Mariska Hargitay finds peace revealing family secrets in new documentary
The 'Law & Order: SVU' star writes love letter to father Mickey Hargitay and reveals biological father Nelson Sardelli.
Mariska Hargitay embarks on a family journey to honor her mother, the 1950s movie star and pinup model Jayne Mansfield. Hargitay, 61, was just 3 and survived the infamous 1967 car crash that killed Mansfield, but has no memory of her famous mom.
Yet shining light and love into the misunderstood Mansfield's life is just part of the emotionally powerful revelations in "My Mom Jayne," an HBO documentary directed and produced by the "Law & Order: SVU" star (June 27, 8 ET/PT).
Hargitay unveils a long-held family secret: that her biological father is singer Nelson Sardelli, not Mickey Hargitay, the former Mr. Universe bodybuilder and Mansfield’s second husband, who lovingly raised Mariska. This life-altering discovery profoundly impacted her world three decades ago. Now, Hargitay talks about it for the first time in the documentary and introduces her newly disclosed family.
“I’m not going to lie – it’s been quite a bumpy ride getting here. But it has paid off,” Hargitay tells Paste BN. “I don’t have the words for what I’ve gone through, but I feel fortified. We all have things we’re scared to approach in our lives. But when you actually go through the door and shed light on it, beauty can come from the scariest place.”
Mariska Hargitay felt she would 'spontaneously combust' when she learned about her biological father
Hargitay, who has starred as fierce yet compassionate Lt. Olivia Benson on "SVU" since the NBC procedural debuted in 1999, avoided the career pitfalls her mother fell into a generation before. The talented, multilingual Mansfield was typecast as a ditzy platinum blonde after appearing in hit films like "The Girl Can't Help It" (1956) and "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" (1957).
When Hargitay started acting in the ’80s, her devoted father, Mickey ("my role model and mentor”), guided her career. “He told me, ‘Nobody tells you who you are,’” Hargitay says. “Because that’s exactly what happened to my mother. They told her, ‘We’re going to put you in this box.’ My dad planted this little tough guy in my head who asked, ‘What do you want to do in this world?’”
During a meeting with a longtime Mansfield fan in the '90s. Hargitay was shown a photo of Sardelli. She immediately recognized the Brazilian-born Italian singer was her biological father on a "cellular level, in such a profound way."
“I felt like I was going to spontaneously combust,” says Hargitay, who calls the documentary a love letter to Mickey. “I built my entire life and identity based on my father. But always knew that something wasn’t right. Like, why didn’t I have his nose? He had this beautiful Roman nose, and I have a little boxer nose. I always felt different.”
Newspapers chronicled Sardelli and Mansfield's brief European relationship in 1963 during an estrangement and initial divorce proceedings with Hargitay. But Mansfield and Hargitay reunited, and Mariska was born months later, before the couple finally divorced in 1964.
There had been Hollywood whispers that Sardelli was Hargitay’s biological father, including a mention in a tell-all book about the "tragic secret life" of Mansfield written by her former publicist, Rusty Strait.
But Mickey, who died in 2006, angrily denied his daughter's Sardelli revelation when she approached him. Still, the young actress, who had already appeared on shows like "Seinfeld," drove to Atlantic City to confront Sardelli in 1994. The shocked entertainer immediately confirmed the secret.
“He told me, ‘I have been waiting for this moment for 30 years,’” says Hargitay, who foreshadowed Benson's "SVU" grit in the exchange. “I needed him to know, ‘I have a father. I don't want anything from you. I just needed to understand.’”
The two talked all night and agreed to keep their secret out of the public eye. Hargitay met and has bonded with Sardelli's two daughters, Giovanna and Pietra, from his 47-year marriage.
“He promised me he would never tell anyone,” Hargitay says. “And he didn’t. That was his gift to me – and to my sisters. I’m still staggered by that. And the rest is history.”
Who is interviewed in 'My Mom Jayne' documentary?
For the documentary, Hargitay interviewed her older brothers, Mickey Jr. and Zoltan, whom Mickey raised following Mansfield's tragic death at age 34. The siblings express adoration for their famous parents in the complicated, often heartbreaking tale. “I could do a documentary on every single person in this film,” Hargitay says.
Also featured are half-sister Jayne Marie Mansfield (from Mansfield’s first marriage to Paul Mansfield) and her half-brother, Tony Cimber (from Mansfield’s third marriage to director Matt Cimber). One of Hargitay's first interviews was with Sardelli, 90, who often appears alongside his daughters.
“I’m very, very close to my sisters,” says Hargitay. “And we are so similar, it’s crazy. My God, talk about the power of DNA.”
Revealing the onetime family secret has been "cathartic," Hargitay says. “I realize this doesn't have the power or hold on me that it did. I feel like this 1,000-pound weight has been lifted.”
The documentary premiered to raves and standing ovations at the Cannes International Film Festival in May and became a must-attend event at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 13. Stars and friends, including Cher, Jamie Lee Curtis, and "SVU" costar Christopher Meloni, attended the American premiere, which also featured Hargitay’s extended family. Her newly disclosed biological father and half-sisters joyfully walked the red carpet.
Hargitay calls her relationship with Sardelli “close, beautiful, and respectful.” During the madness around planning the Tribeca premiere at Carnegie Hall (which the violin-playing Jayne Mansfield had dreamed of playing), Sardelli checked in by email. In her reply, the unburdened Hargitay reveled in the joy of the newly open relationship.
“I said to him that some things are worth the wait, and the weight,” says Hargitay, tearfully recalling the memory. “And then he wrote back, ‘I love you very much.’ It’s such a magical story.”