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Fox News
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Mariska Hargitay reveals shocking family secret about her biological father
Mariska Hargitay has been keeping a family secret for more than 30 years. At the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, the "Law & Order: SVU" star revealed at the premiere of her documentary, "My Mom Jayne," that her biological father is former Las Vegas entertainer Nelson Sardelli. She was raised by late actor and bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay. The actress admitted to Vanity Fair that she struggled with the idea of "knowing I'm living a lie my entire life." But the answer eventually became clear to her. "I grew up where I was supposed to, and I do know that everyone made the best choice for me," she said. "I'm Mickey Hargitay's daughter. That is not a lie. This documentary is kind of a love letter to him, because there's no one that I was closer to on this planet." "He was my everything, my idol," shared the 61-year-old about the patriarch, who died in 2006 at age 80. "He loved me so much, and I knew it. I also knew something else; I just didn't know what I knew." Growing up, Hargitay always felt she was different from her siblings, the outlet shared. It wouldn't be until her 20s that she learned why. In 1963, Hargitay's mother, Jayne Mansfield, filed for divorce from Mickey. She then embarked on a high-profile romance with Sardelli. The actress went on to reconcile with Mickey several months before Hargitay's birth in 1964. When Hargitay was in her 20s, someone showed her a photo of the Italian entertainer. According to the outlet, Hargitay "immediately knew in her bones" that Sardelli was her biological father. "It was like the floor fell out from under me," she said in "My Mom Jayne." Mansfield died in 1967 from injuries she sustained in a car crash. She was 34. Hargitay was 3 years old and asleep in the back seat of the car when it rammed into a truck. After suspecting that Sardelli was her biological father, she confronted Mickey. He denied it. According to the outlet, the encounter was "so shattering" that she never mentioned Sardelli to Mickey again. At age 30, Hargitay went to see Sardelli perform in Atlantic City. When she introduced herself, he burst into tears, telling her, "I've been waiting 30 years for this moment." Hargitay suddenly became fiercely protective of her father, the man who raised her and her siblings after her mother's death. "I went full Olivia Benson on him," she told Vanity Fair about her first meeting with Sardelli. "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." Hargitay eventually forged a bond with Sardelli, 90, and his daughters. But when it came time to tell her story, she said "many people" were hesitant about the film coming out. But in time, both families gave Hargitay their blessing. The documentary features interviews with Hargitay's siblings: Jayne Marie, Zoltan and Mickey Jr. The Sardelli sisters "wept and wept" when they saw a private screening of the documentary in Las Vegas, the outlet revealed. "These two women that I love so much – I made them secrets!" said Hargitay. "It's so heartbreaking to me. … I'm not good with lies. So, I also made this movie to unburden all of us." The film also helped Hargitay address the loss of her mother. "I don't remember the accident," she said. "I don't even remember being told that my mom had died. I looked at photos, and I don't really remember anything until I was 5." Mansfield, born Vera Jayne Palmer, was an aspiring actress who spoke several languages and played violin and piano. A casting director suggested she bleach her hair, wear tighter dresses and adopt a Marilyn Monroe-inspired voice. The "dumb blonde" persona stuck and Mansfield skyrocketed to fame in Hollywood. But like Monroe, Mansfield struggled to be taken seriously as an actress. WATCH: QUEEN ELIZABETH 'FELT SORRY' FOR MARILYN MONROE: AUTHOR "When I would hear that fake voice, it used to just flip me out," Hargitay recalled. "'Why is she talking like that? That's not real.' [But] my dad would always say, 'She wasn't like that at all. She was like you. She was funny and irreverent and fearless and real.'" "My Mom Jayne" premiered on May 17 at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. It will air June 27 on HBO and HBO Max.
