Why HGTV’s Mina Starsiak Hawk Did Not Invite Mom Karen to Son Jack’s 5th Birthday Party

In August 2023, Mina Starsiak Hawk revealed that she was wrestling with the idea of inviting her mom, Karen E. Laine, to son Jack’s 5th birthday party. Weeks later, she explained the reason why she did not extend the invitation to some of her family members amid an ongoing family feud.

Why Didn’t Mina Starsiak Hawk Invite Karen E. Laine to Son’s Birthday Party?

During an episode of her “Mina AF” podcast posted on August 28, 2023, Mina explained that she was in a “challenging” place with her mom and brothers Tad and William Starsiak. The rift made planning Jack’s birthday party rather difficult.

“Will they even notice who’s here and who’s not here? There’s going to be a bunch of animals. That’s all they care about,” she explained about the event. “Having to say ‘This is why you’re not invited’ opens up a line of communication to discuss that, and I really don’t want to do that. That sounds exhausting right now. So again, I fall back to ‘Do I just invite everyone because it’s the path of least resistance?’ But it’s what we’ve all always done and it hasn’t gotten us anywhere better.”

The HGTV personality, who also shares daughter Charlotte with husband Steve Hawk, later confirmed that Karen was not invited.

“You can still judge me for not inviting my mom to Jack’s birthday party,” Mina told her listeners in an episode posted on September 18, 2023. “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.”

She also explained that it was hard to pinpoint exactly what caused the tension between her and 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,’” Mina 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, particularly with someone who is not actively in therapy and not actively working on themselves.”

Karen did not have any involvement in Charlie’s 3rd birthday festivities a few weeks later.

“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,” the mom of two said on her podcast. “But I just can’t understand that.”

Is Mina Starsiak Hawk Open to Reconciling With Her Mom?

Mina reflected on whether or not she could see herself back on good terms with her mom in the future.

“The only other option when you’ve been banging your head against the same brick wall is to just back away from that brick wall,” she reflected. “That’s kind of the choice that I’ve made, is to back away from that brick wall until that brick wall becomes a little squishy with some therapy or self-awareness or something, and then I would potentially reengage.”