Denise Richards & Richie Sambora split

Denise Richards and Richie Sambora - the Liz Taylor and Richard Burton of the Wal-Mart checkout - are no more. The media darlings officially acknowledged their split yesterday, although her rep said they actually ended their relationship in March.

"They didn't want to make it public because they lived through public divorces and it was very painful," a pal told In Touch.

However the two remained close enough that Richards flew to be with Sambora after his father, Adam, succumbed to cancer on April 20.

"She stayed with him in New Jersey for two weeks for the wake and the funeral," says the friend. Richards' own mother is struggling with kidney cancer.

Richards famously took up with Sambora - a recent ex of her friend Heather Locklear - while she was undergoing her own divorce from Charlie Sheen in April '06.