Being famous seems like it would be awesome. But the fun ended for Mina Starsiak Hawk when she started getting harassed by a stalker.
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00:00Being famous seems like it would be awesome, but the fun ended for Mina Starziak-Hawk when
00:06she started getting harassed by a stalker.
00:09On a 2023 episode of Mina AF, Mina Starziak-Hawk opened up about her long history of mental
00:15health issues. From a young age, she started undergoing therapy in the wake of her parents'
00:20divorce, but found it to be an unhelpful experience as a child. She said,
00:24I'm not gonna lie, I did not have a great relationship with therapy. I thought it was
00:28just kind of, you know, what you have to do to check the box to say, yeah, I tried to
00:33help my kids get through this."
00:35She began taking ADHD medication in college, but her anxiety came to the forefront once
00:40she reached her 20s, anxiety that was exacerbated by her budding TV career. Feeling overwhelmed
00:45with all the changes in her life, she was put on the antidepressants Welbutrin and Lexapro.
00:51She said,
00:52It keeps me myself, but just not as high a level of anxiety. Because I get like, I physically
00:58manifest my anxiety. My jaw locks up, I clench my fists, I get nauseous. So the addition
01:04of the Lexapro was really, really helpful for me."
01:07In time, she decided to come off the Lexapro, as she found that it was negatively affecting
01:12her sex drive. However, this resulted in severe SSRI withdrawal. She said,
01:18It felt like my brain was having these little zappy seizures all the time all day. Thankfully,
01:23after several months, the withdrawal symptoms subsided.
01:27In March 2020, Haack's sister-in-law, Stephanie Haack, died at just 31. In an emotional Instagram
01:33post, Mina paid tribute to her late loved one, whom she has referred to as her own sister.
01:39She was such a bright light in all of our lives for such a long time. There is nothing
01:44to say that makes it easier or better, especially in this time where our access to loved ones
01:49and friends is so limited. Her cause of death was later confirmed as ethanol poisoning.
01:55Since Stephanie died at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mina was unable to hold
01:59a memorial service for her.
02:01Only a few months later, Mina welcomed her daughter, Charlie. In an Instagram post in
02:06January 2021, she reflected on the tragedy of losing her sister-in-law, and the concurrent
02:11joy of welcoming her daughter. She wrote,
02:14As I'm sitting here, rocking Charlie in the dark, crying, reading these words I found
02:18saved in my phone, I'm both eternally grateful for 2020 while, on the other hand, hated for
02:23all it took from my family. It took Steph, and our ability to come together as a family
02:28to share our love for her, as she so deserved."
02:31Despite all the pain, Mina revealed that she saw Stephanie every time she looked at her
02:36daughter, something that provided her with immense comfort.
02:40During Good Bones Run, there were signs that Haack's relationship with her mom was falling
02:44apart. Haack and her mother, Karen E. Lane, co-starred on the show together, but they
02:49have had a strained relationship since Mina was a child. She told Collider,
02:53We've had moments where we were probably dysfunctionally close, and then moments where we didn't speak
02:58for years."
02:59In 2021, Haack revealed that she and Lane tried their best to remain close despite their
03:04frequent differences, both on and off screen. She said,
03:08When we were filming full-time, you don't have time to go to your corners. You're just
03:12with each other all day, every day, and that can be really intense."
03:17In time, the pair drifted further apart. At the same time Haack wanted to ramp up her
03:21businesses, Lane was hoping to ease into retirement. The disconnect amped up the tension. By the
03:27last season of Good Bones, mother and daughter were constantly feuding, and the pair's relationship
03:32has remained strained ever since.
03:35In 2023, Haack told People magazine,
03:38There were definitely some challenging moments, because my mom and I were in some of the most
03:42challenging places I've felt we've been."
03:46After welcoming their first child, Jack, in 2018, Mina Haack and her husband, Steve, struggled
03:51to conceive a second child.
03:52What do you think about maybe starting on the house?
03:56Don't you think we should maybe get pregnant first since it's gonna be so big?"
03:59In a 2020 interview with People, Mina opened up about her fertility struggles. After visiting
04:04a specialist, Mina was told that her AMH range, essentially the number of eggs one
04:09has left, was extremely low for a 35-year-old woman. She was highly distraught at the news,
04:15saying,
04:16"'It feels like your body is failing you and letting you down.'"
04:18Eventually, Mina and Steve opted to undergo in vitro fertilization, in the hopes of conceiving
04:24a second child, an experience that Mina found daunting. She said,
04:28"'You have all these meds and packs of needles that have different gauges, lengths, and thicknesses.
04:34I couldn't even figure out how to open one of the packages. It was terrifying.'"
