Claim to Fame’s Miguel Says Relationship With Aunt Jamie Lee Curtis Was ‘Never Really Too Hands On’
Claim to Fame season 3 contestant Miguel Curtis, whose full name is Raphael Miguel Curtis, is opening up about his dynamic with his aunt Jamie Lee Curtis.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for season 3 of Claim to Fame.
After his Wednesday, July 24, elimination from the ABC reality series, Miguel exclusively told Us Weekly that he was “not necessarily” close with Jamie Lee, 65, when he was growing up.
“We’re family. We love and support each other, but I’ve never been around [her], like, constantly,” he explained. “It’s always been, like, visits, and maybe vacation or something like that, but never really too hands-on or in person a lot of the time.”
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During his time on Claim to Fame, Miguel was candid about Jamie Lee — whose identity was then a secret from viewers and his fellow competitors — being a source of support for his family during challenging times.
"When I was younger, my mother ended up in the hospital [and] went through some really hard times, and my celebrity relative stepped in to help," Miguel said during a confessional.
Jamie Lee has celebrity relatives of her own as the daughter of late actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh and the sister of actresses Kelly Curtis and Allegra Curtis. Miguel told Us that even though he has “a big family full of incredible actors and actresses,” he’s no expert on his relatives’ bodies of work.
“I haven't necessarily gone out of my way to really watch too many of the movies or the shows that people have been on, just because I've always felt like you should give that person in your family that amount of respect of, like, maybe not always being so obsessive about what they're doing,” Miguel explained. “I try not to base my affection [for] somebody [on] something that they do as opposed to just how they are. I love my family for how they are; I don't love them for what they do.”
Despite his beliefs about seeing people for more than their success, Miguel shared that he has “a lot of respect” for his family members’ careers.
Miguel’s fellow Claim to Fame contestants were shocked when his celebrity relative was revealed to be Jamie Lee after he incorrectly guessed that Dedrick is related to Little Richard during Wednesday’s episode. Miguel predicted that going by his middle name would lead competitors to assume his celebrity connection was Latinx, and he was right. Naomi felt certain that Miguel was the grandson of Desi Arnaz, and John Stamos’ niece Jill Kurlfink was eliminated last week after incorrectly guessing that Miguel is related to Antonio Banderas.
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Prior to Jill’s elimination, Miguel hatched a plan to “get caught” talking to himself about being a Banderas. While it was great television, it also exposed Miguel as a skilled liar, which made some of his housemates think twice about sharing information with him.
“Once you rip off the mask, it’s hard to put it back on, because everyone’s already seen you for what you are,” Miguel said, noting that he “probably should have waited” to make the move. Still, he has no regrets about how it all went down.
“Honestly, it was so tiring trying to pretend to be something that I wasn’t,” Miguel said. “Like I say in the episode, ripping off the sheep's head mask, it felt good because it's like — you're showing everyone what you are capable of.”
Claim to Fame airs Wednesdays on ABC at 9 p.m. ET.
