Mariska Hargitay recalls the moment she found out Mickey Hargitay wasn't her biological father
This is her story.
Mariska Hargitay is opening up about finding out Mickey Hargitay wasn't her biological father.
The 'Law & Order: SVU' star, 61, was raised alongside her two siblings, Mickey Jr., 66, and Zoltán, 64, by the actor after her mom, Jayne Mansfield, died in a car crash in 1967 when she was only 3.
10 Mariska Hargitay on 'Call Her Daddy.'
Call Her Daddy/Youtube
Years later, the truth about her DNA came to light.
'I went up to my dad's house and I was hysterically crying and in a state and he was — how about this metaphor, my dad was physically building me a house. So, I drive up to the house that he is building me and confront him,' Mariska said during her Wednesday appearance on the 'Call Her Daddy' podcast. 'He was like, 'What are you talking about? Are you crazy? That's so not true.''
It was a complete shock for the NBC star, as she was more like her dad than anyone.
10 Mariska Hargitay and Alex Cooper on 'Call Her Daddy.'
Call Her Daddy/Youtube
'The irony is that I'm more like my dad than anyone in our whole family. I am mini-Mickey, so it was just a very extraordinarily painful moment,' Mariska explained. 'I say that this is the moment that I became an adult and it's so visceral for me because I was in so much pain. I was so overwhelmed.'
She could see how much pain Mickey, who passed in 2006, was in as well, so she let it go.
'It doesn't matter what I feel, I love him … and we're done here, we're done here,' Mariska recalled. 'I pretended that I believed him, and we never spoke of it again.'
10 Nelson Sardelli and Mariska Hargitay attend the 'My Mom Jayne' premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Festival.
FilmMagic
The producer also detailed just how she found out her dad is comedian and singer Nelson Sardelli, 90.
Mariska was at the house of a collector who owned some Jayne memorabilia and felt what she described as a 'jolt' when hearing Sardelli's name.
'I knew in one second,' she told host Alex Cooper. 'I don't know [how]. I think my whole life, all the millions of moments … little fragments of a memory of a moment of things I caught that went into my subconscious. Then I said, 'Who's Nelson?''
10 Jayne Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay.
Bettmann Archive
10 Jayne Mansfield holding six-weeks old Mariska Hargitay.
Getty Images
'I saw the blood drain out of his face and he sort of panicked and turned white,' Mariska continued, 'and he said, 'Oh, it's probably not true, it's probably not true.' And that's when I knew.'
Once she saw a photo of the entertainer, her fears were confirmed.
'I just really thought my life was over,' Mariska admitted. 'The one thing I did have, the one thing that I was rooted in, the one thing that was my constant, was no longer mine. My identity was just smashed.'
10 Jayne Mansfield holds her dog Galena while posing with Nelson Sardelli.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
10 Jayne Mansfield, Mickey Hargitay and their two children.
Bettmann Archive
Last month, while speaking to Vanity Fair, Mariska shared the news about her dad publicly for the first time in anticipation of her HBO documentary, 'My Mom Jayne.'
The doc explores the star finding out about her family's secret as Mariska sits down with her siblings, including Mickey's daughter, Tina, from his marriage to Mary Birge and Jayne's first daughter, Jayne Marie, whom she shared with Paul Mansfield.
Jayne's son, Tony, who she had with her third husband, Matt Cimber, is also featured in the film.
10 Jayne Mansfield with her kids Miklos, Zoltan and Mariska in 1967.
Vittoriano Rastelli via Getty Images
While talking to the outlet, Mariska described meeting Sardelli for the first time in 1994 when he was in New Jersey for a gig.
She said it was an emotional moment, with the Las Vegas performer telling his daughter, 'I've been waiting 30 years for this moment.'
Jayne met Sardelli in the early '60s and filed for divorce from her husband Mickey in 1962 after five years of marriage. Their split was finalized in 1964, around the same time she discovered she was pregnant with Mariska, so they decided to give their relationship another chance and hold off on telling the public about their divorce until after she was born, per Woman's World.
10 Jayne Mansfield.
Bettmann Archive
Later that year, they finalized their divorce.
Mariska told Vanity Fair that after meeting Sardelli, she struggled with 'knowing I'm living a lie my entire life.'
