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.'
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