WHEN they talk about love on TV, it’s usually the kind you should be 18 or older to watch.
But on this Father’s Day, here are three of TV’s best-known reality vixens and the real men in their lives – their dads.
Denise Richards &
Irv Richards
Spray tanning and eyebrow waxing may sound like an unusual way to cope with the death of a loved one. But that’s exactly what Irv Richards had to endure – on national TV – when he moved in with daughter Denise after losing his wife of 37 years to cancer in November.
“Being with Denise has definitely helped with the healing a lot – it’s helped both of us,” says the retired telephone company worker and unlikely breakout star of “Denise Richards: It’s Complicated” (E!, Sundays).
In an episode to air later this month, Denise, 37, travels back to her parents home in Oceanside, Calif. for the first time since her mother’s death.
“It was my dad’s idea,” she admits. “We go through my mom’s things together. With death, sometimes people don’t know how to talk about it or what to say and we really open it up that you have to move forward.”
The sexy star of film, TV and divorce court insists she has always been daddy’s little girl. “When I was a kid growing up, we belonged to a father-daughter group called Drifters back in Illinois. We went camping on the weekends. We went skiing and on canoe trips.
“I remember as a kid always making things at school for my dad. I made a plaque for him once that said ‘Father of the Year’.
“I’d frame different pictures of me and my dad together. Now as a parent, I understand the sentimental value of getting those special gifts from your kids.”
Brooke Hogan &
Hulk Hogan
Father’s Day for Hulk Hogan used to mean a few hours at the beach, a movie and few scoops of Ben and Jerry’s.
“Usually my brother [Nick] and I would be with him the whole day,” Brooke says. “But since my brother is going to be in jail this Father’s Day, we are all probably going to be there.”
Nick Bollea’s eight-month lockup for his role in a 2007 car wreck that left his best friend in a coma comes just weeks before the July 13 premiere of “Brooke Hogan Knows Best” (VH1, Sundays).
The show was filmed while Brooke, 20, briefly attended classes at Florida State University – the first time she ever lived away from home.
“My dad was missing me so bad that he sent a life-size cardboard cut-out of himself to my house to remind me of him every day,” she recalls. “He said, ‘I miss you. I am thinking of you.’ “
Heidi Montag &
Bill Montag
Colorado cattle rancher Bill Montag still remembers the best Father’s Day present he ever got from daughter Heidi.
“She and her stepsister Katie made me breakfast in bed. Heidi was about 15.
“The food was a little bit different, scrambled eggs and pancakes. They didn’t quite turn out right, but there was a lot of love in them.”
Now 21 and a star of MTV’s (semi-) reality show “The Hills,” Heidi leans on her dad more than ever as they cope with the loss of her stepbrother. Eric O’Hara, 24, died in March after falling off an icy roof at a Colorado hotel where he was working. He had just returned from a tour of duty in Iraq.
“Something like that definitely makes you realize how important family is,” Bill, 60, tells The Post.
Oh yes, and Dad gives a thumbs-up to his baby girl’s fiancé, Spencer Pratt.
“I like him a lot,” Bill says. “He reminds me of my son.”