She’s known as Olivia Benson from Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, but Mariska Hargitay is lifting the lid on her personal life in her documentary My Mom Jayne.
In the film, she speaks about her late mother Jayne Mansfield, and the secret that changed her life.
Along with her directorial debut, she was also named in Time Magazine’s Time100 list of philanthropic people for 2025, alongside Prince William and Princess Catherine.
Find out all about the documentary below.
How old was Mariska Hargitay when her mother passed?
Mariska lost Jayne, who was 34, in 1967, in a car accident when the actress was three. It was in this accident that Mariska received her recognisable scar.
Through her new documentary, the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit actress is determined to tell her story and highlight her legacy through interviews, never-before-seen family photos, and films.
Speaking on the Call Her Daddy podcast, she said making the film was a “beautiful journey, a painful journey, [and] a bumpy ride”.
“The expedition and journey finding her… [was] one of the most rewarding, profound experiences of my life. And because there was so much archival footage of my mum, it was the gift that kept on giving… it was magnificent,” she said.
The film took her two years to make.
“I’ve dedicated my almost 30 years here to telling important stories, and I’m profoundly moved to have the opportunity to tell this deeply personal one—my mother’s, mine, and ours together,” she posted on Instagram discussing the project.
“My mom and I never had the opportunity to create something together, and she didn’t always get to tell the stories she truly cared about.”
Who is Mariska Harigay’s father?
In the film, she also shares the story of when she discovered who her real father is. Growing up, she was raised by the American-Hungarian bodybuilder and actor Mickey Hargitay, who died in 2006.
She said she often wondered why she looked different from her five siblings and her shock discovering that her father is former Las Vegas entertainer Nelson Sardelli.
Mariska eventually found out that her mother had split up from Mickey when she was born and then had an affair with the performer.
Elaborating on it more to Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper, she said she met a super-fan of her mother, who collected memorabilia from her movies and any Jayne Mansfield merchandise.
He then asked if she wanted to see a photo of Nelson, and she did not know who he was. She said he panicked and said the rumour might not be true, but when she saw him, she knew right away.
“He couldn’t believe that I didn’t know. I was 25, how could I not know?” she said, and then went to visit her brother, who was also unaware.
“The thing I was rooted in, the one thing that I thought was my constant, was no longer mine. And my identity, it was like it broke in two.”
At the time, she confronted Mickey, and he denied it. So, she pretended to believe him, and they never spoke of it again.
Despite the pain she felt, she loved him and wanted to honour his impact on her.
“This documentary is a love letter to Mickey because there’s no one that I was closer to on this planet,” she told Vanity Fair.
She then went to see Nelson perform when she was 30 and introduced herself. She added that he said, “I’ve been waiting 30 years for this moment.”
At the time, she’d known about her paternity for five years and said it was a complicated situation.
“I went full Olivia Benson on him,” she told Vanity Fair. “I was like, ‘I don’t want anything, I don’t need anything from you, I have a dad.’ I wanted to be loyal to Mickey.”
Despite this, she still felt abandoned.
Where can I watch the My Mom Jayne documentary?
You can watch the documentary exclusively on HBO Max from June 28. It airs the same day as the US.
