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HGTV‘s Mina Starsiak Hawk is addressing her social media “trolls” head-on in the latest episode of her podcast, “Mina AF.” She received an onslaught of comments on one of her recent Instagram posts, calling out her business practices and body changes.
On April 13, 2023, she posted on Instagram on a photo of herself at a jobsite. “In my element 🤍” she captioned the post. “Hands dirty. Well, everything dirty. Sweat. Crazy hair and a big ass smile. I love this ish 🤍What do you need more of in your life?? 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻”
As she explained on her podcast, she does not get to work with her hands as often as she used to and the day left her feeling “dag on happy.” It was not until she was laying in bed with her husband Steve that he pointed out how the post had “really ruffled some feathers.”
“It’s this picture of me, dirty and happy, after I’ve worked my butt off all-day and had a ball doing it,” the “Good Bones” host explained in the episode. “And it was wild reading through the comments. So, even looking at it now, it’s got 340 comments.”
Here is what you need to know:
Mina Starsiak Hawk Responds to Accusations of Gentrification
Starsiak Hawk tackled accusations of gentrification after one anonymous user had a tense exchange with Steve in the comments.
“Please stop destroying historic homes,” Starsiak Hawk quoted the original comment. “Signed a downtown, inner city kid. Please and thank you. P.S. this is the midwest, not everyone here has a television show. This is not the west coast babe.” The commenter is referring to her longrunning series, “Good Bones,” which premiered in 2016.
The exchange continued to get more heated, with Steve and the commenter arguing about whether the homes Starsiak Hawk renovates are “crackhouses” or simply rundown. The commenter eventually called the couple “rural, brainless jacka****.”
“While I appreciate his support, I have found that people who are making these blanket statements aren’t interested in a healthy dialogue where we can talk about facts and feelings around those facts and be reasonable humans, they just want to spew nastiness,” Starsiawk Hawk said on her podcast. “And when you engage with them, it just gives them another opportunity to spew said nastiness.”
The “Rock the Block” alum acknowledged that gentrification is a “hot topic” and it is easy to make her the face of the issue. Though, she claims there are bigger companies led by out-of-town investors who turn a much larger profit.
“Gentrification describes a process where wealthy, college-educated individuals begin to move into poor or working-class communities, often originally occupied by communities of color,” explains National Geographic. “The people and businesses that move into gentrifying neighborhoods may have goals for their new homes that are at odds with the goals of people who have lived there for a long time.” The rising cost of living in these areas remains a central concern.
While she acknowledged that there are good and bad sides of the gentrification debate, Starsiak Hawk said her work in Indianapolis’ Fountain Square community unintentionally coincided with the introduction of a biking/walking trail in the area.
“I happened to be at the right place at the right time working my butt off and was able to take advantage of that huge change,” the former “Battle on the Beach” judge explained. “Because when you direct bodies into a new area in this beautiful way with this biking/walking trail, that encourages businesses to develop or residents to go there. Like why would they build this path to nowhere interesting? Let me go check this out. And that’s what really started the boom in Fountain Square.”
Explaining the backstory of the neighborhood, Starsiak Hawk explained that Fountain Square used to be a blue collar community at the end of the trolley line.
“But that’s not what it is anymore and that’s not what the neighborhood needed,” she continued. “When the highway came through and chopped these neighborhoods in half, it really displaced a lot of people and kind of took away a lot of the really good community feel that was there. And if you ask anyone from the area, Fountain Square has been, you know, quote-unquote up-and-coming for thirty years.”
She also explained that while it might appear that she has a silver spoon, she grew up in a middle class family 15-minutes from Fountain Square and has continued to work since she was in high school.
“I worked my butt off, I bought my first home out of college with my own money that I had saved and I’ve worked for every penny of everything I’ve ever gotten,” she added. “And I have a nice house in fountain square now and I’m in a position because I’ve worked so hard, saved my money and invested well, I can do things that I enjoy. Things that help other people.”
Mina Starsiak Hawk Addresses Comments About Her Body
Starsiak Hawk also found herself receiving comments on her body, with people calling her “emaciated” and theorizing she is taking drugs or has developed an eating disorder.
While she said her online community is largely supportive, she explained in the episode, “You get the one nasty one and that’s the one that sticks with you.”
“You are getting too skinny Mina,” read one Instagram comment. “You need to eat, sleep, be merry. You don’t look the same, you almost are looking like you see sick. Sure hope not and you just need to take better care of yourself. Take care.”
Others added that she looks “anorexic” and her weightloss is making her look “older.”
Starsiak Hawk has been open about receiving a “mommy makeover” after having her two kids – Jack, 4, and Charlotte, 2. That included a tummy tuck, breast implants and liposuction.
“So many people took this picture that I posted where I felt so amazing, I felt so amazing. I felt strong. I felt good. I felt happy. I felt in my element. And ripped me apart,” she said.
Her supporters rallied around her, calling out the “RUDE AF” comments and telling her to “ignore the haters.”
She also explained that while she has regularly worked out, she switched to weight lifting while stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemic. She also attributed her age and hormones for changes in her body.
“You can’t live the lifestyle I do, output the energy I do physically if I’m not eating or not eating enough or not being healthy,” she assured her listeners. She also questioned the approach of those concerned, saying, “But I guess the point I’m trying to make is think about if I actually did have a problem. If I actually was feeling some kind of way about my body, that I needed to change it for other people’s approval, which I don’t.”
She added, “I am in a great place, mentally, physically, emotionally.”
Starsiak Hawk ended the podcast urging her listeners to be the people they want their kids to grow into. As she said, “Why do you think kids bully? It’s because they see us doing it at home, they see us doing it on social media.”
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