Mariska Hargitay dropped an emotional bombshell in her new documentary about her mother, Jayne Mansfield.
On May 16, Vanity Fair published an interview with the 61-year-old actor about directing My Mom Jayne, a documentary set to premiere at Cannes before airing on HBO and HBO Max on June 27. Though Hargitay made the film to reveal another side of the Hollywood icon, who died in a car accident in June 1967, the Law & Order: SVU star says she also used the opportunity to stop “living a lie.”
In the documentary, Hargitay reveals her biological father is Nelson Sardelli, the Italian entertainer her mother shared a relationship with after her divorce from second husband Mickey Hargitay in 1963. Hargitay says Mansfield reconciled with her ex-husband while pregnant with Mariska in order to provide a stable home for her and her older siblings.
“I grew up where I was supposed to, and I do know that everyone made the best choice for me,” Hargitay told Vanity Fair, reportedly tearing up. “I’m Mickey Hargitay’s daughter—that is not a lie. This documentary is kind of a love letter to him, because there’s no one that I was closer to on this planet.” Mickey Hargitay died in 2006.
Hargitay says she learned about Sardelli in her twenties, but didn’t approach him until she was 30, traveling to see him perform in Atlantic City. According to the actor, Sardelli burst into tears during their first time meeting, telling her “I’ve been waiting 30 years for this moment.”
She was not there yet. “I went full Olivia Benson on him,” Hargitay told VF. “I was like, ‘I don’t want anything, I don’t need anything from you.… I have a dad.’ There was something about loyalty. I wanted to be loyal to Mickey.”
Hargitay says she was eventually able to forge a relationship with Sardelli and bonded with her half-sisters, whom she would introduce to people as “family friends.”
Though Mariska Hargitay says people in her life were “hesitant” for her to share this story, she felt the strong need to introduce the other members of her family with the world. “These two women that I love so much—I made them secrets!” she told Vanity Fair. “It’s so heartbreaking to me.”
She continued, “I’m not good with lies. So I also made this movie to unburden all of us.” You can read the entire interview here.
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