As the years went on, the 'Law & Order' vet became close to her bio dad and his two daughters, who Mariska referred to as family friends for years. Her sisters also appear in 'My Mom Jayne.'
10 Jayne Mansfield in 1967.
Vittoriano Rastelli via Getty Images
Mariska held a private screening of the documentary for the four of them in Las Vegas.
'They just wept and wept and wept,' she recalled. 'These two women that I love so much — I made them secrets! It's so heartbreaking to me.'
The movie has been an 'unburden all of us.'
'I grew up where I was supposed to, and I do know that everyone made the best choice for me,' Mariska stated. 'I'm Mickey Hargitay's daughter — that is not a lie.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
Parents Are Sharing The Most Embarrassing Things Their Kids Have Ever Said Or Done, And Honestly I'm Laughing My Butt Off
Recently, Reddit user FarmhouseRules posted to the popular ask subreddit to ask people, "What's the most embarrassing thing your kids have ever said or done?" She shared her own story first, writing, "Once I was shopping at the grocery with my 5-year-old son in the cart. As we were going down the aisle we passed a woman going the other way. Right after we passed her, my son said, 'Mom that's the ugliest man I've ever seen.' I was mortified." NBC Other people shared some pretty legendarily embarrassing stories, too, and I was honestly cackling. Here are some of the absolute best: 1."I was at checkout in K-Mart with my then 5-year-old daughter. I was buying her purple marshmallow Peeps. She told the cashier that purple was her favorite color. I said she had a new favorite color every week. This embarrassed my daughter, who said loudly, 'Mom, you have a new favorite boyfriend every week!'" "I was mortified and tried to assure everyone in line that I'd been with my boyfriend for three years." —u/tlk2mch 2."'MY MOM LOVES COCK PORN.' (He meant popcorn.)" ABC —u/milkandsalsa 3."My wife, my son, and I were at Disneyland. My son was 3 at this point. He had finished potty training just a few weeks prior to this. During potty training, we would use positive reinforcement, elling him that he was doing a good job, etc. etc. One of the things I told him was that he was pooping Iike a man now." "So anyway, my wife and I both had to poop at the same time. And we both really had to go. There was no waiting happening here. We couldn't leave my son alone, so I took him with me. I picked the big stall so we would both have some room. So I started to do my business, and my son loudly says, 'Ewww Daddy, that's a man poop daddy. That's a man poop.' I'm trying to get him to be quiet, but he just keeps going: 'Good job on the poop, Daddy. But Daddy, it smells. That sure is a man poop, Daddy.' Everyone in the bathroom was snickering, and I was sitting there mortified. It's hilarious now, but not so much at the time." —u/rodimus147 4."My 2-year-old son and I were in line at Kohl's and the woman behind me had vitiligo (a condition that causes the pigment in your skin to discolor, completely resulting in very blotchy skin). My son looked at her and gasped and said, 'Oh wow, I LOVE your polka dots!'" "Fortunately, she laughed and was so kind and said, 'Why THANK YOU!' She was so gracious and what could have been embarrassing became such a sweet moment. Hilarious though." —u/Donut_Interesting 5."We were at the zoo when my son was probably 5 or 6. He had run ahead to look at the zebras. He turned around and screamed, 'Mom, you won't believe how big this zebra's dick is!' I deeply considered walking past him with no acknowledgment." —u/raven_darkseid 6."Took my 3-year-old in to work with me on a Saturday when the office was closed. My coworker was there. I introduced him to my daughter. She recognized his name from me always complaining about him, looked him in the eye, and asked him, 'Are you the one who doesn't know what he is doing?'" "So embarrassing! He wouldn't talk to me for weeks." —u/CatsRock25 7."We were on a trail in the Smoky Mountains and a park ranger with an eye patch was talking to us about bears. Right when we finished the conversation and started walking away, my son said, 'Mommy, we just talked to a pirate!'" —u/sweetpea813 8."Not my kid, but it was said to me. I was riding the elevator up to the OB/GYN floor with a very pregnant woman and her about 3-year-old son. He looked at my belly and excitedly asked if I was going to have a baby, too. His mother was 14 shades of red with nowhere to hide! I told him no, I was just fat. He gave me a sad face