Former Bond girl Denise Richards ended up late for her own birthday lunch after her car broke down.

The actress, who turned 39 on Wednesday, was driving her Cadillac Escalade to meet girlfriends in Los Angeles when the car ground to a halt.

Looking casual in a pair of jeans and checked shirt, the mother-of-two looked far from impressed that her shiny new motor had packed up.

Denise Richards car breaks down, Los Angeles

After lifting up the bonnet to see what the trouble is, Richards ended up calling a mechanic to get her back on the road again.

Fortunately help wasn't too far away and she dashed off to meet her friends.

Writing on her Twitter page on her birthday, she enthused: 'Thank you so much for all the birthday wishes! I'm so touched by all of my amazing Twitter family :)

'You're all very kind and thoughtful.'

In a few weeks, there'll be another birthday in the Richards household - her eldest daughter Sam, from her previous marriage to Charlie Sheen.

What's the problem? Richards inspects under the bonnet

Richards is organising a spa day with her friends and their children to mark Sam's sixth birthday on March 9.

She also has a four-year-old daughter Lola from her four year marriage to Sheen.

Meanwhile, Richards denied a press report she had bought her daughter Sam a rare white lion cub for her birthday to 'outdo' Katie Holmes's purchase of a a £500 designer bag for the daughter Suri.

She said: 'By the way I did not buy my daughter an elaborate gift to outdo Suri Cruise. Ridiculous and not true.

'It said I bought my girl Sami a white lion cub after seeing Suri cruise purse, I'd love her purse but I didn't get a cub.'

Four-year-old Suri hit the headlines yesterday after it was revealed Holmes and husband Tom Cruise bought the fashionable little girl a mini version of her mother's Salvatore Ferragamo bag.