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Fox News
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Mariska Hargitay shares the surprising way she discovered her biological father's identity
Print Close By Brie Stimson Published June 28, 2025 The Mariska Hargitay-directed documentary "My Mom Jayne" covers a lot of ground about actress Jayne Mansfield's life and about Hargitay's attempts to reconnect with the memory of her mother. The film had its share of bombshells, most notably that Hargitay found out as an adult that the man who raised her wasn't her biological father and that, in the chaos of the car crash that killed her mother, Hargitay was left behind at the scene as a 3-year-old. The documentary also reveals that Mansfield hungered to be a serious actress despite her "dumb blonde" image. Mariska found out that Mickey Hargitay wasn't her biological father Hargitay revealed for the first time in the documentary that Mickey Hargitay wasn't her biological father as she believed her entire childhood. MARISKA HARGITAY STUNS IN CANNES AFTER REVEALING SHOCKING FAMILY SECRET When she was 25, she said she was talking with the head of Jayne Mansfield's fan club, Sabin Gray, and he inadvertently told her about her biological father. "He's showing me all these photos," the "Law & Order: SVU" star told Alex Cooper this week on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast. "He's showing me whatever it is, dresses that she had that he'd collected, earrings that she wore, things from movies from the movie set, props or whatever, and then he says to me, 'Do you want to see a picture of Nelson?'" She added, "I just looked at him, and this jolt went through my body, and I said, 'Who's Nelson?' And then I knew in one second." She said in the documentary, "That's when like I think the blood just drained out of his face and he sort of went white as a ghost and he looked at me panicked and he said, 'Well, it's probably not true,'" adding that he then showed her pictures of a man who "looked like the male version of me." She told Cooper, "And I think that (Gray) couldn't believe that I didn't know. I was 25, how could I not know?" She said in the film, "It was like the floor fell out from underneath me. Just the bottom dropped out of everything. It was like my infrastructure dissolved and life as I knew it was irrevocably changed." She told Cooper that she felt like she was going to crash her car after she left Sabin's house "because I was so not present. I was totally dissociated and out of my body, and I got to my brother's house. I didn't even know how I got there, but I knew that I shouldn't be driving. It was crazy." After that, she said she then confronted her father, asking him, "Why didn't you tell me you're not my father? You lied to me." 'LAW & ORDER: SVU' STAR MARISKA HARGITAY'S REAL-LIFE HERO MOMENT ON LIVE TV But he told her that was "bulls---." "I was in so much pain," she said in the documentary, "but I could see his pain was almost worse, so I decided I would never talk about it again, and I would never bring it up to him again, and I never did," she said. "But the fact is I had bad years after that." She said she didn't tell anyone, and would just go to bed crying every night for a long time. Hargitay had an identity crisis over the revelation. "Who was I related to? Who did I belong to? And then, on top of it, I was born out of some affair like some illegitimate, sinful mistake? I was so angry at my mother for leaving me in this mess and for hurting my father and for leaving me feeling so alone and untethered," she admitted. She said for her own survival she "disowned the part of myself that was my mother's daughter." Meeting her biological father When she was 30, she decided to go see her biological father, Nelson Sardelli, who was performing in Atlantic City at the time. "And after the show he came out and I said, 'Hi, Nelson, my name is Mariska Hargitay. I understand you knew my mother,'" she said. He burst into tears and told her "'I've been waiting 30 years for this moment,'" she said, adding that they stayed up until 5 in the morning talking that night, and he told her what had happened. SOPHIA LOREN AND JAYNE MANSFIELD: THE STORY BEHIND THAT INFAMOUS SNAP "That was 30 years ago, and I've kept it a secret ever since," she added. Sardelli said he met Mansfield in Atlanta, and she asked him to see her show. When the show was over, she asked to go for a ride in his car. He said that at the time Mansfield and Hargitay weren't talking to each other, and she and Sardelli began publicly dating, and he was even introduced to her kids. They performed together, made a movie together and went all over Europe together. He found out Mansfield was pregnant with his child while they were in Europe. Hargitay read a letter in the documentary that Mansfield wrote to her mother talking about "going through perhaps the most trying time" of her life while she was pregnant with Hargitay and having "the love of two men – a very deep love from each of them. I hope God shows me the way soon because I have really been depressed as of late." Sardelli said in the documentary that he broke up with her in Europe, and they never spoke again, which he called the "biggest shame" of his life, acknowledging "a lot of people paid the price for this love affair that we had." "I can't imagine what your father felt, but I am grateful to him," he said. He told Hargitay after Mansfield died, her grandmother wanted him to "rock the boat and claim you or something but by that time Mickey was the father you knew, and your siblings they were your siblings. What would I be accomplishing that would be beneficial to you?" JAYNE MANSFIELD'S FATAL CAR CRASH CHANGED ELAINE STEVENS' LIFE FOREVER Years later, he said he talked to Mickey once and Hargitay told him, "'Nelson, nobody has to tell me who's the father of my child,' and I said to him, 'I will not embarrass you in any way. Never.'" Hargitay's stepmom told her that if Sardelli ever came up in conversation, he would only tell her, "I'm her father, period." "Mickey was a great father, and he was so full of love for you, but I think Mickey was quite capable of shutting out pain, which I think he did a lot with Jayne, so he said Mariska's my daughter, and he said that until the day he passed," she added. Hargitay said she spent 30 years trying to hide her story "to honor my dad, but something that I've also realized is that sometimes keeping a secret doesn't honor anyone." Reacting to the truth being revealed for the first time in her documentary, Sardelli said it felt like a "stronger, higher power is forgiving me. There is nothing I can change, but I regret having extricated myself from your mother's life because I think certain things would not have happened to her." He added that he'd like to be able to have one more conversation with Mickey and apologize to him, "because I'm sure I was part of his suffering." Hargitay added, "I've spent most of my life feeling ashamed of my mother, a person who I had no memory of, a person whose voice I didn't want to hear, a person's whose career made me want to do it differently, a person who made her share of problematic choices and left me with loss and secrets, but at 60 years old I feel different." Hargitay also met her half-siblings Giovanna and Pietra Sardelli, who kept the secret as well. Giovanna said she once confronted her father as a child after finding a secret letter he'd kept written from Mansfield's mother, telling him he had an "amazing child that's yours," but he told Giovanna that Hargitay is a "little girl, has a father who loves her like I love you. This little girl is safe." Pietra interjected, "'And if she is OK, she just lost her mother. You cannot take the only family she knows,' and that was their decision and that's why they stayed quiet." MARISKA HARGITAY OPENS UP ABOUT LOSING HER MOM JAYNE MANSFIELD AS A CHILD: 'THERE'S NO GUARANTEES' "And that made sense to me and I tucked that away." Giovanna said, adding that she remembered coming years later to Mariska's birthday party and telling Katie Couric when the journalist asked, that they weren't related, they were just family friends. "My need to honor Mickey was so huge, but the fact is I was wrong, because you guys had to live all these years with the secret, and you were so generous, so generous to me," Hargitay told her sisters. Hargitay was left behind after deadly crash While the documentary doesn't go into a lot of detail about the Mississippi crash that killed Mansfield and two others, Hargitay's brother Zolton Hargitay, who was 6 at the time, said he remembered his mother had been sitting in the back seat with the children before moving into the front seat. He said she had been arguing with her boyfriend, then she got out of the car and called their father before she moved into the front seat. Zoltan remembered her comforting him before the crash, "telling me I was going to be fine, 20 minutes later, half an hour, whatever, I heard her scream so loud, and that was it – just silence." The car had crashed into a tractor trailer that had slowed down around 2 in the morning on June 29, 1967, killing Mansfield, her boyfriend and the driver of the car. Mariska, Zoltan and Mickey Hargitay, Jr. were in the back seat at the time and survived. "I often think about why she didn't just stay in the back seat with us," Zolton said through tears. Zoltan said he remembered being in a car on the way to the hospital and looking around before saying, "Where's Maria?" referring to Mariska. "And they said 'Who's Maria,' so then we doubled back." Ellen Hargitay, Mariska's stepmom, said when they went back, she was found "lodged underneath the passenger seat with a head injury and – thank God, thank God Zolie woke up." Mansfield had no will when she died at 34 Mansfield didn't have a will at the time of her death at 34 years old in 1967, "So the state sold off her belongings to pay her debts and there were just a handful of items that my siblings and I were able to keep," Hargitay explained in the doc. She added, "For me, a lot of this is about reclaiming what was lost. Even physical things." Hargitay finally went through the family storage unit, which she said hadn't been opened since 1969, two years after her mother's death. