Mariska Hargitay revisited the life and legacy of her mom Jayne Mansfield with her directorial debut, My Mom Jayne, which premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.
“The fact that I get to take her back and to tell her story there, I just don’t have the words,” Hargitay told Vanity Fair in a May 2025 interview.
Hargitay revealed during the same interview that her biological father is Italian singer and comedian Nelson Sardelli and not bodybuilder and actor, Mickey Hargitay, which she originally thought. This topic is also explored in the documentary.
The Law and Order: SVU actress admitted to being “embarrassed” by some of the choices her mother had made.
“I just wanted my mom to be like the other moms!” Hargitay recalled. “Like, ‘Why are you always in a bathing suit? Why so much breast?’ I just wanted a maternal mother image.”
She added, “I didn’t want to be that girl, and I was judgmental about it. That’s the honest answer. I definitely think that it informed some of my choices. What kind of actor am I going to be? I am going to be a different kind.”
Which, of course, led to Olivia Benson — the iconic role Hargitay has played since 1999.
“I’ve had so much strife and turmoil with this word mother — and here I was, this iconic mother figure in the culture,” she said. “Isn’t that ironic?”
Keep scrolling for details about Mansfield and her death:
Who Was Jayne Mansfield?
Mansfield was an actress and all-around sex symbol throughout her career. Her Broadway debut came in 1955 as Rita Marlowe in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, and Mansfield reprised the role for the 1957 film adaptation. She became one of the first American actresses to appear in a nude scene in the 1963 movie Promises! Promises!
When Did Jayne Mansfield Die?
She died on June 29, 1967. She was 34.
How Did Jayne Mansfield Die?
Mansfield was traveling from Biloxi, Mississippi, to New Orleans with her attorney and partner Sam Brody and their 19-year-old driver. In the early hours of the morning, the car rear-ended a tractor trailer, killing the three adults in the car.
Was Mariska Hargitay in the Car When Jayne Mansfield Died?
Three of Mansfield’s five kids — Hargitay, along with Zoltan Hargitay and Mickey Hargitay Jr. — were in the car and survived the accident. The NBC star was 3 years old at the time.
“I don’t remember the accident,” the actress told Vanity Fair in May 2025. “I don’t even remember being told that my mother had died.”
She added: “I look at photos, and I don’t really remember anything until I was 5.”
