Bikini-clad Denise Richards recreates iconic ‘Wild Things’ pool scene in new photoshoot

Denise Richards – now 55 years old and a prominent OnlyFans creator – slipped back into the water that first made her a 1990s sex symbol, re‑creating the infamous pool moment from Wild Things for a fresh photo shoot. The images, shared by her hair‑and‑makeup artist Pamela Brogardi on Instagram this Friday, show Richards submerged with her long hair slicked back, a sheer black lace cover‑up over a slinky black swimsuit, and a pose that echoes Kelly Van Ryan’s original exit. Brogardi’s caption read, “Sneak peek from today’s shoot 📸.”

“Pretty sure that’s the idea,” one follower wrote, while another declared, “Wild Things 2.0.”

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Bikini-clad Denise Richards recreates iconic ‘Wild Things’ pool scene in new photoshoot

From 1998 to 2026: why the scene matters

The 1998 erotic thriller saw Richards and Neve Campbell share a racy pool scene in which they passionately kiss. The film’s poster featured both actresses emerging from clear blue water, with male co‑stars Matt Dillon and Kevin Bacon posed separately. Despite mixed reviews, the movie was a commercial success and spawned two television sequels in 2004 and 2005, and a direct‑to‑DVD fourth installment in 2010.

In a 2022 interview with The Guardian, Richards described filming the scene as “terrifying.” She added, “There are a couple of scenes that are very risque. There’s a lot of choreography of figuring out who’s going where, so it’s not as sexy as people think.” She further noted, “I’m sure people must think that behind the scenes it’s very exciting, but it’s not. But I’m glad it comes off that sexy in the movie.”

Behind the lens: the shoot’s aesthetic and its reception

Brogardi’s behind‑the‑scenes snaps capture Richards’s hair pulled back and her limbs positioned just as they were in the original film. One still shows the actress with her hands resting on the sides of her neck, the lace garment strategically covering her chest. Another video frames her submerged, looking directly at the camera, a pose that fans immediately linked to the 1998 frame.

Support poured in from the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills community. Kathy Hilton, Camille Grammer, Sutton Stracke and Shannon Beador all praised the homage on their social feeds, turning the tribute into a shared celebration of ’90s nostalgia.

Facelift, finances and a legal tussle

Earlier this month, Richards walked the red carpet at the Daytime Beauty Awards in Los Angeles, flanked by her plastic surgeon Dr Ben Talei. The Beverly Hills‑based surgeon performed a deep‑plane facelift that cost around $200,000, along with a brow lift, an upper eye lift, a lip lift and fat grafting from Richards’s own thighs into her neck and face. Richards later described the result as “impeccable.”

“The only analogy I could give is like you remodel a house and do one room and the room looks great, but it doesn’t match the rest of the house.”

Denise Richards, actress, via Daily Mail

The facelift follows a series of high‑profile appearances, including a 2025 court filing in which Richards sought a Los Angeles judge’s order to prevent estranged husband Aaron Phypers from claiming half of her OnlyFans earnings. Court documents list her monthly earnings on the platform as up to $300,000. Phypers filed for divorce on July 7 2025 after nearly seven years of marriage and cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for the split. The parties have exchanged public accusations since.

Career threads that lead back to the pool

Richards’s association with Wild Things has endured despite a varied filmography. She appeared in Starship Troopers the year before the original film’s release, and in 1999 she played Bond girl Dr Christmas Jones in The World Is Not Enough.

Her family life remains a recurring theme in interviews. In 2019 she told Yahoo Lifestyle Australia that she refused to let her daughters – Sami, 22; Lola, 21; and adopted daughter Eloise, 15 – watch the film because it was “not age appropriate.” She also noted that her daughters “have friends saying, ‘I saw this picture of your mom,’” highlighting the awkwardness of being a sex symbol for a younger generation.