Irish Times
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Cannes 2025: An emotional screening of My Mom Jayne, and Kristen Stewart's ‘big Cannes energy'
Biggest bombshells from My Mom Jayne When waterproof mascara isn't waterproof enough. Long queues for women's lavatories followed the emotional Cannes screening of My Mom Jayne, Mariska Hargitay's revelatory new documentary concerning her late pin-up mother. The debuting film-maker and CSI legend fought back tears as she introduced a portrait that left most of the audience bawling. Post-screening, Hargitay gathered the audience to tell a story about her husband, Peter Hermann, and her mother's piano. Hundreds of people wanted hugs afterwards. Jayne Mansfield, a Golden Globe winner characterised by Groucho Marx (among others) as 'Hollywood's smartest dumb blonde', was killed, aged 34, in a car crash on June 29th, 1967. Her three-year-old daughter – and future TV goddess – Mariska Hargitay was in the backseat. READ MORE Following the incident, a persistent and gruesome myth emerged claiming that Mansfield had been decapitated. Hargitay's film not only sets the record straight, it reveals some jaw-dropping truths. 1. Mariska Hargitay is not who you think she is For the first time, Hargitay reveals her biological father is not bodybuilder and former Mr Universe Mickey Hargitay, but Italian singer Nelson Sardelli, whom she met in her 30s after discovering their striking resemblance. Sardelli and his two daughters – Mariska's half-sisters – appear in the film. Before the premiere, they all kept the secret for decades. 2. Mariska was nearly left behind in the car wreck Hargitay, only three at the time, was initially missed by rescuers during the 1967 crash that killed her mother. Lodged under the seat with a head injury, she was only discovered after her brother Zoltan awoke in the ambulance and asked where his sister was. 3. Jayne Mansfield was not a dumb blonde Mansfield spoke Spanish, French, Italian and Hungarian. She played the violin and piano on The Ed Sullivan Show. When she attempted to play on The Jack Paar Program, the audience laughed as she tightened her bow and the host cut to commercial break with an order to 'shut up and kiss me'. 4. History repeats: both mother and daughter lost fathers at age three In an eerie parallel, Mansfield was also in the backseat of the fatal car crash that killed her father. Like Mariska, she was three years old at the time of the incident. K-Stew has 'big Cannes energy' The newly married Kristen Stewart arrived on the Croisette in sheer pink Chanel. And that was just her walking-around outfit. K-Stew has a storied history at the festival since her debut at Cannes in 2012 with On the Road. She won much love for her performances in films such as Personal Shopper (2016) and Clouds of Sils Maria (2014), both by Olivier Assayas. She became the first American actor to win a César Award for the latter. In 2018, she participated in the first majority female jury and broke tradition by removing her heels on the red carpet, protesting the festival's unspoken dress code. This year she returns as the director of The Chronology of Water – reviewed below – and was on top form as she discussed casting Imogen Poots as The Chronology of Water's damaged heroine: 'She doesn't have like big t**s or anything, but she seems like she does,' Stewart explained. 'It's like 'big d**k energy,' what is that? She has BTE.' Natalie Portman wins all-time best post-divorce frock Natalie Portman in a Dior dress at the Cannes Film Festival. It took 700 hours to stitch shimmering crystals into black tulle and was the most photographed dress of the festival. Photograph:In 2023, Natalie Portman arrived at the premiere of May December in a recreation of an iconic 1949 Dior gown. She was not wearing a wedding ring amid a swirl of French reports that her choreographer husband, Benjamin Millepied, had had an affair with a 25-year-old influencer. Their divorce was finalised last year, and what better way to mark the occasion than a return to the Croisette in another tribute to mid-20th-century Dior, this time a nod to a 1951 Dior classic, requiring 700 hours to stitch shimmering crystals into black tulle. Dior's Atelier Safrane completed 450 hours of embroidery on the gown, the most photographed dress of the festival. Review: The Chronology of Water Imogen Poots in The Chronology of Water The Chronology of Water Director : Kristen Stewart Cert : None Starring : Imogen Poots, Thora Birch, Earl Cave, Kim Gordon, Jim Belushi Running Time : 2 hrs 8 mins Kristen Stewart's ferociously raw directorial debut is this uncompromising, defiantly fragmented adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch's trauma memoir. Imogen Poots gives the festival's most emotionally impactful performance as Lidia endures a harrowing journey through incest, addiction and stillbirth. Stewart's film – cowritten with Andy Mingo – is divided into five chapters of fragmented, elliptical memories, arriving in impressionistic waves with a somnambulist voiceover that recalls peak Terrence Malick. Corey C Waters's textured 16mm cinematography and Olivia Neergaard-Holm's brilliant associative edits add to the blur of memories, as the damaged, alcoholic heroine attempts to suppress her father's sexual abuse. Poots plays Yuknavitch from her teens to late