A lot of home renovation shows have come and gone on HGTV, including Good Bones, which is one of the best reality shows on HBO Max. The series, starring mother-daughter duo Karen E. Laine and Mina Starsiak Hawk, ran for eight seasons from 2016 to 2024. It likely would have gone further had the two not had a falling out. Starsiak Hawk has opened up in the past about her strained relationship with her mother, and now she's spoken out again about what ultimately led to her decision to leave the HGTV hit.
Starsiak Hawk appeared on fellow HGTV star Alison Victoria’s Pap Smear Podcast, where she reflected on the show and what it was really like behind the scenes, including all of the tension. Aside from her mother, she had other family members on the show with her, but it was tough. She admitted to Victoria that while she loved doing Good Bones, and would still be doing the show, the interpersonal issues with her family and friends made it hard to continue on with it:
I didn’t end the show because I didn’t want to do the show. I ended the show because I could not mentally and emotionally handle the relationships, and it was affecting me physically.
It wasn’t just her mom that she was having issues with, as Starsiak Hawk previously revealed that she and Cory Miller had a falling out, and were not on speaking terms. She didn’t go into specifics about what happened, but it’s another example of what Starsiak Hawk was dealing with during the filming of Good Bones.
In addition to her relationships on the fritz, Starsiak Hawk shared how she was feeling through it all and how it would physically make her sick. Unfortunately, making changes wasn’t really an option since Good Bones had a good formula and she didn’t want to change anything, even with the show taking a toll on her:
I was having stomach issues and all kinds of stuff. You know, it was such a good show, and you don’t want to change a good thing. So, just trying to adjust it was not really on the table.
Meanwhile, Victoria couldn’t help but point out how well and relaxed Starsiak Hawk is now, compared to how she was doing when she was filming Good Bones, especially since she's back on HGTV.
Starsiak Hawk revealed she had to go to physical therapy for six months because of her jaw, since she was so stressed and it had so much tension. Luckily, she had her husband, Steve, in her corner, and she gave him all the praise. Recalling how hard it was for him to see her let go of the show and how he saw her crying so much, she explained:
He would see me come home four days, five days a week from filming, just crying like, ‘This is so hard. I can’t do this anymore. I don’t know what to do.’ [I’d] then go back to work the next day and do it again. So, it was a lot for [Steve], too.
That is now all behind her. Starsiak Hawk seems to be doing a lot better and can currently be seen in the HGTV hit Rock the Block. It might have been hard for her to walk away from Good Bones, but she prioritized her mental health, which is really what’s important. And now fans can see her compete on Rock the Block with teammate Vernon Davis and prove that she still has killer renovation skills.