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER A poignant moment near the end of the film showed Hargitay's husband, Peter Hermann, surprising her with Mansfield's piano. The actress was both a pianist and violinist. Mickey wasn't over Mansfield when he married Hargitay's stepmom Hargitay's stepmom, Ellen Hargitay, said she's sure Mansfield's widower was "not over her" when they met and started dating. "Because she passed away June 29, 1967, and Mickey and I got married in April of 1968. But you always have them with you," she said. "There's no way when you love somebody that they ever leave your heart. I don't care who, I don't care how angry you are, I don't care anything. If you really love somebody they remain in there." Mansfield's oldest child, Jayne Marie Mansfield, said: "It was love at first sight with Mickey [Hargitay]. It really was, and he was just such a nice man, you could just see that she was so happy." Hargitay and Mansfield divorced in 1963, four years before her death. Her daughter Jayne said she believes her mom became depressed shortly before her divorce from Hargitay. "Her career wasn't going well, so she went back to these parts for dumb blondes," Mansfield explained. "I don't think it was easy for her. But I don't think it was easy for Mickey either. She was completely absorbed in negativity because she wasn't doing the kind of work she dreamed of doing, and I believe she became a victim of depression. You know you're never yourself when you're depressed." LIKE WHAT YOU'RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS Ellen said Mansfield started meeting other men and "the marriage fell apart. I think Mickey was hurt deeply by Jayne. I think she blew it when she divorced Mickey." "Mickey was the most positive influence in her life and even though he might have felt a lot of pain, he loved her. He always loved her even after they were divorced," she added. Mansfield came back to him many times after their divorce, and they were together again for a few months around the time she was pregnant with Mariska, Jayne said. Mansfield personified a 'dumb blonde' character Hargitay said her mother's baby whisper voice used to annoy her, and she would try not to listen to it when she heard her. "She didn't always talk like that," Hargitay said, adding that her mother had copied Marilyn Monroe in that way. Her former publicist Rusty Strait said she personified that character because it was what the studio wanted at the time. But at home, her daughter Jayne said she "didn't put on any of those airs," and wore her hair in a scarf and no makeup. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP "But she was also very eloquent. She spoke French, Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, and she wanted us to be exposed to more [in life]," she added. Her son, Zoltan, said he "kind of looked the other way" when his mom did her "public voice. Because I knew she was really, really smart." Jayne said her mother told her she wanted to be a serious actress but "the parts didn't come in so she did what she had to do." She said Mansfield had "great admiration" for Marilyn Monroe, but eventually realized "that blonde persona is a box," adding that her mom told her around the time of Monroe's death in 1962 that "she wanted to reverse that image." "My Mom Jayne" premiered on HBO on Friday and is streaming on Max. Print Close URL
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Mariska Hargitay's Friendship with Knicks Star Jalen Brunson Makes Ben Stiller Jealous
Mariska Hargitay has friends and fans everywhere you look. The Law & Order: SVU star has been on TV chasing down the worst of the worst as Captain Olivia Benson since 1999 ... when future Knicks guard Jalen Brunson was 3 years old. These days in 2025, Brunson's family fandom has earned Hargitay some special privileges at Knicks games, which she confirmed to Seth Meyers on Late Night. "Ben Stiller — who's a fan and also has very nice seats like you — said all the celebrities are jealous because Jalen Brunson only hugs you after games," Seth said. "And this was a choice Jalen Brunson made. You didn't storm the court and hug him! So how did your first postgame embrace with Jalen come to pass?" "I said Jalen, bring it in," the actress and filmmaker joked. But really, "how it started was they let me know that Jalen was a big fan, and I was so flattered and thrilled, because I was such a huge fan," Hargitay told Meyers. "I think Jalen sort of grew up on SVU...I think he felt this, as many people do, intimacy and safety that one does growing up on SVU." They're so close that Hargitay is even on friendly terms with Brunson's dad, Rick. "I call