Charlie Sheen didn't tell his young daughters he was HIV positive until he went public with the news.

A source said: "When the HIV news came out, Charlie never told them. It broke when they were at school and Denise [Richards] didn't even have a heads-up about it. She had to explain that issue much earlier than she anticipated."

The 'World is Not Enough' actress - who is suing her ex-husband for allegedly evicting her and the kids from their California home - is also have said to have struggled to find a school for the girls because of Charlie's past erratic behaviour, including attacking their former school, Viewpoint, on his Twitter account.

The source told the New York Post newspaper's Page Six column: "They applied to 10 schools and weren't accepted to any of them. The schools were concerned after the situation with Viewpoint. They didn't want to take the risk and have something about their school in the media or if he were to lash out at another child.

"The rejection was hard because they feel like they did something wrong. Charlie explained to them the reason they couldn't get in was because of him."

In her lawsuit, Denise - who also has four-year-old adopted daughter Eloise - is suing Charlie for $1.2 million after claiming he threw her and the girls out of their Mulholland Estates home, which he gifted them in a trust.

She is now renting a $15,000-a-month property near her kids' school and has been accused of taking legal action because she "wants more money".

A source close to Charlie - who also has a grown-up daughter, Cassandra, and twin sons Bob and Max, six, from past relationships - said: "The suit comes from Denise wanting more money. She owns a $7 million house in Hidden Hills, but she didn't want to drive 20 minutes to the kids' school, so she decided to rent a place closer."

However, another source hit back: "Her house has nothing to do with the trust. It's not a part of her divorce and it isn't part of her settlement. It doesn't matter if she has an apartment or 10 homes. He made a trust [for their kids] and that's what he put in it."