Things went sideways for Nicole Curtis very early in life.
The road to success wasn’t easy, however.
They welcomed their first child there, but the relationship ended in shambles.
Curtis found herself navigating life as a single mother, holding down several jobs to make ends meet.
Telling me no just meant I would be all the more determined."
“I was completely burned out,” Curtis confessed toPeople.
I was stressed out."
“I had a very chaotic ten years.
I didn’t want to go down that path again,” the designer told the outlet.
“I was chasing the money.
I was chasing that money hard because I wanted a better life for us,” Curtis confessed.
“They can all wait.
Your children can’t,” she mused.
“If I could get those years back, I would trade everything in a heartbeat.”
Instead, the opposite happened, and the couple’s relationship didn’t survive the duration of the pregnancy.
““I was worried about being judged,” she toldPeople.
“It was a very difficult time for me.
There I was, almost 40, having another child on my own.”
This is mine,” she wrote.
Curtis also wanted to protect her baby from public scrutiny and social media.
With her first child, Curtis didn’t have the luxury of entirely hiding him from public view.
Maguire wanted joint custody and the ex-couple found themselves embroiled in a three-year-long custody battle.
Initially, the court granted Maguire visitation rights.
“Harper had never, ever been away from me before,” the TV host shared.
“That was the most horrific moment.
It was heart-wrenching.”
“He has attachment issues with all this hustling back and forth,” she admitted.
Needless to say, when Curtis and Maguire finally reached a custody agreement in 2018, everyone was relieved.
“It’s important that children have both of their parents.
“I’m using my voice to say, hey, I didn’t know this either.”
It’s not clear whether Cimini was ever arrested.
The HGTV star was already suffering from some burnout during her bereavement, having not taken any maternity leave.
“We had contracts to get through,” she told Country Living.
“I went from giving birth to filming and building.”
Her grandmother, Curtis recalled, was as headstrong as they came.
“My Gram was Catholic and very proper, but she cursed.
She was hospitalized at one point but held on to celebrate the milestone, dying two days later.
Curtis shared the news onFacebook, writing, “My Gram passed away.
There’s nothing that will numb this.
I will never match her accomplishments, her grace, her heart.”
“He said to me one day, he said, ‘Nicky, you know what?
You don’t need it.
Why are you chasing it?”
Curtis told Fox News in 2024.
“That’s been a huge lesson learned for me.”
Smack in the middle of the pandemic, her beloved dog, Lucy, died.
Curtis took toInstagramto share the heartbreaking news.
“My dog, Lucy, is gone.
She didn’t share exactly how Lucy died, only that her neighbor had brought her over.
Curtis adopted Lucy while attending a charity auction for Secondhand Hounds.
Only, Lucy managed to steal her heart in seconds.
“I sat with her for about an hour,” Curtis told Dogster (viaPeople).
“I kept telling myself, ‘I’m not getting another dog.
I don’t need another dog, I don’t want another dog.’
They filed a lawsuit against the HGTV star, and she filed one of her own.
“Thank you for all your support & anyone else out there with a case contact us.
This is just the beginning.”
“Our situation is absolutely horrifying and heartbreaking.
I can’t say any more to that,” she told the outlet.
Curtis and her mother both agreed to cut off contact with each other entirely.
