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Mariska Hargitay has revealed the identity of her biological father after “living a lie” for 30 years.
The Law & Order: SVU star, 61, shares the revelation in her new documentary, My Mom Jayne, her directorial debut, which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday.
The film examines the life of Hargitay’s late mother, 1950s sex symbol Jayne Mansfield, who died in a car crash in 1967 when Hargitay was three years old.
In the documentary, she confirms that her biological father is Italian singer and comedian Nelson Sardelli, not bodybuilder and actor, Mickey Hargitay, as she’d been told her whole childhood.
In 1963, Mansfield filed for divorce from Mickey, with whom she had two other children, and entered into a highly publicized relationship with Sardelli. She reconciled with Mickey a few months before Hargitay's birth in 1964.
Hargitay remembers seeing a photo of Sardelli in her twenties and immediately realizing that he was her biological father. “It was like the floor fell out from underneath me,” she recalls in My Mom Jayne, " like my infrastructure dissolved.”
In an interview with Vanity Fair, also published Saturday, Hargitay opened up about the emotional discovery. She said that when she confronted Mickey about Sardelli, he denied it, and she never mentioned it again before his death in 2006.
When she was 30, Hargitay went to see Sardelli perform in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and introduced herself.
“I’ve been waiting 30 years for this moment,” he told her through tears.
However, Hargitay said she “went full Olivia Benson on him,” referencing her Law & Order NYPD captain role. “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 added.
In the aftermath of the meeting, she said she grappled with “knowing I’m living a lie my entire life.”
Hargitay said she gradually formed a bond with Sardelli, who participates in the documentary, and his two daughters. She also said she understood why her mother chose to raise her with Mickey in order to provide a stable home for her growing up.
“I’m Mickey Hargitay’s daughter — that is not a lie,” she told Vanity Fair. “This documentary is kind of a love letter to him, because there’s no one that I was closer to on this planet.” Hargitay pointed out that two of her own children are adopted: “They are my kids. Now I understand so much, and, boy, is it sweet.”
My Mom Jayne will receive a limited theatrical release on June 20, 2025. It will be released on HBO on June 27, 2025.
English (US) ·