and said, 'Well, next year.'" —u/PhoneboothLynn 9."When my oldest was about a year and a half old in the grocery store, he pointed to a baby and said 'ugly baby' clear as day and very loud." —u/Slag_Queen_Tsunade 10."My son told my daughter that her penis fell off and that's why he was a boy and she was a girl. She was upset for weeks." —u/Big-Kaleidoscope-192 11."When my son was little, we took him to mass with us. When the priest was consecrating the communion wafer, my son loudly and clearly said, 'Hey, I want one of those potato chips!'" Quim Llenas / Cover/Getty Images, Fox / Via —u/grannygogo 12."My son, bless his heart, waited until everyone had bowed their heads to pray but before the priest started the prayer, and in that moment of blessed silence, piped up 'I gotta poop!' as loud as he could." AMC —u/Imcbmc 13."I was waiting in the crowd for my number to be called at the deli counter with my 5-year-old. It was National Dairy Month, and the grocery store had a huge inflatable cow suspended from the ceiling above us. My daughter looked up and announced at the top of her lungs, 'Look, Mom, that cow has four penises!' The crowd roared." —u/VicePrincipalNero 14."My daughter announced to her whole class that girls get brains and boys get a penis. That was a whole parent/teacher conference." —u/SatanicWhoreofHell 15."I was the mortifying kid: in the middle of a Catholic mass, during one of the silent parts, I looked up at a man next to us. I looked back at my mom and loudly said, 'Mom, why does his forehead go back so far?'" HBO / Via "I'm sure I was a blast to raise. 💀" —u/Gold_Bug_4055 16."We were at my grandfather's funeral with my then 3-year-old son. We had told him that great-grandpa was really old and that's why he died. We met my grandparents' neighbor, who I knew growing up, and she is about 90. When she walked away, my son said, 'She's really nice. It's too bad she'll be dead soon.'" Disney Channel / Via —u/Historical-Stop5083 17."When my son was 3, we lived in a pretty rough neighborhood. His favorite thing was just riding his tricycle up and down the sidewalk, completely safe. One day I heard him greeting people in the manner that people greeted him when they walked by. He said, 'Hey, motherfucker!'" Warner Bros. —u/miseeker 18."Around Thanksgiving, we walked past a very old woman and the 5-year-old stopped to ask her about conditions on the Mayflower." NBC —u/Samiru27 19."This is about me at 5 years old in 1975. My mom used to tell this story. My dad at that time liked to listen to Deanna Durbin records on the living room stereo. Her picture was on the fronts of the albums, and he liked to tell me he was listening to his 'girlfriend' singing." "My mom took me shopping at a department store. We were in the elevator when a lady came in. I looked at her and said, 'You look just like my dad's girlfriend!' My mom said she was really embarrassed. The lady gave her a funny look." —u/Alman54 20."My kid was 5-ish and had started calling hot dogs weiners. At the grocery store, she said, very loudly, 'Mommy likes wieners!'" BBC —u/tallant13 21."Our oldest was about 3, my wife was pregnant with our second, and we were at dinner with friends who had a toddler in a high chair. Said toddler had food everywhere!" "My child looked at me and asked if our baby was going to be like that baby because 'this one makes me gag.' There is no way out of that awkwardness!" —u/st_nick5 22."About 20 years ago when our son was 2, we were having a small dinner party with friends at our home, and he went into our bedroom closet and found one of my wife's (adult) toys. He came running into the living room and started banging it against the coffee table." NBC / Via —u/Proper_Actuary8980 23."My kid, at 4, could burp like a truck driver. Sitting in a restaurant, she let out this massive burp, dove under the table to hide, and 25 strangers turned around to stare at me with mild disgust." Bon Appétit —u/Witty_Jello_8470 finally, "My lovely 3-year-old likes to yell 'HELP ME!!!' at the top of her lungs when she doesn't get her way, and she tends to not get her way and yell that in grocery stores and other public places." —u/CrockyCroc Okay, IDK about you, but I'm laughing my ass off at some of these. Tell me what you think in the comments below; or, even better, divulge your own embarrassing kid stories! They're so funny, I love to hear them. If you want to share but want to stay anonymous, you can always write into this anonymous form! Who knows — your comment could be included in a future BuzzFeed article.
