While tabloid reports had Denise Richards breaking up with Richie Sambora over his drinking problem, a report in yesterday’s NY Daily News claims that Sambora was the one who pulled the plug on their rebound relationship. Richards was devastated during their Hawaiian vacation at the end of January when, instead of proposing as expected, Sambora broke up with her. She even hid their breakup for months, referring to the relationship in a subsequent interview with Glamour magazine as if they were still an item.

Now Denise is looking for a new man who can provide for her in the luxury brand-name style that she’s accustomed to. She’s said to have hired a super expensive matchmaker who specializes in setting up gold diggers like Denise with millionaire mates looking for trophy wives:

Denise Richards is looking for a husband the old-fashioned way – by using a matchmaker! But the price of finding true love isn’t cheap. Insiders tell Star that Denise, 36, could be paying up to $50,000 to find Mr. Right through an exclusive matchmaking agency.

“It’s a very high-end service, and it’s extremely private,” says the source. “They ask for as much as $50,000 for a two-year contract. They have thousands of clients and specialize in very wealthy executives. These men don’t have time to hunt for a mate. Also, the type of women they are looking for – beautiful and successful – doesn’t [sic] hang out at bars. They have to be found.”

[From Star Magazine print edition, July 16, 2007]

It seems like Denise could save a lot of money by looking online like so many other people. She probably isn’t that computer or Internet-savvy, though, and might get duped. She also might run into her ex, Charlie Sheen. Last year he was said to be using a site called millionairematch to look for a mate.

Whatever Sheen was doing to find a girlfriend, it seems to have worked. He has been dating a 28 year-old real estate investor, Brooke Wolofsky, since last June. The two were most recently photographed together in May of this year and are assumed to be doing well. Maybe Sheen can give Richards a little advice on how to find someone online.

Header image is of Denise and Richie’s Hawaiian vacation in January and is from SplashNews.