Things You Didn't Know About Nicole Curtis

Nicole Curtis is known to many fans as the mastermind behind HGTV and DIY Network's popular home improvement show Rehab Addict, but the reality TV star leads quite the double life. On camera, Curtis appears charming and wonderful, and she certainly looks like she's got it all together. Behind the scenes, however, is a different story, as Curtis has had more than her fair share of drama in her personal life. The mom of two (who gave birth to son Ethan on December 24, 1997 when she was just 18 years old, and welcomed a second baby boy, Harper, in July of 2015) spent over a decade engaged in nasty custody battles, and she has also had numerous problems with the law. And don't get us started on Curtis' strained relationships with most members of her family. Here are the most surprising things you never knew about the small screen's Nicole Curtis.

It was in the midst of a nasty custody battle with former partner Shane Maguire that Nicole Curtis allegedly went so far as to try to kidnap the couple's then-15-month-old son Harper in the middle of the night. A Star Tribune reporter who goes by the name C.J. called Maguire's lawyer, Gerald Cavellier, in August 2016 to ask about the allegations and was told that Curtis had been found "at [Maguire's] house late at night trying to retrieve the child in the middle of the night." Cavellier noted, "He lives in St. Paul. I don't know if [St. Paul police filed a report] or it was just a run sheet." C.J. then gave Curtis a chance to respond, but she simply declared, "That's not true," and, upon further investigation, C.J. discovered that "St. Paul Police's media coordinator Steve Linders could find no record of a Sunday incident."

Once Steve Cimini completed his prison sentence, he and Nicole Curtis tried to raise their son, Ethan, together, but went their separate ways in September 1998, reported Radar Online. The couple then spent 15 years in a nasty custody battle that took a real toll on their son.

Fast-forward to 2015, and mom and son reportedly "got into an explosive fight and their relationship was changed forever." A slew of incomplete high school homework assignments allegedly resulted in Curtis grounding Ethan, and, when Curtis came home in March 2015, she found the entire house in disarray and Ethan missing. After a week of not knowing where he was, Curtis discovered that he'd joined his father in California and "refused to return home unless he lived with his grandmother instead of Curtis." Curtis agreed and, as court documents show, was allegedly cut out from Ethan's life.

After Ethan called his mother "hostile" in court papers and Steve claimed she knew "Ethan was suffering [in school] but allowed it when it was good for ratings," Ethan eventually moved to California to join his dad and finish high school there.

Nicole Curtis and her ex Shane Maguire were locked in a nasty custody battle for their infant son, Harper. In April 2017, Maguire had filed a sixth motion against Curtis, alleging that she's been keeping him from seeing his son, despite court-ordered visits. Speaking with E! News, Maguire's lawyers said, "Nicole has denied Shane parenting time... Nicole Curtis has been sanctioned by the court more than once for violating parenting time and for violating the judge and the court's orders."

Papers filed in court state that Curtis "continues to claim that Harper is sick and therefore unable to fly, something she has done since the onset of this case in order to avoid taking Harper to his father." The papers noted, "If [Curtis] did not want a young child to be on an airplane, she should not have moved from Minnesota to Michigan just days after the birth of Harper."

Maguire also alleged that he bought a plane ticket to go visit his son in March, but was told by Curtis that she and Harper would be in Atlanta that weekend instead and that he would have to buy a new ticket if he wanted to see Harper.

In October 2018, The Blast reported that Curtis and Maguire finally reached a custody agreement.

A judge had to warn Nicole Curtis in August 2016 that she might be sent to jail if she doesn't pay "expenses incurred for missed parenting times and attorney fees," reported the Detroit News. Judge Langton, who awarded her second son's father, Shane Maguire, joint custody and parenting time on alternating weekends, told Curtis, "I'm tired of the parties being back here every other week. I consider this contempt of a court order and could include jail time."

When Curtis tried to justify why she had violated Maguire's visiting rights (she took their infant son to New York City to meet with her book publishers, claiming she stood to lose $500,000 if she didn't go), the judge answered, "What you are doing may be in your best interests and your book's best interests but not in the best interests of this child." He then ordered the reality TV star to "make payments in full to the boy's father" and also "barred Curtis from taking her son to job sites where lead or other toxins are present and barred both parties from using private investigators." Maguire's lawyer, Gerald Cavellier, added, "We don't want to see her in jail, we just want Shane to be able to see his son."

In the midst of her bitter custody battle with Shane Maguire, Nicole Curtis was hit with a restraining order... from her own mother. Detroit News reported that Curtis' mom, Joan, cited "her hate for me" as one of the reasons for the request. Court papers revealed that Joan accused her daughter of causing "total distress to my dying mother with her screaming, crying and threatening words and actions."

