Mariska Hargitay feels 'free and unburdened' after 'My Mom Jayne'

Mariska Hargitay talks mom Jayne Mansfield, unpacking her trauma

LOS ANGELES − Mariska Hargitay knows the only way out is through.

Earlier this summer, with her touching HBO documentary “My Mom Jayne,” the “Law & Order: SVU” star shared with the world a different side of her late mother, Jayne Mansfield, the 1950s movie star and pinup model.

Hargitay, 61, was just 3 when she was involved in the car crash that killed Mansfield.

The actress, who has shared that she has no memory of her mother, said at Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine Shine Away conference on Oct. 11 that the trauma of her loss came to a head in recent years. For Hargitay, Mansfield was “somebody that I was afraid and scared of” because “there was just so much hurt and mess and yuck,” she said.

“I thought, ‘The only way I’m going to ever be free and unburden myself is to find out what happened,’ and I was yearning and longing so much for my mom, to figure out who she was, where did I come from, and who am I?” Hargitay said. “And I got those answers.”

In “My Mom Jayne,” 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.

It also touches on how Hargitay intentionally worked to avoid the career pitfalls her mother fell into. (Hargitay has starred as compassionate investigator Olivia Benson on “SVU” since the NBC procedural debuted in 1999.)

The actress became emotional throughout the panel when speaking of her mother and the sense of purpose she felt after reclaiming her mother’s narrative. Although Hargitay made the documentary in two-and-a-half years, she felt she had “been preparing to make it my entire life.”

“I feel like that’s what I’ve been doing, getting ready to make it and building the infrastructure inside me so I could tell the story in a clear, concise way, while battling all these demons,” she said.

It was during the pandemic that she had “time to sit with some things that I sort of pushed away,” including the boxes of her letters and photos that people “so generously” sent her, sharing stories of her mother.

Joining Hargitay for the first panel of the day, titled “Connecting Passion to Purpose,” was Hello Sunshine founder Reese Witherspoon and “And Just Like That …” actress Karen Pittman, who also co stars in “The Morning Show” with Witherspoon.

‘The Morning Show’ actress Karen Pittman reflects on her late mother’s life

A common thread throughout the panel was that of mothers, resiliency and how the three Hollywood actresses connect their passions with their purpose.

Touching on Hargitay’s comments about reconnecting with who her mother was, Pittman said she had her “own trauma to deal with and sort through,” and self-expression and acting became “a way to manage my hurt and my pain.”

“You get to a certain place in your work, though, and that trauma, that woundedness, becomes a crippling obstacle to actually doing good work and so you have to go back in and find another way,” Pittman added.

She also reflected on the final months of her mother’s life. “She was so sad that she didn’t get to do all the things she wanted to do in her life, so part of what inspired me to move forward in my own career was saying, ‘I’m going to finish the journey. I’m going to take the baton from my mother and run the rest of that race.’ “

The New Times

Mariska Hargitay feels ‘free and unburdened’ after ‘My Mom Jayne’