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Good Bones’ Mina Starsiak Hawk Reveals Plans for Christmas Amid Estrangement and Tension With Family
Mina Starsiak Hawk’s tension with her mom, Karen E. Laine, and brother Tad Starsiak has spilled over into the holiday season. The Good Bones star revealed her plans for Christmas this year and did not directly mention spending the day with either of them.
In an episode of her “Mina AF” podcast on Tuesday, November 28, Mina, 39, explained that she and her husband, Steve Hawk, received two invitations for Christmas this year. It led to a conversation about how the couple, who share kids Jack and Charlotte, were going to split their time during the holiday.
“My very thoughtful sister plans very far in advance,” the HGTV personality explained. “So she sent out a spreadsheet with the pajama sizes and the activities for Thanksgiving through Christmas, probably in, like, September.”
Steve, 42, was invited to come spend Christmas at his grandmother’s house. The fitness trainer’s family is smaller than Mina’s, as he lost his father, mother and sister in the span of two years.
“Every conversation around Steve’s family is so loaded for him, and therefore loaded for me, because I care so much about making sure he’s feeling loved on the holidays because he has so fewer people that are his core group that thought he was the world, that he was everything,” Mina continued. “And those are really big shoes to fill that no one could ever fill; I could never fill, but I try my best.”
Mina admitted that the conversation “could’ve turned into a fight,” but the pair had a good couple’s therapy session that helped them overcome the hurdle. Ultimately, they decided to compromise and are thinking of going to Steve’s grandmother’s house earlier in the day and then going to Mina’s sister’s event later on.
“If we’re a little bit past the kids’ bedtime, that’s OK, because I know them seeing your grandma and getting to know her a little bit more as well as being able to be with all their cousins, those things are both important to us,” Mina concluded.
This holiday season has been an especially difficult time for the Starsiak crew. Tension between Mina, Karen and Tad escalated while they filmed the 8th and final season of Good Bones. In August, Mina revealed on her podcast that the family had a “challenging” dynamic and shared that she was “not in a great place” with her mom and brother.
Ahead of the holiday season, the HGTV star said that her and Tad’s dad, Casey Starsiak, urged the siblings to patch things up. Mina recalled Casey, 75, telling her “as the head of [the] family” that she should “jump in” and work on her relationship with Tad. “[Make] him understand maybe where he misstepped and how we can come back to a place of good,” Casey advised.
In a November 21 podcast episode, Mina said that she wouldn’t rule out reconciling with Tad if he apologized to her. On the flip side with Karen, Mina said the source of the tension was harder to pinpoint.
“It’s not been one thing that my mom and I can go back to and I can say, ‘OK, I forgive you and we’re going to go past this one thing,’” the television personality explained. “It’s a cumulative situation from the time I can remember when I was three of things that have created the situation that we’re in now and it’s incredibly hard to undo.”
