Nicole Curtis, HGTV star, shaken by theft in Detroit

Nicole Curtis, the star of "Rehab Addict" and a Lake Orion native, claims she narrowly escaped being carjacked in Detroit.

"It made me question every single thing I have going on in my life," Curtis wrote in a Facebook post Wednesday that gathered more than 15,000 likes within a few hours of posting.

But Detroit police say there was no threat of carjacking or assault at all — in fact, a male grabbed a purse from a car's open window and took off running, said Sgt. Cassandra Lewis, a Detroit police spokeswoman.

The incident took place Monday night when Curtis and a friend were heading back to a car after the Jazz Fest, police said.

Curtis stopped at the parked car that was facing east on Larned and was helping her friend get a baby into the car when a man reached into the car’s open window, grabbed a purse that was sitting in the front seat, and took off on foot, according to police.

But in her brief recounting of the situation on Facebook, Curtis described the incident as an “attempted carjacking.” She said she was so overwhelmed that she broke down on the way home from filing a police report.

She also said she hopes she will meet the thief one day and that she will pray for him.

"First I seek to understand what makes you think this was a good idea," she writes. "Cause the mom in me wonders ... was it the only choice you thought you had?"

Curtis was not immediately reachable for comment.

As the host of “Rehab Addict,” Curtis has brought national attention to the efforts to preserve historic Detroit houses left abandoned amid the city's decline.

Nicole Curtis: It’s now easier to renovate in Detroit

She drew a surge of attention in August when she announced that she would rehabilitate the Ransom Gillis mansion in Detroit's Brush Park district. The home, which was built in the 1870s at the height of Brush Park's elegance, barely survived decades of blight, and has only its brick walls intact.

Her first Detroit home rehabilitation, in the 4000 block of North Campbell in southwest Detroit, was a two-story, 1929 Tudor duplex that was partially burned and long abandoned.

Curtis' mansion revival just the start for Brush Park

Note: The headline on a previous version of this story incorrectly said Nicole Curtis had been robbed in downtown Detroit. What happened was larceny, the legal term for the wrongful taking of property. A robbery occurs when something is taken by force or threat of force. "Theft" is a general term that covers both of these. 

Staff writer Matt Helms contributed to this report. Contact Daniel Bethencourt: dbethencourt@freepress.com, 313-223-4531 or on Twitter at @_dbethencourt