Former HGTV Star Nicole Curtis’ Controversy-Filled Career: Legal Woes, a Public Custody Fight and Cancellation
- - Former HGTV Star Nicole Curtis’ Controversy-Filled Career: Legal Woes, a Public Custody Fight and Cancellation
Natalia Senanayake, Mackenzie SchmidtFebruary 13, 2026 at 2:50 AM
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Nicole Curtis
Nicole Curtis/Instagram
Nicole Curtis’ renovation show, Rehab Addict, was canceled by HGTV on Wednesday, Feb. 11 after she was caught using a racial slur while filming the series
The network made the decision to “remove the series from all HGTV platforms” saying her language “does not align” with their values
Before this, Curtis had a number of other public controversies, including a heated custody battle and a legal dispute over a dilapidated Detroit home
Nicole Curtis has had a rocky road in the spotlight.
The now-former HGTV star is at the center of a major controversy after she was caught using the n-word while filming her show, Rehab Addict. The clip was posted by Radar Online on Wednesday, Feb. 11, the same day the series was set to return to television after Curtis pulled it off the air mid-season this past summer.
After the clip surfaced online, HGTV confirmed to PEOPLE that they made the decision to cancel Rehab Addict saying her language is “hurtful and disappointing” and “does not align with the values of HGTV."
The statement added, "We have removed the series from all HGTV platforms. We remain dedicated to fostering a culture of respect and inclusion across our content and our workplace.”
However, this is not the first controversy Curtis has in her past.
A Contentious Custody Battle
Nicole Curtis and Shane Maguire
The mom of two was involved in a very public and heated custody battle with her ex Shane Maguire over their son Harper, now 10. She also has an other son named Ethan, 28, from a previous relationship.
Curtis first discovered she was pregnant with Harper in 2014 after an on-and-off relationship with Maguire. She accused him of having a negative reaction to the news, which he has denied.
During the years-long dispute, Maguire accused Curtis of using breastfeeding as a reason to keep him away from their son. She previously claimed Maguire told her to “put your boob away” when she was trying to breastfeed Harper.
Nicole Curtis with her sons
In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE published in November 2017, Curtis defended her choice to continue to breastfeed Harper at nearly 3 years old. “Every single day I have to weather criticism about how my child is too old to breastfeed. But when he weans, it’s going to be his decision. I truly believe it’s the child’s choice," she said.
In another incident, Curtis claimed her son was "ripped out of my arms" during a custody exchange at Thanksgiving.
After taking multiple legal actions against one another, the exes finally reached a custody agreement in October 2018.
Nicole Curtis breastfeeding her son
Nicole Curtis/Instagram
A Years-Long Home Ownership Dispute
Curtis was involved in a three-year legal battle with the City of Detroit Land Bank that she ended up winning in May 2021.
The dispute was over who rightfully owned a dilapidated Detroit home, which Curtis claimed she legally purchased from the late homeowner's widow for $17,000 via a "Quick Claim deed." She also claimed the home had been vacant for more than 30 years.
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The issue was first brought to light when the Detroit Land Bank Authority (DLBA) contacted Curtis in February 2018 and told her the house she had paid for actually belonged to them.
After she won the dispute, she told PEOPLE in a statement: "This property will now not only symbolize the continued need for historical preservation but the need for change to a system that is incompetent and corrupt. I am just one of a hundred homeowners wronged by the DLBA. I fought for all of us because I had the financial ability to do so where others did not."
Courtesy of HGTV
Hiatuses from HGTV
During her tenure on the network, Curtis disappeared from the spotlight for years several times. She first stepped away for two years in 2020.
"I was completely burned out," Curtis told PEOPLE in 2022, when she was making her first return to HGTV. "There was so much time in those ten years where I didn't get to enjoy it at all. I was stressed out."
"I just reached a point where I didn't have to do it anymore. I'm thankful," she added. Instead, she said, she took time to focus on her family. "I had a very chaotic ten years. I didn't want to go down that path again," she says. "I'm hyper-focused right now on remembering where I want to be, what matters in my life, what my priorities are."
She took another extended hiatus from TV not long after, only returning to Rehab Addict with new episodes in the summer of 2025.
Nicole Curtis/Instagram
An Unnamed Traumatic Experience
In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE in June 2025, the star shared that a difficult experience in her personal life became a turning point for her, and led her back to her HGTV roots.
“I had a setback in my life that just rocked me to the core, and it was one of those moments where I thought, how do I get through this one?” Curtis says. She kept the exact nature of the incident private, but said it led her to make a big decision about her priorities. “I prayed on it and it was just devastating for me. I had to make a decision right there and then like, ‘Okay, we're going to let this affect us for a very long time, or we're going to pick it up and go.’”
She took an unplanned trip abroad during which she missed several flights, forgot her wallet, received an emergency money transfer from a friend, and bought a house online, before ultimately returning to the States.
Pulling Rehab Addict Off the Air Mid-Season
Curtis called the new episodes that began airing in the summer of 2025 “an evolved version” of the show, heading in a new direction from where the original and her spinoffs, Rehab Addict Rescue and Rehab Addict: Lake House Rescue, left off.
“I'm no longer this little poor mommy in Minneapolis driving around with this pickup truck with two dogs and a kid,” she says. “But I'm still me, I'm still Nicole Curtis from Detroit, and I want you to save that building and we're going to do it.”
However, after just two episodes had aired, she made the "executive decision" to pull the rest. "I appreciate your support and understanding for the late notice. It’s just a lot of hours (my hours) to get a show on air and we (my family +me) thought -why are we giving up Summer when we have the ability to do this in the Fall ?" she said.
Racial Slur Leaked Video
The episodes eventually were scheduled to air several months later, starting Wednesday, Feb. 11, after she claims she was told it was "now or never."
However, the day of the season premiere, video was leaked from the set of her using a racial slur and the run was canceled.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
