Mariska Hargitay turns to a real-life mystery: Her mother, Jayne Mansfield
Mariska Hargitay turns to a real-life mystery: Her mother, Jayne Mansfield
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Mariska Hargitay reveals she was raped by a friend
Mariska Hargitay has revealed in a first-person essay for People magazine that she was raped by her friend when she was in her 30s.
New York Post - Page Six
Mariska Hargitay has spent decades solving made-for-TV mysteries. Now, she's turning to her own.
The "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" star will tackle the story of her late mother, actress Jayne Mansfield, in "My Mom Jayne," a new documentary from HBO documentary.
The project marks Hargitay's directorial debut and a departure from her well-worn role in the entertainment industry as a familiar face and hallmark of network television. It also represents the first public exploration of Mansfield's death by one of her children.
"This movie is a labor of love and longing. It's a search for the mother I never knew, an integration of a part of myself I'd never owned, and a reclaiming of my mother's story and my own truth," Hargitay said in a release Tuesday announcing the project. "I've always believed there is strength in vulnerability, and the process of making this film has confirmed that belief like never before."
Mariska Hargitay reveals in powerful essay she was raped in her 30s, talks 'reckoning'
Mansfield, an actress and beauty icon who reached her heyday in the 1950s and early '60s, died at 34 in a 1967 car crash that later became the stuff of urban legend. A classic blonde bombshell, she was largely viewed as an alternative to Marilyn Monroe and wrapped the press corps around her pinky with eye-popping publicity stunts often involving a wardrobe malfunction.
Hargitay is among Mansfield's five children and one of three she shared with actor Mickey Hargitay. She married the former Mr. Universe winner in 1958 and starred alongside him in several films before their divorce in 1964.
Mariska Hargitay, along with her two brothers, was in the car the night of Mansfield's fatal crash, sleeping in the backseat. Her onscreen image as Olivia Benson, the no-nonsense detective grounding NBC's "Law & Order: SVU" for over two decades, could not be more different from her mother's.
'SVU' 25th anniversary: Mariska Hargitay, 'Law & Order: SVU' stars celebrate milestone in NYC
Where Mansfield was bubbly and sex-forward, Hargitay is stoic and self-serious. The new documentary will aim to wed the two as the 61-year-old actress looks back on her mother's life with a new appreciation.
The documentary "follows Mariska as she seeks to know, understand, and embrace her mother for the first time," the release reveals.
"Through intimate interviews and a collection of never-before-seen photos and home movies, she grapples with her mother's public and private legacy and discovers the layers and depth of who Jayne was, not only to her audience but to those who were closest to her," it continues.
Mariska Hargitay reflects on TV history as 'Law & Order: SVU' turns 21
How to watch Mariska Hargitay, Jayne Mansfield documentary
The documentary will premiere in June on HBO and be available to stream after on Max.
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