Courtesy of Karen E. Laine/Instagram
Mina Starsiak Hawk Says Ongoing Rift With Mom Karen E. Laine Is ‘Hard to Undo’: ‘I Can’t Understand’
On August 12, Mina Starsiak Hawk shared photos on Instagram from son Jack’s 5th birthday party, but one person was noticeably absent from the celebration — her mom, Karen E. Laine. The Good Bones host revealed new bombshells about her ongoing rift with her mother in an episode of her “Mina AF” podcast on Wednesday, September 20.
“You can still judge me for not inviting my mom to Jack’s birthday party,” Mina told her listeners. “You can dislike me for it. You can still think I’m the problem, which I’m for sure part of the problem. I’m working on it.”
The HGTV star is also a mom to her 3-year-old daughter, Charlotte, whom she shares with her husband, Steve Hawk. Mina explained that there wasn’t a specific instance she could pinpoint as the cause of her falling out with Karen.
“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,’” she continued. “It’s a cumulative situation from the time I can remember when I was 3 of things that have created the situation that we’re in now and it’s incredibly hard to undo.”
Mina first revealed she was “not on good terms” with her mom and brothers Tad and William Starsiak during an August 28 podcast episode. Since then, she has patched up her relationship with William. “William and I are good, we’ve squashed it,” Mina recently shared.
As the final season of Good Bones airs on HGTV, Mina expressed uncertainty about repairing other family bonds.
“I’m not sure if I have ever been at a point where I would say, ‘I’m good, I got it, I’m not the problem, you figure your stuff out and then come talk to me,’ and those are actually words my mom has said to me,” she said. “I’m not sure if she meant them at the time. I’m not sure if she felt them then or still feels them now but when you’re trying to engage with someone who doesn’t think they have an active role in the current relationship status, that’s just banging your head against a brick wall.”
The Two Chicks and a Hammer owner made the choice to “back away” from some of her family members.
“My brother Tad said some really awful stuff to me and I’m sure he would say that I’ve said some awful stuff to him too,” she recalled. “But the most recent stuff he said to me, he can’t say it’s not what he said. He can’t say I misunderstood. It’s in text and it’s black and white and that was kind of my final straw there.”
After having a candid conversation with Steve, Mina decided that Tad was “not a good person for [her] to be around.” Instead, she has become very intentional with which family members she currently communicates with on a regular basis.
“Charlie’s birthday was this past weekend and my mom didn’t call or text or give her a card or drop a present on the door and I know she feels like she has very valid reasons for not working on developing relationships with my kids,” Mina said through tears. “But I just can’t understand that.”
At the end of the episode, the mom of two broke down as she explained how she was navigating life after setting “boundaries” with Karen and Tad. Still, she admitted it’s been a rather hard adjustment.
“My life is crazy, and I have a lot of really, really amazing people in it that support me, and I have a lot of people in it that don’t, so [for] those that don’t, I’m not going to put energy and effort into it,” Mina concluded.
