By now, fans of Rehab Addict‘s Nicole Curtis know that the HGTV star is pretty private when it comes to her personal life. She was able to hide her pregnancy while still remaining in the spotlight of her show, after all.
But in her new memoir Better Than New: Lessons I’ve Learned from Saving Old Homes (And How They Saved Me), Curtis is finally opening up about her pregnancy that has rolled over into a fight for custody with Shane Maguire — the father of her second son, Harper.
“I’ve had good relationships and positive experiences and I wish they were all like that, but unfortunately they aren’t,” Curtis told People of Maguire, who she refers to as “Chad” in her book. “I’ve always been a proponent of co-parenting and children first and it’s just kind of backfiring right now.”
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But her on-again, off-again relationship and bitter custody battle with Maguire isn’t getting Curtis as heated as much as the court system is.
“Right now, our courts are seeing children as simply possessions,” she said. “Like, you get the house, and you get the kid on Christmas and Halloween. It’s ridiculous. So, really I’m just trying to use this torturous experience right now, and just put it to good use so that we can change the way that people think about children in custody battles.”
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And for Curtis, that focus means helping other women who are in the same position she is.
“The other thing is that — I had no idea this stuff went on in family courts and everything — so I’m really trying to use a negative experience and really be an advocate for women who don’t have this,” Curtis added. “I mean, I have my own money and I can afford different things and make this all easier. There’s women out there who can’t. It’s really, again, women supporting women.”
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We love how Curtis is taking her ugly custody battle and turning it into something positive.
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