Joan also told a judge that Curtis had harassed her over the phone and sent her threatening emails, adding that "she is a control freak and mean and nasty," reported a separate article by Detroit News. Joan said, "She calls and sends me emails on how she hates me and how I have never been a mother to her and have never supported her. She's crazy and I'm tired of it. I can't trust her." Due to lack of evidence, the restraining order was not granted.

In her 2016 memoir, Better Than New: Lessons I've Learned from Saving Old Homes (and How They Saved Me), Nicole Curtis wrote about her ex-boyfriend Steve Cimini missing the birth of their son, Ethan, because he was stuck at work. However, Radar Online discovered that that wasn't the case at all, writing that they can "exclusively reveal that he was actually in prison" following a deadly DUI accident in which he fatally hit a pedestrian and fled from the scene.

A warrant for Cimini's arrest was published on March 13, 1996, after an officer "arrived at the scene of the accident and located an individual later identified as [redacted], who was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident [and] determined from his investigation that the victim had stepped out in front of a vehicle later determined to be driven by Steve Cimini."

A witness confirmed to law enforcement "that Cimini hit a pedestrian and left them for dead." Cimini was taken into hospital for his own wounds where he admitted to driving the car that caused the accident and "seemed incoherent about why he did not stay at the scene of the accident." Once in court, he pleaded "no contest" and was given a prison sentence for DUI manslaughter.

When Nicole Curtis became pregnant for the second time, she did everything in her power to hide the news from the world. Why? "I wanted something of my own," she told News Observer in an interview in October 2016. "I wanted this time to be sacred." While filming for her show, Rehab Addict, Curtis made sure to carry props to hide her growing belly and asked cameramen to only shoot her from the shoulders up whenever possible. She also did her best to cover up her bun in the oven at public events. "She would wear black dresses, sit at high bar tables and strategically hold her lap dog," wrote News Observer.

When Nicole Curtis purchased a home in north Minneapolis in November 2012 and announced that she would be fixing it up, everyone in the community had high hopes for the property. Fast-forward a couple of years and the dilapidated house was essentially in the same state it had always been. That's when neighbors began complaining about the lack of progress and safety concerns to the city, and the area started looking into taking legal action against Curtis.

Back in 2012, the reality TV star bought the house for just $2, and, according to the Star Tribune, the low price tag came with several strict conditions, including having to "substantially complete construction" in one year. The deadline passed, Curtis did not communicate with city officials about the delays, and so two and a half years after the one-year mark, the city went ahead and asked for a formal appraisal of the property, which could result in a potential seizing of the home.

Council Member Blong Yang met with Curtis in June 2016 and told the Star Tribune that "she didn't say much." Yang added, "I don't know what the plan is. I think we as a city have to figure out what to do at this point, because it has been a burden on the neighbors who live there." Yang and the neighbors concluded that Curtis didn't care about fixing up the neighborhood as she had originally promised and that it was time to take serious action.

Before she hit it big, Nicole Curtis worked as a waitress at a few different fast food chains, including IHOP and Hooters. According to People, it was actually a friend who suggested Curtis apply for a job at the latter restaurant, which is known for its scantily clad waitresses. She did and landed the gig, but even then she struggled to make enough money, while caring for her first baby, Ethan. So she took on a second job. People stated, "Before her shifts at [Hooters], Curtis would clean houses to make ends meet, and continued to do so after her son Ethan was born." But, as Curtis told the magazine, "I never regretted giving up a corporate job to clean houses so that I could make Ethan's second grade Halloween party happen."

Students and teachers at Winslow Township Middle School in Winslow, New Jersey were in for quite the treat when they began working on building a new garden outside their school — a space meant to double as an outdoor classroom — as they received help from one very special seasoned pro: Nicole Curtis.

While searching for funding for the innovative project (which also included building a wood and metal shop for the kids), the school's Environmental STEM teacher, Ross Cruz, entered a nationwide contest hosted by torch maker Bernzomatic, which was on the lookout for creative community projects to support. The school was selected and received a $15,000 grant, plus a visit from Curtis. The reality star "oversaw the projects and made sure every student who invested sweat into the work autographed the objects they built," reported the Courier-Post.

From her humble career beginnings, which saw Nicole Curtis balancing multiple jobs, including waitressing at Hooters, to two tumultuous custody battles (the second of which nearly landed her in jail) and family drama that reached a soap opera-worthy level when Curtis' own mother tried to file a restraining order against her, it's clear to see that the Nicole Curtis fans know and love from Rehab Addict is not the same Nicole Curtis who can be found off-camera. Her private life is just further proof that what's seen on reality TV is sometimes anything but real.