Former Rehab Addict host Nicole Curtis claimed this week on social media that “someone personal” attempted to blackmail her before releasing the footage of her using the N-word, which resulted in her being fired by the network last week.
“ … I was not contracted to any network or show. (think free agent in sports),” Nicole posted Tuesday on Instagram as part of a lengthy caption reflecting on the years she worked on ‘Rehab Addict,’ as well as her recent firing. “My crew didn’t steal my footage. I don’t have ‘sets.’ I own all my properties. In other words, no one is my ‘boss,’ I’m the boss. I create product & sell the rights of it & my likeness for limited contracted use.
“Someone personal (not crew) had access, demanded $, I didn’t pay-here we are,” she continued.
As The Ashley told you last week, a video of unaired footage was shared by Radar Online last Wednesday, in which Nicole was shown– and heard– getting frustrated during a renovation project before randomly blurting out, “Why? It’s the last one. Oh, fart n*****.” After realizing the racial slur had been caught on camera, Nicole begged the crew to delete the footage.
After the footage leaked last week, Nicole explained that it was not shot on the set of ‘Rehab Addict’ as some people assumed.
“That was all my footage, my cameras, my house-it was not for HGTV, not for a show, no one would have ever seen the footage… HGTV was not aware because it was shot on my own personal time, done and equipment. No one was aware except the people in that room.”
She also claimed that no one had access to the drives the footage was on except herself and her ex-boyfriend.
Shortly after the video surfaced, HGTV condemned Nicole’s use of the slur and confirmed that she had been booted from the network– a day before ‘Rehab Addict’ was set to return with new episodes.
Days later, Nicole apologized for using the slur, insisting at the time that the released clip had been “stolen then manipulated, edited and sold to a tabloid to coincide with [her] return to television.”
“I make no excuse for this,” Nicole explained. “I am not [a] victim. Nothing I say or do will take that moment 4 years ago away. I know it was wrong. This will never happen again.”
Nicole also insisted that she wasn’t addressing her use of the racial slur because she was “caught” using it, but rather because she’s, “not okay with the fact that [she] said that.”
“I am and have been submerged in the African-American community my entire adult life,” she continued. “I’m a mom of two children, I chose to live and work in the inner cities of many major cities, but most famously Minneapolis and Detroit. Yes, I hear that word on [a] daily basis, people say it all around me, I listen to it in music, I’m not secluded on the suburbs. I am the white, small blonde in the neighborhood who knows that’s a word that represents evil, pain, torture, trauma when used by someone like me. And yet, it came from me… .”
As for how the racial slur managed to “easily come out” of her mouth, Nicole told fans she didn’t have an answer, insisting that her using the racial slur shocked her as well. She did, however, claim that she frequently throws together random words, many of which she began using after she “became a mommy and could not swear on TV.”
“ … [In] recent years, I’ve added fart digger, fart knocker,” she claimed. “It’s documented.”
Nicole also issued a statement to TMZ last week, as well as an apology for using the slur.
While Nicole claimed last week that her ex was the only other person in possession of the footage that leaked, she has not revealed if he is the person who allegedly attempted to extort her.
One of her most well-known exes, Ryan Sawtelle— who appeared with Nicole on ‘Rehab Addict’ and dated her for several years— spoke out last week and insisted that, while Nicole is a bad person, she is not a racist.
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“As much as I dislike her — and it may be validating to see her get in trouble — she is unequivocally not a racist,” Ryan told TMZ. “Nor has she ever said anything racially insensitive over the years we dated, and I have known her.”
Ryan— who is actually the man holding the ladder for Nicole in the leaked footage—added that he isn’t surprised the video was leaked, given that Nicole allegedly treats people who work for her poorly. However, he confirmed that she often used made-up words to use in lieu of cursing, something he says happened on the day in question when Nicole mistakenly blurted out the N-word.
Ryan insisted that he has no reason to defend Nicole other than to tell the truth.
“Due to the fact I’d rather run a marathon barefoot on LEGOs than speak to her again, I do not care what anyone really believes. I am just telling you the truth,” he said. “The bottom line here is that videos like this are not leaked to damage ‘good’ people.”
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“We have only communicated through attorneys for the past few years,” she said of Ryan. “He has had no involvement with the show that I produced on my own dime. He argued for a glory title, and we gave it to him. He is not someone to speak on any culture of any set of ours. My guys do not care for him because of the hell I went through with knowing him. I’ve done my best to be cordial and aired him in the best light. He continues to bring disruption to mine.”
Nicole did not confirm or deny if Ryan was the ex-boyfriend who allegedly blackmailed her with the footage.
RELATED STORY: ‘Rehab Addict’ Star Nicole Curtis Responds After Being Fired from HGTV for Using the N-Word in Unaired Footage
(Photos: Instagram; HGTV)
4 Responses
She can say whatever she wants. Imagine people being offended at a word they say 100 times a day. Gtfoh.
WTF does someone attempting to blackmail you matter? You still said it. You said it in such a weirdly specific way that it didn’t fall out of your mouth on accident like you claim. Wasn’t the first time you’ve said it and it won’t be the last. smh
Please. Fart digger? That’s like using Cheese and Rice or Gosh Darn. Keep digging that hole, girl.
“I make no excuse for this”
Makes excuse after excuse. Girl, no one cares and no one believes you. Get offline.