him Rick. We're close like that," she said with a laugh. "It feels like the biggest name drop."After Meyers called him out for being jealous, Stiller jokingly replied to the clip on X (formerly Twitter) with "That's cool, I guess? Whatever." A massive lifelong fan and constant presence at Knicks games, Stiller is so close to the team that he often appears on Brunson's podcast, The Roommates Show, and has griped about this issue before. "The love that Mariska Hargitay gets from you post-game is the envy of every other Knicks celebrity game," he said in a clip posted to the Roommates Show X (formerly Twitter) account on May 5. "She gets a hug after a loss." "I've seen you not hug your wife after some losses," added Brunson's colleague and co-host Josh Hart. "That's a lie! Damn, man," Brunson said. "I just remember my dad always watching the show. You always hear the iconic 'dun dun' all the time in the house. My dad also watches the TV incredibly loud. I started from Season 1, watched all the way through. It's like a pregame show for me. I've always loved that show, and I've never been super super starstruck [but] I saw her and I was like, 'Oh, s--t.' The first time we met, it was awesome, and we talked and everything." "Like, he's there all the time," Brunson continued, pointing to Stiller. "I know he's coming to the game. I expect to see him there all the time. This was her first or second game this year and I'm not going to see her for a long time, so I'm just going to say 'Hi,' and go." "I guess I gotta come to less games," Stiller Hargitay shows up to support Brunson on the court, Brunson showed up to support Hargitay on the red carpet at the premiere of her new documentary, My Mom Jayne. Meyers shared a photo of the pair on the red carpet while Hargitay clutched her hand to her heart. "You support him and he's courtside with your documentary," Meyers accurately said.
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
My Brain Has Been D-E-S-T-R-O-Y-E-D After Learning These Terrible, Disturbing, And Creepy Things
Are you into dark, creepy, and unsettling stories? Subscribe to the That Got Dark newsletter to get your weekly dopamine fix of the macabre! It's a scary good time you won't want to miss. Warning: Disturbing content ahead, including stories involving murder and extreme violence. 1.A hot-air balloon carrying 21 people crashed near Praia Grande, Brazil, on June 21, 2025, after catching fire mid-air just minutes into the flight. The pilot attempted an emergency descent and told passengers to jump; 13 survived with injuries, but 8 died — some from burns, others from the fall. Authorities believe a backup burner may have ignited accidentally, possibly worsened by strong winds. This is Brazil's deadliest balloon crash on record, prompting national mourning and an ongoing investigation. You can see footage of the disaster here. actor Mariska Hargitay revealed (in her new HBO documentary My Mom Jayne) that she was accidentally left behind at the scene of the 1967 car crash that famously killed her mother, Jayne Mansfield, when she was just 3 years old. After her siblings were pulled to safety, the rescuers did not realize Mariska was trapped inside the car until her brother, Zoltan, asked after her. The rescuers returned to the crash and found little Mariska trapped under the passenger seat, having suffered a head injury. Although Mariska says she has no memory of the crash, she still has a scar on her head from the tragic event. June 12, 2025, an Air India Flight carrying 242 people — 230 passengers and 12 crew members — crashed into a medical college hostel shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. At least 270 people were killed (including those on the flight and on the ground), making it one of India's worst aviation disasters in history. Investigations suggest a possible dual-engine failure was the cause. Miraculously, though, there was actually one survivor... ...Viswashkumar Ramesh, the sole survivor of the Air India crash, had been seated in seat 11A, an emergency exit seat. The part of the plane where he was sitting had landed near the ground (and was not crushed against the building). Ramesh told reporters that after the crash, he saw an opening and was able to unbuckle himself and get out before being engulfed in fire. Ramesh sustained burn injuries on his left hand, but was able to actually walk away from the crash, in shock, before he was assisted by locals and taken to a hospital. Ramesh's brother, who had also been on the flight but in a different row, sadly, was one of the many other passengers who died. Related: Most People Can't Make It To Letter Q Or Further In This Alphabetical Logo Quiz — Can You? August 11, 2018, at 3:28 a.m., the Pueblo Police Department in Colorado received a spooky "abandoned 911" call traced to a funeral home and cemetery. When dispatchers returned the call, the line was answered but remained silent, emitting only static. Officers were dispatched to the location, finding