‘Good Bones’ Mina Starsiak Hawk Details More Family Drama Behind the Scenes

Mina Starsiak Hawk is getting candid about her family dynamic with mom Karen E. Laine amid the final season of HGTV‘s Good Bones.

After opening up about familial conflicts in a recent podcast episode, Starsiak Hawk has now discussed behind-the-scenes drama from the show itself, revealing what really goes into making the renovation series, which is set to conclude with its current eighth season. Speaking to People, she said, “There’s a lot more construction people don’t see. There’s a lot more contractor issues people don’t see. There’s interpersonal family dynamics that people don’t see.”

While she mentioned tensions with her mom and brother on her podcast, Starsiak Hawk is tying it back to the show now, as she shared, “There were definitely some challenging [moments] because my mom and I were in some of the most challenging places I felt we’ve been.”

One example Starsiak Hawk gave is a “knockdown drag-out [fight] during demo” with her mom in the season premiere. “I was like, ‘I wonder if anyone’s going to be able to tell,’” she mused. “And of course, you can’t because that’s the idea. People . . . that’s not why they’re tuning in to watch Good Bones. That’s not what they want.”

On the surface, fans have enjoyed a mother-daughter dynamic that has kept them tuning in for eight seasons, but over the course of that experience, Stariak Hawk admitted that it’s been “really hard.”

“I think family business is hard enough on its own,” she told the outlet. “And from what people know from the show, my mom and I are thick as thieves, best friends, and because they just don’t know anything else, they assume that’s how it’s always been. And I think a lot of people really aspire to that, so they don’t want to know other stuff, which is fine. But my mom and I have had a very rocky relationship since I have memories.”

The 39-year-old Starsiak Hawk revealed, “It was maybe eight years… that we were extremely close.” Of those years, she cited the time she was in college ranging to the beginning of their company Two Chicks and a Hammer in 2007. As previously reported, Laine stepped back from the company in 2019, as she retired.

Starsiak said she’s “not expecting anyone to know all the other stuff. There wasn’t a show about the other stuff. But it’s very challenging when you aren’t working from a super stable base to then throw in TV, which will just completely f— your world up if you let it. And it’s really, really hard for people not to let it.”

While this new information may impact the view fans have of the HGTV series, Starsiak Hawk is already working on her next project renovating a lake house she bought this summer. As for her future with the network, Starsiak Hawk said, “I’m definitely open to it,” when it comes to more shows.