HGTV HGTV host Nicole Curtis
After weeks of speculation about Nicole Curtis’ future on HGTV and concerns for her well-being in the midst of cryptic posts and a new custody dispute, the home restoration expert has just announced that her show, “Rehab Addict Rescue,” is over.
Here’s the latest on this new development, which caps off an especially tumultuous summer for the longtime HGTV host.
Curtis Has Struggled To Juggle the Stress of Show & Parenting
YouTubeNicole Curtis on “Pickler & Ben” in 2019.
Curtis rose to fame with her home restoration show, “Rehab Addict,” which aired for a decade on HGTV and the DIY Network until the fall of 2018. At the same time, according to People Magazine, a years-long custody battle over her youngest son finally ended when she and ex Shane Maguire finally reached a 50/50 custody agreement in October 2018.
Burned out and stressed out, Curtis then decided to take a two-year hiatus from television, telling People, “I had a very chaotic ten years. I didn’t want to go down that path again. I’m hyper-focused right now on remembering where I want to be, what matters in my life, what my priorities are.”
She returned to HGTV in Jan. 2021 with the premiere of “Rehab Addict Rescue,” which featured eight one-hour episodes in which she helped clients whose home restoration projects had grown too overwhelming. After the first show aired, HGTV issued a press release calling it a “ratings winner right out of the gate.” The show wrapped up in March 2021 and viewers eagerly waited for news of a second season.
In May 2022, HGTV announced that Curtis would soon star in a spin-off series called “Rehab Addict Lake House Rescue,” chronicling her restoration of a 1904 lakeside cottage she bought in her hometown of Lake Orion, Michigan. Hours before the scheduled premiere on July 13, fans were stunned when Curtis abruptly announced that the show wouldn’t debut that night, cryptically writing that she’d been pushed to the brink mentally and physically.
Heavy has since learned that July 13 was also the date of a Los Angeles court hearing in a renewed custody dispute; nearly four years after finalizing their joint custody agreement, Maguire now claims Curtis has repeatedly violated their custody arrangement. No progress was made on July 13, so they’ll now face off in a hearing this fall.
A couple of days after that hearing — and HGTV’s abrupt pulling of her show — the star fled to Paris to get her groove back. A week later, she revealed on Instagram that “due to health issues, physical (not mental), I could not be on a job site for my usual 16-22 hours” to finish the show, promising viewers that it would debut as soon as she could get it ready.
Curtis Announces End of Show After Another Cryptic Post
Curtis has spent much of August in Lake Orion, after making a surprise trip there to help locals protest a new building development on the lake’s shore. She decided to stay; on August 6, she posted in her Instagram Stories that the lake house was finally finished. She has since shared many photos and videos from inside the renovated home, and has also implied that the “Rehab Addict Lake House Rescue” show would air in September.
On August 18, two days before her 45th birthday, she posted from a new, undisclosed location — with a photo of her on the shore of another lake, with mountains behind it.
“My gramps would say ‘what’s with the sh**-eating grin,'” Curtis wrote. “Me-oh, I just bought an old house …in the mountains -woke up, jumped a plane, drove 1000 miles & said, yes.”
Fans were congratulatory but also confused, with many asking if she meant she’d said “yes” to a proposal. Some also guessed she was in Utah, where she’s spent time previously and where one of her ex-boyfriends lives. Curtis didn’t respond to any fan comments on the post, but on August 22, she was posting again from Michigan with surprising news about her show.
“So, I ditched the #rehabaddictrescue,” she wrote in her Instagram Stories. While it was fun and rated great…I kept thinking why I am putting energy into houses that aren’t mine.”
On the next Story, with video of a wood-paneled room with a mounted deer head and antlers on the walls, she wrote, “And I had a need to come ‘home’ & build a place for me to have peace with my boys.”
She then shared video of herself walking down the steps of a “tree house” that she explained she built “completely out of scraps from my projects over the years or secondhand buys.” She continued, “The lake house @hgtv will be back to the me that is free,” seemingly confirming that the show about the lake house will still air, but future seasons of “Rehab Addict Rescue” won’t.
On the next Story, she shared video of two children on a swingset, with one of them — likely her seven-year-old son, Harper, covered by a large leaf graphic — and another little girl in full view. Over the video, she wrote, “I’ve been called ‘crazy’ for not making the most of my tv career, putting my family first over the years. I’ll take that, my memories vs. money any day.”
Over a photo of the lakehouse cottage, with both kids sitting on the steps — but both of their faces covered by leaves — she wrote, “Nothing is perfect here including me; it’s a mess. My lake house wasn’t built for @hgtv, but I’m sharing it (not my kids) to give you all a break…”
“From this misconception,” she continued to write over the next video of the home’s interior, “that your life is to be perfect -f that noise. #rehabaddict @hgtv no glitz, no glamor, just me being me & making you feel like you’re not the only one.”
Curtis also shared a photo of a yard full of construction materials, saying that her kids slept through the noise of the ‘yard team’ because they were “raised in major cities.” In addition to Harper, whom she shares with Maguire, Curtis is also mom to 24-year-old Ethan with ex Steve Cimini.
HGTV did not respond to a request for comment. Their website shows that late-night reruns of “Rehab Addict Rescue” will air on several dates in September, but there is no mention of the series featuring the lake house.