the funeral home locked and dark, with no signs of activity. Authorities speculated that the incident was likely due to a technical issue with the phone line, though the unusual circumstances led to some local intrigue and speculation about paranormal activity. February 2022, a woman in Green Bay, Wisconsin named Taylor Schabusiness gruesomely murdered, dismembered, and sexually abused the corpse of her lover, Shad Thyrion. Taylor had strangled Shad to death during a meth-fueled tryst in the basement of Shad's mother's home. Later, Shad's mother would find his severed head in a bucket in the basement. Taylor told investigators that she had "severed his head and penis with kitchen knives." During her hearing in 2023, Taylor actually attacked her attorney. And, in 2025, she attacked her second attorney during a preliminary hearing on charges of assault against a sergeant at her correctional institution. Taylor was convicted and sentenced to life without parole for the 2022 murder of Shad Thyrion. July 6, 1978, a deadly fire broke out on a sleeping-car train near Taunton, England, after a bag of linens was placed against a heater. Twelve passengers died — mostly from carbon monoxide poisoning while they slept — and several others were injured. Rescue efforts were hindered by locked doors and sealed windows. The tragedy led to major safety reforms on British trains, including fire-resistant materials, emergency exits, and improved fire detection systems. mysterious disappearance of Tammy Lynn Leppert, an 18-year-old model and actor, with roles in films like Scarface (1983), who vanished on July 6, 1983, after being dropped off at a parking lot in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Before going missing, Leppert had displayed signs of intense paranoia, claiming she had witnessed something disturbing at a party. Despite numerous theories — including foul play and possible links to serial killers — no trace of her has ever been found. Her case remains one of Florida's most mysterious unsolved disappearances. Related: If You Get 12/15 On This Honors Vocab Quiz, Your IQ Has To Be At Least 150 July 6, 1944, a fire broke out during a Ringling Bros. circus performance in Hartford, Connecticut, killing at least 167 people and injuring over 700 — most of them women and children. The blaze spread rapidly because the big top tent was waterproofed with a flammable mix of paraffin and gasoline. Panic and blocked exits made the tragedy even worse. The disaster led to major fire safety reforms and remains one of the deadliest events in circus history in the US. April 2019, a five-year-old, Landen Hoffmann, was thrown from a third-floor balcony at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. The perpetrator, Emmanuel Deshawn Aranda, told police he was "looking for someone to kill" due to anger over rejection by women. Landen suffered severe injuries, including skull and facial fractures, broken arms and legs, and brain damage. He underwent over a dozen surgeries and spent four months in intensive care. His recovery took more than three years. In a more positive conclusion to the story, Landen is now reportedly healthy and happy, with no memory of the incident. 10.A 14-year-old boy from Greenville, South Carolina, Will Hand, died suddenly from a rare bacterial infection called meningococcal septicemia on June 8, 2025. The infection, caused by the bacteria Neisseria meningitidis, entered his bloodstream and led to a rapid decline. Will died just a few days after symptoms appeared. Speaking with Fox Carolina, Prisma Health Pediatric Infectious Disease Dr. Anna-Kathryn Burch said, "This illness is spread through saliva and respiratory secretions. It can spread when people come into close contact with an infectious person or share items." Erick Escamilla, a 27-year-old transient man, was arrested for the April 2025 murder of an older man in the Valley Village neighborhood of Los Angeles. Escamilla allegedly broke into an apartment through a skylight and murdered the 53-year-old resident with a screwdriver during a burglary, before fleeing the scene. In a shocking twist, Escamilla was subsequently tied to and charged with the 2022 killing of an 81-year‑old woman in Woodland Hills, where she was stabbed during a home invasion and her home was set on fire, as well as with the attempted murder of a man stabbed during a home invasion in San Fernando that same year. 12.A 19-year-old in Arizona, Renna O'Rourke, died on June 1, 2025, after attempting a TikTok challenge called 'dusting' (or 'chroming'). The challenge involves sniffing computer duster spray to get high. O'Rourke suffered cardiac arrest and spent four days in the ICU. She was eventually pronounced brain dead due to 'sudden sniffing death syndrome." August 2004, a 12-year-old Boy Scout named Garrett Bardsley disappeared while walking just a short distance — roughly 150 to 250 feet — near Cuberant Lake in Utah. Garrett had been on an early morning fishing trip with his