04:39In time, they switched to intrauterine treatments. They worked, and Mina got pregnant with her
04:44second child. But the trauma of her infertility remained. When Good Bones aired a Mother's
04:49Day special in 2020, for instance, Mina was distraught after being reminded of her painful
04:54fertility struggles. It had the scene where our doctor told us we could only probably
04:59have another kid with an egg donor. And afterwards, I took that video in my car where I'm crying
05:04and I didn't want to do that then at all.
05:06"'You can have all the kids you want. But I don't think it's gonna be with your eggs.'"
05:13But giving birth, while joyful, wasn't the end of her struggles. In fact, it triggered
05:18a deep insecurity about her body, caused by scars from a C-section, as well as developing
05:24diastasis recti, separation of the abdominal muscle due to stretching, during pregnancy.
05:30She told People,
05:31"'My C-section scar was a very visual and physical reminder of not looking like myself
05:36and not feeling like myself anymore.'"
05:38Feeling unhappy with her body and fearing she would never feel like her old self again,
05:43Haack decided to undergo multiple plastic surgeries, including a tummy tuck, liposuction,
05:48and breast implants. This, too, resulted in body insecurity, as Haack struggled to deal
05:52with the post-operative effects. She couldn't stand due to her tummy tuck causing pain and
05:57tension in her abdomen, and she had drainage bags attached to her hips. She said,
06:02"'It was uncomfortable. I felt like an alien, because I had drains, to collect this bloody
06:08goo. It's like you're peeing and having your period all at the same time.'"
06:13On a 2023 episode of Mina AF, Mina and Steve discussed the ways in which substance abuse
06:19shaped their respective childhoods. Mina revealed,
06:22"'I think in my family, it was again that term, like, functioning alcoholic. There was
06:26tons of problems. There was emotional stuff, physical stuff, mental stuff that was all
06:32ever-present. And I didn't really think anything of it because it was just normal.'"
06:37This behavior then began to manifest in Mina's adult life, since alcohol was so normalized
06:42throughout her childhood. She said,
06:44"'For me, it's just always existed. And so it's not this like, what the heck happened
06:48to my life? It's just always been present and problematic, but not in the way where,
06:53you know, jobs are being lost, homes are being lost. It's always been very, like, functional.'"
06:59On a later episode of Mina AF, she opened up further about her struggles with substance
07:03abuse and her and Steve's decision to go sober. She said the presence of alcohol began interfering
07:09in their marriage, with the couple having heated, unfiltered arguments.
07:13"'We definitely were at each other more, just because it lowers your inhibitions. You're
07:18like, I'm gonna say this thing and pick the fight.'"
07:21Due to her very public persona, Mina Hawk has found herself the target of both online
07:26haters and, much more worrisome, stalkers. On a 2023 episode of Mina AF, she opened up
07:33about being harassed over the span of two seasons of Good Bones, saying,
07:37"'I actually had to report this to, like, up in the network of the show, because I didn't
07:42know if it was real. Anytime the show started airing, it was this number that would text
07:47me and send me just super, super explicit videos, and I was getting voicemails, like,
07:52really, really explicit, inappropriate voicemails.'"
07:55Thankfully, the number was traced to another state, so Hawk was not in immediate danger.
08:00But on a later episode of Mina AF, Hawk told sociologist Danielle Lindemann that she was
08:06subjected to serious hate following the end of Good Bones. Fans were unhappy with Hawk's
08:11decision to not continue with the series, leading to them sending the HGTV star hate
08:16messages.
08:17"'It was letting down this whole world of HGTV women, and they all told me that I did
08:22it, and they were very upset about it. It was a very weird six months of emotional,
08:27not-good-like headspace. It's still really hard to have people say nasty s---- all day
08:33every day and not kind of let it affect you.'"
08:36Hawk had good reason to ditch Good Bones. Namely, the star was feeling emotionally exhausted
08:41by the show's end, and has said that she would need to be offered a million bucks to ever
08:45consider returning to her HGTV role. But there were also tensions on set between Hawk and
08:51her co-star, Corey Miller.
08:53On an episode of Mina AF that aired in December 2023, Hawk opened up about the disintegration
08:58of her friendship with Miller, whom she had known since childhood.
09:02"'I'm going to try to address this in a respectful way. Again, understanding that I have a platform
09:07that he maybe doesn't have. Corey and I are not on speaking terms. I am positive that
09:13there are things he feels like I did to him.'"
09:16She explained that a couple of things happened toward the end of the series that she was
09:19unable to move on from, though she did not elaborate further on these incidents.
09:24"'Corey is a bit too high-maintenance to be on this job site.' It's a super bummer because
09:29I have, historically, had a great relationship with Corey. And when things end, particularly
09:35like they did, you know, people's colors just show a little more. Which is a blessing because
09:39then I have the choice to make a different choice.'"