Nicole Curtis Breaks Silence, Resurfaces in Paris Days After HGTV Pulls Show

Nicole Curtis on Detroit news

YouTube HGTV's Nicole Curtis discussed one of her legal battles on Fox 2 Detroit in 2021.

Nicole Curtis of “Rehab Addict Rescue” stunned fans on July 13 by announcing via social media that her new series — “Rehab Addict Lake House Rescue” — would not premiere on HGTV as planned that night due to a personal health crisis.

Quiet since posting a series of cryptic Instagram Stories on that same day, the restoration expert has just resurfaced in Paris, France, and uploaded a new series of Instagram updates. Here’s what you need to know about the unfolding drama:


Curtis Abruptly Announced ‘I’m Done’ on Social Media

Curtis, a longtime TV personality dedicated to preserving old homes, has been through a stressful few years, including a very public custody battle over her five-year-old son Harper, a successful legal fight to keep a house that the city of Detroit claimed she didn’t rightfully own, and her return to television after a two-year hiatus due to stress.

On July 13, Curtis posted a mirror selfie on Instagram hours before “Rehab Addict Lake House Rescue” was scheduled to premiere. “Before you go looking, no shows tonight,” she wrote. “Ive recently seen my body,physically and mentall, g through things I never imagined. I’ve gone from shock to awe, happiness to sadness, ok to how the f do I get through the next minute and finally to I’ve survived. For all those reasons, I made a call and said I’m done. Not forever, but until this phase of my life becomes my past.”

Following her post, she added a series of messages and photos to her Instagram Stories, which disappeared after 24 hours. They included a photo of her slumped in a waiting room chair, and another curled up in a hospital bed.

Her photos included text that read, “I’m a ‘make the best of it’ Person, but reached my limits when…the stress of ‘doing it all’ broke my body.” Over the hospital photo, she wrote, “the ones that know the struggles, the heartache, the journey See this and get me through.”

Curtis did not provide any additional updates for three days, leaving fans to wonder if she was okay and when she might return.


Curtis Flees to Paris, Posts About When ‘Life Gets Flipped Upside Down’

On the same day Curtis posted her flurry of updates, July 13, her longtime general contractor — Josh Engle — posted a photo on his Instagram feed of a visit to the zoo with her and her youngest son, Harper. Engle wrote, “The zoo and losing every debate here with @detroitdesign mini-me.” Curtis took the photograph as a selfie, but only a small portion of her hair and face were shown. It’s not clear if the photo was taken before or after her social media announcement that day, in which she stated to the world, “I’m done.”

Three days later, on July 16, Curtis reappeared in her Instagram stories with a series of posts, surprising fans with news she had fled to Paris on a spur-of-the-moment flight.

The first post, regarding her flight out of Detroit’s Wayne County Airport (DTW), featured white text on a black background. She wrote, “Sometimes when everything in your life gets flipped upside down, You book a flight, the great team at DTW rushes you through the airport You make the flight…and discover you left your wallet on the counter.” She added two laughing-through-tears emojis at the end.

Right after that post, she shared a video taken through the window of a vehicle driving on a highway, zipping past French road signs. “A little eat, pray, love trip just turned into Starve, pray, beg,” she wrote, referring to the best-selling Elizabeth Gilbert book, “Eat, Pray, Love,”  about a woman who leaves her stressful life behind for an overseas pilgrimage to find herself. Curtis’s video and text were accompanied by a short excerpt of the new Nija song called “Not One of Them.” The lyrics that played in Curtis’s clip included “Ain’t no one like her, she’s not one of them; Don’t play, with that girl, she’s not one of them.”

About three hours later, the next Instagram Story from Curtis featured a video she took as she walked along a bridge with “love locks” that visitors have attached to it. Then the camera panned up to show the Eiffel Tower just beyond the river. “Little surreal,” Curtis wrote with a red heart emoji.

After a couple of hours, another Story appeared; this time, it was a grainy screenshot of two people doing a video call, presumably herself and Engle. Over the image, she wrote, “@josh.d.engle laughing nonstop & telling me to see this all as more content for my @lifetimetv movie.” And then she added, “No worries, he’s sending the WU,” possibly referring to a Western Union international money transfer, which travelers often refer to as “WU.”

The last Story that Curtis posted on July 16 was a video of herself talking to the camera, just beyond the historic Arc de Triomphe. “I went to go running at the Eiffel Tower and I went the wrong way,” she said. “This is something where Ethan would definitely be like, ‘No s*** you went the wrong way — of course you did, Mom!’ Anyways, it’s not like it’s a bad run, right? Not too bad.” She added text over the video that said, “When I say RUN, I mean a modified text, jog, text.”

Ethan, whom she referred to in that Story, is her son with ex-husband Steve Cimini, who’s now 24 and has accompanied his mom to Europe multiple times, including a 2014 trip to Paris and a 2016 visit to Barcelona, including the Arc de Triomf there.


Curtis Posts From Paris Hotel Room, But Doesn’t Address Health or HGTV

On the morning of July 17, Curtis posted another mirror selfie to her Instagram feed, this time from her hotel room, dressed in a white robe. “Sunday morning in Paris,” she wrote, with a red heart emoji.

Curtis also uploaded a photo to her Instagram Stories of her morning meal at an outdoor cafe. She added the text “@josh.d.engle treated me to breakfast” and “Was supposed to be in #Corfu but last night led to sleeping in,” likely referring to the Greek island of Corfu.

There have been no updates from Curtis about the status of her HGTV show, her health, nor any specific details of what flipped her life “upside down” to prompt this spontaneous trip to Europe. HGTV has not yet responded to a request for comment.