father when his feet and clothes got wet. He headed back alone to their campsite to change, but he never showed up. His father noticed him missing roughly 15–20 minutes later and then immediately raised the alarm. Despite extensive searches with hundreds of volunteers, no trace of Garrett was ever found. His disappearance remains a mystery, though most believe it was likely an accident. In his memory, his family founded the Garrett Bardsley Foundation to support search and rescue efforts and humanitarian causes. Easter Sunday, 2015, a woman named Victoria Cilliers went for a routine skydive at Netheravon Airfield in England. Horrifyingly, both her main and reserve parachutes failed to deploy, causing her to fall roughly 4,000 feet. Remarkably, she actually survived the fall, though she sustained serious injuries. Investigations later revealed that her husband, Emile, had tampered with both parachutes, deliberately causing the malfunctions. In a wild twist, it was discovered that this parachuting incident was actually the second attempt on her life within a week. Earlier, Emile had intentionally caused a gas leak at their home by loosening a gas valve fitting in a kitchen cupboard. Emile Cilliers was arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder. In May 2018, he was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 18 years. June 4, 2025, a 15-year-old boy tragically died after being pinned between two vehicles in the parking lot of a prestigious private school, Campbell Hall, in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles. The incident occurred during school pickup time when a Rivian SUV rear-ended another SUV, striking the boy who was walking between the vehicles. He was transported to a local hospital where he later died from his injuries. Five others, including another teen and three adults, sustained non-life-threatening injuries. The Los Angeles Police Department has determined the incident to be an accident, and no citations will be issued. May 2025, a 13‑year‑old girl in Russia, Anastasia Ryzhenko, was fatally injured during a PE class when a classmate, unsupervised at the time, threw a javelin that struck her directly in the eye. The young girl fell into a coma and died four days later, just shy of her 14th birthday. A criminal investigation is underway focusing on apparent negligence by the coach and lack of proper safety procedures. in 2017, a woman, only known as Yueyue, in China died after her husband "forced" her to have four abortions in a year because he wanted a son. Despite already having a daughter, he demanded gender-specific ultrasounds and pressured her to terminate each pregnancy when the fetus showed as female. This practice is illegal in China, but apparently, unlicensed practitioners often provide such services. The repeated procedures, of course, seriously harmed her health and left her bedridden. Her husband filed for divorce, and she used the settlement money to seek medical treatment in Shanghai, where she later died. Are you obsessed with reading content like this? Subscribe to the That Got Dark newsletter to get a weekly post just like this delivered directly to your inbox. It's a scary good time you won't want to miss. Also in BuzzFeed: This 30-Question Quiz About Your Life Will Reveal Your Entire Personality Type Also in BuzzFeed: I'm Sorry, But I HIGHLY Doubt Anyone Can Name 16/16 Of These Logos Based On Their Mascots Alone Also in BuzzFeed: 18 Facts That Are So Creepy, I Looked Around In Paranoia After I Read Them
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Mariska Hargitay Says It's A ‘Miracle' That Biological Father's Identity Was Kept A Secret
Mariska Hargitay continues to feel relief at being able to confront a long-held family secret on her own terms. Hargitay, 61, is making her feature directorial debut with 'My Mom Jayne,' a documentary about her late mother, screen legend Jayne Mansfield, that premieres Friday on HBO. In the film, she reveals musician Nelson Sardelli to be her biological father, though she was raised by bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay, whom she viewed as her dad. The 'Law & Order: SVU' actor last month shared how she made the discovery, telling Vanity Fair she began coming to terms with 'knowing' she'd been 'living a lie my entire life' around the time she was 30. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly in a new interview this week, she said she feared the news would somehow become public fodder prior to the release of 'My Mom Jayne.' 'I was so fearful to have to confront it before I was ready to,' she told the outlet. 