Mariska Hargitay is revealing a major family secret after 30 years.
If you didn’t know, the 61-year-old Law & Order: SVU star is the daughter of late actress Jayne Mansfield. However, in her new documentary My Mom Jayne, Mariska dropping shocking news – her biological father isn’t Hungarian actor Mickey Hargitay, the man who raised her, but rather Italian singer Nelson Sardelli.
Janye and Nelson had a highly publicized romance in 1963, and Mariska was born in 1964. Mariska said that at the age of 25, she immediately knew that Nelson was her biological father when she saw a picture of him.
After the documentary premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this week, Mariska opened up to Vanity Fair about meeting Nelson for the first time at the age of 30.
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“I’ve been waiting 30 years for this moment,” he reportedly said to her.
However, Mariska said that her reaction to him was not welcoming.
“I went full Olivia Benson on him. 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,” she said.
Mickey passed away in 2006, while Jayne was tragically killed in a car accident in 1967. Mariska said she believes Jayne stayed with Mickey due to the stability that she provided for the family.
“I grew up where I was supposed to, and I do know that everyone made the best choice for me. 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,” she said.
As for why she revealed the news in the documentary, Mariska said she struggled with her identity and wanted to find closure with “knowing I’m living a lie my entire life.”
Mariska has four siblings: Zoltan, Mickey Jr., Jayne Jr., and Tony Cimber. Mickey Hargitay shared Zoltan and Mickey Jr. with Jayne Mansfield. Meanwhile, Jayne Mansfield shared Jayne Jr. with her first husband Paul Mansfield, and Tony with her third husband Matt Cimber. The siblings and Nelson all participated in the documentary, and Mariska also said that she has formed a bond with Nelson‘s two daughters.
“So many people were really hesitant for me to do it,” Mariska said of the documentary. However, her family gave her their blessing to create the project, and Nelson‘s daughters had an emotional reaction to seeing the film.
“They just wept and wept and wept. These two women that I love so much—I made them secrets! It’s so heartbreaking to me. I’m not good with lies. So I also made this movie to unburden all of us,” she said.
Last month, Mariska gave details about her directing debut while making My Mom Jayne.
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