Denise Richards opens up about adoption and the impact it has had on her family.
When Denise adopted her daughter Eloise Joni last year, it was a long time coming. The mom of three says that she kept her daughters, Sam and Lola, in the dark during the beginning of the process.
“To be honest, I didn’t want to involve them that early. But when you go through the adoption process you have to do a home study, and they have to talk to [your] children, and I didn’t want to talk about it with the girls that early, because it was two years before the adoption came through. I wanted to keep it private, and in our family. I’m actually glad, because it turned out to be a good thing.”
Denise explains why she couldn’t silence her maternal longing for more kids. “I felt like I wasn’t done having children, and I’ve always wanted to have a large family. And so after my divorce I felt like, ‘Oh well, I’m sure I’ll soon enough get remarried and have my family [grow]’, and that wasn’t in the cards at the time, so I decided to expand my family on my own.”
The adoption has had a positive influence on her daughters. “They want to adopt when they get older and become moms. I’m so very proud of them that they’ve really embraced Eloise. They’re so protective of her, they play with her, they love watching her grow and change, and so far I haven’t seen any jealousy.”
They are wonderful big sisters, but Denise admits they aren’t changing their little sister’s diapers just yet.
Photos by WENN