'Thank God it never went anywhere. It's been a real gift to me to be able to tell it in my time when I was ready.' Mansfield, whose popularity rivaled Marilyn Monroe during her lifetime, was married to Mickey Hargitay from 1958 to 1964. She and Sardelli had a brief affair in the early 1960s. In 'My Mom Jayne,' Hargitay says she began suspecting Mickey Hargitay wasn't her father in her 20s. Upon learning with certainty that Sardelli was her father, however, she decided to keep the truth a secret out of loyalty to Mickey Hargitay, who raised her as his own after Mansfield's death in 1967 and referred to her as his daughter until his own death in 2006. The truth about Hargitay's parentage was first publicly revealed in 'Here They Are, Jayne Mansfield,' a 1992 biography written by Mansfield's former press agent, Raymond Strait. Remarkably, the revelation stayed largely under wraps at the time of the book's publication. 'The fact is that the story was out there in a lot of places,' Hargitay told EW. 'And so, the fact that it never came out is nothing short of a miracle, truly.' Describing 'My Mom Jayne' as a 'healing experience' for her and her siblings, Hargitay said she's learned to embrace her unusual family structure. 'Nothing could change my love, respect, admiration and gratitude for [Mickey Hargitay],' she said. 'And as I got to know Nelson, as he explained to me what happened, it just became a much more three-dimensional story. I realized that everyone's doing the best they can. It wasn't so black and white anymore to me.' Liam Payne's Sister Shares Heartbreaking Reaction To Seeing His Final TV Appearance Charlie Sheen's Daughter Says She's Suffered Mystery Illness For Nearly 2 Years Due To Breast Implants Bruce Willis' Daughter Speaks Out After Criticism For Sharing 'Vulnerable' Photos Of Her Dad
CNET
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- CNET
What to Stream This Weekend: 'The Bear,' 'My Mom Jayne' and 'Squid Game'
Some of the summer's biggest shows on streaming are dropping this week so if you plan to hunker down in the air conditioning and binge your way through the weekend, you have some great titles to choose from. On Hulu, check out season 4 of The Bear; the acclaimed series released 10 episodes all at once on Wednesday. And on Netflix, the final episodes of Squid Game also have arrived, so you can plow through all of season 3 as soon as possible. If you're looking for something new to watch, there are a few great shows that premiered this week, too, including the new Marvel series Ironheart on Disney Plus, the crime thriller Smoke on Apple TV Plus and Jensen Ackles as an LAPD detective in Prime Video's Countdown. And on Max, check out the documentary My Mom Jayne, a biography of actor Jayne Mansfield directed by her daughter, Law & Order: SVU star Mariska Hargitay. These shows and movies are sure to keep everyone busy this weekend -- here's all the info you need to tune in. Read more: Best Live TV Streaming Services of 2025 Best new TV shows and movies to stream this weekend Netflix Netflix Squid Game, Season 3 (June 27) The third and final season of Squid Game arrives June 27 and hopefully will finally offer Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) and his fellow players some closure after participating in the world's most deadly game. This time around, Gi-hun is even more determined to end the game once and for all, but at what cost? The final six episodes of the series drop all at once on Friday. Hulu FX on Hulu The Bear, Season 4 (June 25) The Bear returned for its fourth season this week with 10 episodes arriving all at once. Jeremy Allen White, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ayo Edebiri, Liza Colon-Zayas and the rest of the cast are all back as employees of the eponymous eatery, The Bear, which opened as a fine-dining restaurant last season. The new season, along with seasons 1-3, are all available to stream on Hulu. Apple TV Plus Apple TV Plus Smoke (June 27) Starring and executive produced by Emmy Award nominee Taron Egerton, Smoke is a new crime drama created by Dennis Lehane, who previously collaborated with Egerton on their award-winning series Black Bird. The nine-episode drama about detectives investigating an arson plot co-stars Jurnee Smollett, Greg Kinnear and Anna Chlumsky. Its first two episodes premiere on Apple TV Plus this Friday, June 27, with a new episode arriving every Friday through Aug. 15. Prime Video Elizabeth Morris/Prime Video Countdown (June 25) Jensen Ackles leads the cast of Prime Video's new series Countdown, which premiered Wednesday, June 25, with the first three episodes. Ackles stars as Mark Meachum, an LAPD detective who gets recruited by a secret task force to help investigate the murder of a Homeland Security officer, but stumbles on a deeper, darker plot that threatens millions of lives. New episodes will follow weekly through Sept. 3. Max Alamy Stock Photo/HBO My Mom Jayne (June 27) We've been watching Mariska Hargitay on our TV screens as Olivia Benson in the Law & Order franchise for decades now but she goes behind the camera to direct the new documentary, My Mom Jayne, about her mother Jayne Mansfield. Hargitay was a toddler when her mother died in a car wreck at the age of 34, and the film provides viewers -- and Hargitay herself -- a deeper look at the woman she yearned to know better. Disney Plus
