopers 50?! Yikes.”
In 1998, Richards made a splash with Neve Campbell in Wild Things.
Credit: Columbia Pictures/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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We can’t quite wrap our brains around that, either. But that’s beside the point. “I’ll be honest — I had a bit of anxiety leading up to this birthday,” admitted the actress, who plays Shauna on The Bold and the Beautiful. “And not just for obvious reasons, because I really do still feel like I’m a silly big kid. It’s because of my mom.
“She turned 50 when I was pregnant with Sami and shortly after was diagnosed with cancer and passed away a few years later,” she continued. “So I always had a bit of fear and anxiety, and I know logically I shouldn’t.”
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Of course, logic and emotion don’t always play nicely together. Or at all. “I don’t know if any of you have experienced this when you lost your parent and you got to the age they were,” Richards said. “And you hope and pray you’ll pass the age. It’s very surreal. I know that everyone’s journey is different.
“I was hesitant even mentioning any of this posting this video. But then I thought, ‘Well, [bleep], who cares, and maybe I’m not alone feeling this?’ And I also didn’t want to sound negative writing all of this.”
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Nope, Richards didn’t sound negative, just reflective and honest. “Anyway,” she concluded, “I know my mama was with me yesterday and always around watching over us. And I’m so incredibly blessed. And on a superficial level, our tiny intimate celebration blowing out candles with my loving family around our fireplace sitting on our living room floor — I like sitting on the floor; it’s cozy by the fire… I did have high hopes of celebrating my big birthday in Bora Bora, St. Barts or Australia. Maybe next year we can travel freely. If not, we’ll be at home, which is good, too.”
Before you wander off to read another article — or to see if maybe, just maybe, there’s any cake in your kitchen — check out the below photo gallery, which reveals the surprising real ages of some of your soap faves.
