'Good Bones' star has talked 'challenging' times with mom. How the new season handled their relationship (2024)

About a year ago, “Good Bones” stars and mother-daughter duo Mina Starsiak Hawk and Karen E. Laine appeared in what was thought to be the TV show's final episode.

Now, the pair has returned for a shorter season of the HGTV series — but in a different way than what fans are used to.

In July, HGTV announced in a press release that there would be a three-week limited season of the series called "Good Bones: New Beginnings," which premiered Aug. 14. It will have its final episode on Aug. 28 at 9 p.m. ET.

The network disclosed that unlike past seasons, this limited run will show Starsiak Hawk and Laine’s “lives evolve past their time renovating homes in Indianapolis.”

But that's not the only difference: The duo don't appear together in the first two episodes, as Starsiak Hawk and Laine work on separate projects in different states.

In Episode 1, "Mina Takes the Lake," Starsiak Hawk is renovating her family's new lake house alongside her husband, Steve Hawk. Starsiak Hawk expresses that she wanted to buy a lake house to start "working less" and "living more" with Hawk and their two kids, son Jack and daughter Charlie.

While Laine doesn't appear in Episode 1, the second episode, "Karen’s Beach Bungalow," is focused on her move to Wilmington, North Carolina, where she's renovating her new beach house. Starsiak Hawk doesn't appear in this episode, but Laine talks about her grandchildren and how excited she is for them to visit.

While this format differs from the show's usual mother-daughter teamwork, their lack of interactions might not come as a complete shock to fans.

In the last year, Starsiak Hawk has opened up about the tension between them — and her half-brother, Tad Starsiak — which included “a knockdown drag-out (fight) during demo.” She has also spoken out about why she felt it was a “good decision” to end the show prior to the special season being announced.

Read on to learn more about what Starsiak Hawk has said about her and her mom's feud, and if there are any future collaborations in the works.

What is ‘Good Bones’?

HGTV's home renovation series “Good Bones” debuted in March 2016. On the show, Starsiak Hawk combines her background in real estate with her mom’s expertise in law as a former attorney to transform homes in Indianapolis.

They ran a business together called Two Chicks and a Hammer and worked with a crew that included her brother.

After appearing on television together for years, Starsiak Hawk said on her “Mina AF” podcast in August 2023 that “Good Bones” was ending.She labeled the show's eighth season the "last season of the series."

“Today, I filmed my last few pickups for ‘Good Bones.’ Not ‘Good Bones’ Season Eight, but for ‘Good Bones,’” she said at the time. She added it was “the end of an era.”

Starsiak Hawk said she supported the series coming to an end.

“This is a good decision,” Starsiak Hawk said. “This is something that was made together with the network.”

She went on to explain that appearing on the show took a toll on her.

“It’s not my job to keep two dozen people employed for the rest of their lives or all the things that I was putting on myself that was making it really, really hard to function as a normal human being because I always felt the weight of so many other people’s worlds that I put on my shoulders,” she explained. “No one else did that to me. There’s no blame game to play there.”

Starsiak Hawk continued to say that she felt like she was fighting for her and her family's life.

“I got to a point where I think I kind of felt like, whether it made sense or not, it felt like I was fighting for my life, or fighting for my family’s life, fighting for my employees’ lives, to figure something out, to find a solution, to find the next thing," she said. "And I just became a version of myself that I really didn’t like because when you’re fighting, when you feel like you’re fighting for your life, it’s not the best version of anyone.”

Mina Starsiak Hawk says she’s ‘not on good terms’ with her mom and brother

After announcing the final season, Starsiak Hawk spoke more about the issues with her family that she alluded to on her podcast.

She said she wasn’t getting along with her mother or brother.

“The current state of affairs is my mom and I aren’t in a great place,” she said on the Aug. 28, 2023 episode of her podcast. “My brother Tad and I aren’t in a great place.”

Although Starsiak Hawk did not mention the specific cause of the strain in their relationship, she explained that she wasn’t particularly close to her mother or brother.

“No one’s punching the other person in the face by any means,” she said. “We all just exist because it’s what makes my dad happy. And that’s fine. That’s been fine for a long time. It’s fine for a lot of families. I just don’t think it’s fine anymore.”

Mina Starsiak Hawk says she had a ‘a knockdown drag-out’ altercation with Karen E. Laine

A month later, Starsiak Hawk continued to discuss her family, revealing shocking details about “a knockdown drag-out (fight)” with her mom.

She opened up about the confrontation while chatting to People in September 2023. In regards to the eighth season, Starsiak Hawk said, “There were definitely some challenging (moments) because my mom and I were in some of the most challenging places I felt we’ve been.”

Starsiak Hawk added that her brawl with Laine, who retired from their company in 2019, happened right before they filmed the first episode of Season 8.

“I was like, ‘I wonder if anyone’s going to be able to tell,’” she recalled. “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.”

Although viewers might assume the two got along, Starsiak Hawk said her relationship with her mom has been “very rocky” since they went into business together.

She explained that “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.”

TODAY.com reached out to Laine and she declined to respond to her daughter’s comments at the time. TODAY.com also reached out to HGTV for a comment and did not hear back at the time.

Mina Starsiak Hawk says returning to ‘Good Bones’ would be a ‘bad decision’

In June 2024, Starsiak Hawk considered the possibility of returning to television after “Good Bones.”

While answering fan questions on her podcast in June, Starsiak Hawk was asked if she would ever appear on another show.

“I would love to,” she replied. “I would love to if I could find a way to do it with a balance that was healthier.”

Starsiak Hawk said she loved making her HGTV show but there were two seasons that were tough on her "emotionally and mentally, financially and physically."

“I was starting to feel the weight was all on me at that point — the financial weight, the weight to hit the deadlines,” she explained. “It was all really wearing on me. I was trying to come up with a way to move forward that was going to be more sustainable for me.”

She also pointed out that she was putting her money and business on the line every season.

As for a “Good Bones” reboot, she said she wasn’t sure it would be a good idea.

“I just think it would be a really bad decision for me mentally and emotionally, let alone financially, to get back in that place,” Starsiak Hawk shared.

Later in the episode, she added, “There’s not enough money in the world that would put me in the place I was a year ago. It was that bad. There’s no realistic amount of money that I think would be worth it to struggle as hard as I was struggling. And I think that’s very hard for people to understand — how much I was in a really bad place.”

What have Mina Starsiak Hawk and Karen E. Laine said about the return of ‘Good Bones’

The special limited season of “Good Bones” hasn't addressed any family conflict or resolutions so far.

On Aug. 14, the day that the special season premiered, Laine shared a picture of her daughter on Instagram to promote the show’s return.She simply included details about the date and time of the episodes in the caption.

When Starsiak Hawk posted about Episode 2 on Instagram Aug. 21, 2024, she uploaded a picture of her mom. Starsiak Hawk wrote in the caption that she herself would not be in episode, but that viewers would instead see “some familiar faces.”

One fan commented and said they “missed” Laine in the first episode of the show’s return, and also asked if her brother was involved in the special season.

Starsiak Hawk replied, “He declined to participate in Moms and I only share that bc she already answered the question on her post, so not letting any new cats out of the bag. Lol.”

She added, “He was not asked to be part of mine with where our relationship stands.”