Who Did HGTV Star Nicole Curtis Date After Her Breakup With Shane Maguire?

Amid a long and bitter custody battle with her ex Shane Maguire, Nicole Curtis took to social media in 2019 to confirm that she was in a new relationship. The host of HGTV's "Rehab Addict" surprised her fans when she posted a photo of her new boyfriend, Ryan Sawtelle, on Instagram in November of that year. "New Jersey and my man with the beard," she wrote in a caption under her post, which shows the two kissing each other on the lips while she sits on her boyfriend's lap. Before Sawtelle, Curtis was in an on-again, off-again relationship with Maguire for several years until 2014 — and the two share a son named Harper, who was born in 2015. She also has an adult son named Ethan, whom she welcomed with her ex-boyfriend, Steve, when she was just 20 years old.

Speaking to People about her new romance, Curtis could not help but gush about her beau. "My heart is happy and having him near me brings a calm I've never known,'" she said of Sawtelle. "Not that it's been easy. Everyone has a great first few months rocking everything they have in common, but after six months you start digging into the other stuff and you either grow apart or negotiate those differences and move forward. And [you] have to make a decision to focus on the fun." She also opened up their relationship timeline, including the story of how they first met. 

Nicole Curtis and Ryan Sawtelle had been dating for more than a year when she made their relationship Instagram official in 2019. Recalling their love story to People, the HGTV star shared that she first met Sawtelle on Instagram where he had been chronicling his niece's struggle with a brain tumor at the time. "When he posted that Arden had died, I was crushed," Curtis said. "I sat there crying knowing the struggles his family would be facing in the upcoming days, weeks, years." Curtis said she then messaged Sawtelle to give him her condolences. "I reached out to him to see if we could help in anyway and also, to let them know we were all praying for them," she recalled.

Their romance didn't begin until after Curtis enlisted Sawtelle's help with a promo shoot for "Rehab Addict" a few weeks later. "I wanted a motorcycle in it, and he had one," she said. "When we finished, he asked if I wanted to take a ride." That ended up being their first date. "Sunset on the back of a motorcycle next to this guy staring at the ocean — a pretty good one at that!" At the time of the interview, Curtis said she doesn't want to take her relationship with Sawtelle for granted. "He's handsome, he makes me proud, he makes me laugh and we sing every song that comes on together," she gushed. "Him in perfect pitch knowing every word; me, not even close!" 

So, who is Ryan Sawtelle? According to his Facebook account, Sawtelle is a comedic actor and founder of the military non-profit White Heart Foundation, which aims to help post-9/11 veterans by offering them specialized healthcare services to improve their mental health and physical well-being. He's also the executive director of the Butch Walker Foundation, an organization founded by music producer Butch Walker, which is dedicated to helping families with a loved one suffering from pancreatic cancer. For his work, Sawtelle has been recognized by Malibu Times as its Citizen of the Year in 2017 and by Pepperdine University as one of its "40 Under 40 Alumni" in 2016. According to his LinkedIn, he studied Economics & Non-Profit Management at Pepperdine University, where he also spearheaded the creation of the annual "Wave of Flags" 9/11 display alongside a fellow student in 2008.

Unfortunately, while he and Curtis seemed to have a picture-perfect relationship, it now appears that the two are no longer dating as fans noticed they haven't shared photos of each other on social media. (Curtis' original post confirming their romance in 2019 has also been deleted.) And though she has yet to confirm anything, the HGTV host did seem to hint at their breakup in an Instagram post in July 2022. "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," she wrote.