‘Rehab Addict’ star fights mom, son’s dad in court
Pontiac – — “Rehab Addict” star and Lake Orion native Nicole Curtis is dangerous and failing to share custody of her toddler son, according to a pair of court filings that reveal the tumultuous personal life of the popular HGTV show host.
In the past month, Curtis, 39, has been locked in a bitter custody fight over her 15-month-old son, while being accused of threatening to harm her mother, according to Oakland County Circuit Court records.
The TV show host’s mother, Clarkston resident Joan Curtis, requested a personal protection order last month, accusing her celebrity daughter of screaming, harassing and threatening her in bouts of “mental fits and rage.” The alleged acts coincided with a legal fight between Curtis and Minnesota resident Shane Maguire, the father of her son, Harper.
The custody filings detail a contentious parenting fight involving a private eye, a midnight screaming match and makeup sex. She accused Maguire of exposing their son to “extreme violence and danger” by taking the toddler into the middle of a Black Lives Matter protest.
“Allegations are allegations and fiction sometimes,” the man’s lawyer, Gerald Cavellier, told The Detroit News. “She is standing in the way of Shane Maguire having a relationship with their son. My guy has been very patient and accommodating – but that’s done.”
Cavellier accused Curtis of repeatedly refusing to honor a court-ordered parenting schedule. A hearing is set for Wednesday in Oakland County Circuit Court.
Curtis, who has homes in Lake Orion and Minnesota, did not respond to a message seeking comment Thursday.
“Nicole Curtis, I don’t see anything wrong with her one way or another. She’s fine,” her lawyer Ralph Pezda said Thursday. “She’s a good mother.”
Curtis has had a high-profile return to Metro Detroit in recent years. She rehabilitated the iconic Ransom Gillis mansion in Detroit’s Brush Park and her grandparents’ 1952 ranch in Metro Detroit. In September, she was robbed in front of a downtown parking garage while putting her 4-month-old child in her car, police said.
The legal battles date to November, when Maguire sued the home-improvement show star in Oakland County.
Maguire, 53, co-owner of a string of gold-buying stores in California and Minnesota, wanted a judge to rule that he is the child’s biological father, and award joint legal custody and “liberal parenting time.”
Maguire said their son was born out of wedlock in May 2015. According to his lawsuit, Maguire took a paternity test, which showed a 99.94 percent probability that he was the child’s biological father.
Curtis, whose show ended its seventh season earlier this year, has been mum about the baby, the father and other personal details.
In November, Curtis posted a photo on Facebook of her pushing a baby carriage but refused to talk about the baby.
“Yes, there’s one more in our litter & we couldn’t be more pleased,” she posted. “We know it’s ‘ruff,’ but thank you for respecting our privacy.”
She unsuccessfully tried to have the paternity case sealed. Curtis argued that as TV star with a “considerable following on social media” and whose pregnancy ranked in the Top 10 most ‘Googled’ pregnancies of 2015, she was vulnerable to stalkers.
Court records and a transcript from a July 6 hearing portray a volatile, four-year relationship that reached a low this summer.
“Mr. Maguire is — is very belligerent, um — he’s very threatening...” Curtis testified.
On June 11, Maguire allegedly showed up at her home, demanding to see his son, Curtis testified.
“... around midnight actually he was pounding on the glass – I have a full glass door – and he was pounding and screaming ...,” Curtis testified. “It’s all about embarrassing me, humiliating me.”
Despite the alleged screaming incident, Curtis testified under cross examination that the couple was still intimate. She described Maguire flying to visit her and their son in Florida in late June.
“I booked him a hotel and I booked two double beds and he got upset and he changed it to a king,” Curtis testified. “We were intimate then.”
Following her testimony and an agreement, Oakland County Circuit Judge Lisa Langton awarded Maguire joint custody and parenting time on alternating weekends. The judge ordered Maguire’s name be added to the birth certificate and changed the child’s name to Harper Wolfgang Lewis Curtis-Maguire.
Maguire also was awarded make-up visitation time this summer.
On July 13, Curtis tried to modify the custody and parenting-time arrangement.
Curtis tried to block Maguire from having overnight custody until Harper is at least 2 years old, according to court records. She also said all of Maguire’s parenting time should be supervised.
In a filing, Curtis accused Maguire of letting his 17-year-old son drive Harper “in a manner that was careless, exceeded the posted speed limits and was unsafe.”
“Shane Maguire was in the back seat with the baby, who was in a car seat,” Maguire’s lawyer told The News. “There was nothing unsafe about it.”
Under Maguire’s care, their son was “unreasonably put in situations which are dangerous to his health and well-being, (including) lead exposure,” Curtis alleged.
Their son would suffer “psychological damage” if allowed to spend the night with Maguire, she alleged.
Cavellier called that allegation “offensive.”
“Shane Maguire has done everything right,” Cavellier said. “This guy has toed the line.”
Maguire exposed their son “to extreme violence and danger by taking Harper into the middle of the Black Lives Matter police protests” in Minneapolis, Curtis also alleged.
She claimed the protests were held in front of Maguire’s home.
Maguire’s street in an affluent part of St. Paul was closed to the public during the protests, his lawyer said.
“Shane lives two doors down from the governor’s mansion,” Cavellier said. “It’s the safest, best area of St. Paul. The street was blocked off out of an abundance of caution.”
Curtis’ allegations were specific and secretive, Cavellier said. He said Curtis allegedly had hired a private investigator to trail Maguire and take photographs during his first week of extended parenting time.
“She spared no expense,” Cavellier said.
On July 20, the judge refused all of Curtis’ requests to alter parenting time, barred Curtis from taking her son to job sites where lead or other toxins are present and barred both parties from using private investigators.
Yet problems have lingered, Cavellier said.
Maguire was supposed to spend this week with his son, the lawyer said.
“He had a plane ticket to fly to Michigan and pick his son up. Then he was told that his son and (Nicole) were in New York City and that he could come there if he wants to,” Cavellier said. “He wants to spend time with his son at home, not in a hotel room.”
Meanwhile, on June 20, Curtis’ mother asked a judge for a restraining order, accusing the home-improvement star of harassment and making threats.
Nicole Curtis had been threatening her mom since last year “due to her hate for me,” Joan Curtis wrote in the restraining order request.
In May, Nicole Curtis allegedly made threats in Florida, where her grandmother was hospitalized, according to the court filing.
Nicole Curtis “caused total distress to my dying mother with her screaming, crying and threatening words + actions,” Joan Curtis wrote.
The judge refused to issue a restraining order, saying the request lacked sufficient factual allegations.
But she scheduled an Aug. 24 hearing.
“Families don’t agree all of the time,” Nicole Curtis’ lawyer said Thursday. “That’s just how it is.”
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