The Biggest Bombshells from My Mom Jayne — Mariska Hargitay’s Documentary About Her Hollywood Icon Mother

Fifty-seven years after the death of Jayne Mansfield, Mariska Hargitay set out on a mission to rediscover the Hollywood legend — not as a siren of the screen, but as her mom.

Hargitay, 61, the fourth of Mansfield’s five children and beloved for her record-breaking role as Olivia Benson on Law & Order: SVU, has now made her feature film directorial debut with My Mom Jayne, a documentary about her mother’s life.

When Hargitay was just three years old, she, along with her two older brothers, survived the car wreck that killed Mansfield, then just 34, in 1967.

My Mom Jayne, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 17, features never-before-seen photos and home videos of Mansfield as Hargitay seeks to better understand the mother she barely knew.

The documentary also reveals surprising, and some shocking, truths about Hargitay’s life that she’s never shared — until now.

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Hargitay’s biological father is an Italian man named Nelson Sardelli

For the very first time, Hargitay reveals a family secret that she’s kept for more than 30 years. Her biological father is not Mickey Hargitay, the man who raised her, but rather a man named Nelson Sardelli, with whom her mother had a short-lived affair.

When Hargitay was 25, the actress first learned of Sardelli, a former Las Vegas entertainer. Upon seeing a photo of him, she was struck by their obvious physical resemblance. After confronting Mickey Hargitay, Hargitay was left even more confused when Mickey insisted he was her father. Hargitay grappled with the question of whether she was Hungarian like Mickey or Italian like Sardelli. By the time she was 30, Hargitay decided to drive to one of Sardelli’s shows to meet him. “I’ve been waiting 30 years for this moment,” Hargitay recalls Sardelli saying to her when they first met.

Sardelli is still alive today and is in his late eighties. Hargitay has two half-sisters via her biological father, both of whom are featured in the documentary.

Hargitay was first left in the car wreckage while her brothers were rescued

Hargitay’s brothers, Zoltan and Mickey Jr., share their recollections of the car accident that claimed their mother’s life, including how Hargitay, then only 3 years old, wasn’t immediately rescued. A tiny Hargitay had sustained a head injury, and she ended up lodged under the passenger seat where emergency personnel missed her when they pulled her brothers from the wreckage. After being driven away from the crash site, Zoltan looked around only to find his sister was missing–and she was quickly rescued.

Zoltan also recalls how, just prior to the crash, Mansfield had been sitting in the backseat of the car with her three children. She then moved up to the front passenger seat beside her lawyer, Sam Brody, who was also killed in the crash. Had Mansfield only remained in the backseat, she might have survived the accident along with her children.

Jayne Mansfield may have been a survivor of domestic abuse

Hargitay also briefly interviews her younger brother, Tony Cimber, from her mother’s third marriage to Matt Cimber, who may have physically abused their mother. While they don’t go in depth, Hargitay’s brother Mickey Jr. shares memories of Mansfield wearing sunglasses, even indoors, only to find that his mother was hiding two black eyes.

Jayne Mansfield’s father died in a car accident when she was 3 years old

Mansfield lost her father in an eerily similar way: in a car crash at the age of 3. Hargitay opens up about how, while she didn’t truly get the chance to know her mother, losing a parent in that way at that age was something they had in common.

My Mom Jayne will also premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 13.