“I want to teach my girls the importance of picking yourself up and moving forward.” For the first time, Denise opens up about how she’s making it through this rough period and shares the life lessons she’s learned and wants to pass on to her daughters.

When asked what she learned from her mom, the first thing Denise says is to have a positive perspective on life, especially about her health. “Even at the end, when things were really dire for my mother, she was never negative. There was an inner strength about her. She always said, ‘It could be worse,’ ” says Denise. To honor her mother, she tries to follow her philosophy: Stay hopeful no matter what. “Of course I will always have moments of being incredibly sad,” she says, “but if I go there, I won’t stop crying.”

“Working out is part of my life, not just an I-have-to-get-ready-for-a-photo-shoot thing,” she says. “I exercise almost every day. The girls usually play in the workout room with me, so they’re learning by example.” As for diet, Denise maintains her slim figure by having dinner with the girls every night between 5 and 6 p.m. and by eating everything in moderation. Denise believes she’s raising her daughters to have the best possible attitude about their bodies. “I’m actually more relaxed about my diet since having my kids,” she says. “I’ll never talk about weight around them. And they’ll never hear me say, ‘Mommy’s feeling fat today.’ That kind of attitude just makes young girls grow up to be dissatisfied with their bodies.”

Denise sets the record straight…

on her new reality show, out this summer

“I’ve been criticized for putting my daughters on the show. But my daughters are my life. How could I do a show about my life without them? I want the show to be real. There’s been so much stuff written about me. I want people to make their own judgments and their own decisions.”

On being a husband stealer
“I can’t tell you how hurtful it was to read this in the press. I would never steal another woman’s husband. Period. And I will say this: If Heather and I really were friends, I would never have gotten together with Richie. She was not my best friend. And we were not friends when I started dating him.”

On her messy, very public divorce from Charlie Sheen
“I filed court papers that then became public. I called Charlie and asked him, ‘Why do you have to air our dirty laundry? Why did you have to bash me? Why can’t you just say it’s a private matter?’ In the end, it’s the girls who suffer. I just want them to have a good relationship with their dad.”