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
AnnaSophia Robb, Melissa Fumero React to ‘Grosse Pointe Garden Society' Cancellation
Members of the Grosse Pointe Garden Society are reacting to the show's cancellation. It was announced Friday that NBC canceled the crime drama after its first season. NBCUniversal was initially considering shifting the Jenna Bans and Bill Krebs-created show to Peacock, though a deal didn't come to fruition. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Grosse Pointe Garden Society' Canceled at NBC After a Single Season NBC Sports Names Maria Taylor Lead NBA Studio Host Hollywood Flashback: When 'Hollywood Squares' Won Big in 1975 AnnaSophia Robb, Melissa Fumero, Ben Rappaport and Aja Naomi King starred in Grosse Pointe Garden Society as a group of members of a garden club that become connected due to a murder. Robb, Fumero and Rappaport all reacted to the news of the show's cancellation on Instagram. Robb took to her Instagram Story to share a photo of the show's core four, writing, 'damn. I will miss our GPGS family. Grateful and proud of all that we made together.' She shared a subsequent video on her Stories on-set thanking the rest of the cast and crew, writing, 'We really did have the best crew. Thanks for making it a truly magnificent experience. It's a blessing to do what you love, and an even bigger one to work with kind, talented and fun folks.' Fumero posted a heartfelt tribute to her character, Birdie, on Instagram. There, she wrote, 'Oh, Birdie. You were one for the books.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Melissa Fumero (@melissafumero) 'You felt like an amalgamation of every role I've ever played. I'll miss so many things about this job, but most of all I will miss the incredible group of humans it brought together. I won't miss the shoes,' she added. 'It's really hard to make a show. Even harder to keep it on air. I'll forever be proud of what we made. Thanks for watching.' Rappaport also took to Instagram to commemorate the end of Grosse Pointe Garden Society, writing, 'I've said it before and I'll say it again. Showbiz ain't for the faint of heart. Our beloved Grosse Pointe Garden Society was canceled today. I'll sure miss working with these (and all of our) amazing folks every day. This was a special one.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ben Rappaport (@ben_rappaport) The series notably premiered in February on Sunday but was shifted to air on Friday nights in hopes of boosting its viewership. Though Grosse Pointe Garden Society saw its audience grow after moving its airdate, it still averaged fewer than 2 million viewers for the season in Nielsen's seven-day linear ratings, becoming NBC's least-watched regular series. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Yahoo
Mariska Hargitay & Peter Hermann Colorfully Coordinated With Their 3 Kids in a Super-Rare Family Outing
Mariska Hargitay, her beloved husband Peter Hermann, and their three kids have done it again: twinning on the red carpet! Earlier this year, the family of five arrived in dark looks for the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, and now, they're twinning in black and white for the Tribeca Festival premiere of My Mom Jayne. For the premiere, the family of five looked gorgeous together! You can see the photos HERE: More from SheKnows Bryan Cranston Reveals How He Ensures His Daughter Taylor Makes Her 'Own Proper Decisions' at 32 Hargitay channeled Old Hollywood glamour in a black and white gown that has a silver cape across her chest. She paired the look with white gloves, and silver statement earrings. Her husband Hermann also rocked black pants and a white suit top. And their three kids matched with them in the same colorful formal pieces! We're seriously loving these stylish family outings, and we have our fingers crossed for more! For those who don't know, Hargitay and Hermann have three children together named August Miklós Friedrich, born in June 2006, Amaya Josephine, born in April 2011, and Andrew Nicholas, born in Oct 2011. In an interview alongside Selena Gomez with Interview Magazine, Hargitay talked about being a working mom of three. 'For all working moms, it's hard. There's been so many times where I'm torn or frustrated because in our jobs, you can't say, 'Guys, I'm not coming in today. But I've integrated them here. My kids come to work with me. The flip side is that my kids are really proud of me,' she said. 'I am happier and living a fuller life, and they feel that and see that. And when I'm with them, I'm with them.' Before you go, check out these celebrities who have opened up about . Best of SheKnows These Podcasts for Parents of Teens Will Make You Feel Seen These Hot Famous Dads Are Making Fatherhood Look Finer Than Ever 36 Times Prince Louis Proved That the Third Child Is a Wild Card