adulthood, a device that goes unnoticed under the weight of her performance and the material. While the film can feel repetitive in its portrayal of pain, it rarely lapses into indulgence. Stewart directs with big, bold swings and absolute sincerity, eschewing any levity or irony. Brutal honesty, graphic sex and viscera amplify the idea that this is more of a laceration than a movie. Poots, mirroring the film-maker's bravura script and direction, screams, spits, trembles and bleeds. Neither woman is concerned with your comfort or entertainment. Review: Nouvelle Vague Nouevelle Vague Nouvelle Vague Director : Richard Linklater Cert : None Starring : Guillaume Marbeck, Zoey Deutch, Aubry Dullin, Bruno Dreyfürst, Benjamin Clery Running Time : 1 hr 45 mins American iconoclast Richard Linklater returns to Cannes with a joyful new comedy inspired by the haphazard making of Jean-Luc Godard's classic, À Bout de Souffle. It's 1960, and the swaggering, young film critic (essayed by magnetic newcomer Guillaume Marbeck) has watched his Cahiers du Cinéma colleagues – including Claude Chabrol and François Truffaut – diversify into film-making. For film historians, there's a welcome and riotous education in the Texan film-maker's tributary introductions to all participants in the New Wave, whether hailing from the Cahiers du Cinéma backroom to Breathless's end credits. For those who have neither seen À Bout de Souffle nor could pick Robert Bresson out of a police line-up, there's much merriment in the anarchy and Godard's wilfully pretentious pronouncements: 'It's about a boy and girl who use the same words with different meanings,' he tells an exasperated Jean Seberg (Zoey Deutch) and her genial co-star, Jean-Paul Belmondo (Aubry Dillon). The film's monochrome visuals and 1:33 aspect ratio pay meticulous tribute to the aesthetic choices of the original, but Linklater is far more interested in querulous personal dynamics and Godard's antics. 'I must have had some bad pizza,' he shrugs to his vein-popping producer, Georges de Beauregard (Bruno Dreyfürsft), having sent everyone home from day eight of an already-delayed micro-budget shoot. Godard simultaneously blazes through the film, demanding only one take of each scene and simultaneously delays production, requiring breaks to allow inspiration to strike. His bemused cinematographer Raoul Coutard (Matthieu Penchinat) invents and amiably shrugs. This film should come with a health warning for producers. Everyone else will have a good time. Review: Die, My Love Jennifer Lawrence in Die My Love Die, My Love Director : Lynne Ramsay Cert : None Starring : Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson, Sissy Spacek, Nick Nolte Running Time : 1 hr 58 mins Lynne Ramsay's Die, My Love is a hellish dive into post-partum psychosis, anchored by a visceral Jennifer Lawrence as Grace, a new mother spiralling somewhere in rural America. Irish interest includes cinematographer Seamus McGarvey, who shot the bad-trip visuals, and playwright Enda Walsh, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ramsay and source novel author, Ariana Harwicz. Opposite Robert Pattinson's sensitive but ineffectual Jackson, Grace escalated from frustrated lust to full-blown psychosis in a film more concerned with mood than narrative clarity. The sustained sense of dread throughout is impressive. Even the skies are ominous. Disturbing and fragmented shots, including Grace in proximity to her family with a knife or shotgun, make for distressing moments. This isn't just a postpartum issue. Grace behaves like an animal from the get-go, prowling on all fours in carnal scenes. Later, she takes a barking territorial dislike to the puppy her partner brings home, claws at bathroom wallpaper like a cat, and sticks her tongue out at an unfortunate deer trophy. She masturbates in plain sight and fantasises about a passing local (LaKeith Stanfield), before her violent, feral intensity ruins social gatherings and family drives in a mirage of colliding images. Aural effects – flies buzzing, the baby crying, horse shrieking and distorted musical earworms – add to overall discomfort. Die, My Love evokes the suffocating weight of new motherhood. Its theatricality, however, almost overshadows emotional considerations. Ramsay, on his fifth uncompromising feature, delivers bold cinema. Lawrence – revisiting the madness of Mother! – is wholly committed. The results cast a queasy, oppressive, lust-fever spell, but with nothing like narrative progression or variation. The viewer – like Grace – is intentionally trapped in endless, apocalyptic horrors.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Mariska Hargitay Reveals Shocking Family Secret She's Kept for More Than 30 Years in New Documentary
Mariska Hargitay revealed with the premiere of her documentary My Mom Jayne that her biological father is not Mickey Hargitay, the man who raised her Her biological father is a former Las Vegas entertainer named Nelson Sardelli Mariska opened up about the revelation in an interview with Vanity Fair, recounting the moment she first met and introduced herself to Sardelli, who is still alive and in his eightiesMariska Hargitay is opening up about a family secret she's kept for more than 30 years. At the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, May 13, the Law & Order: SVU actress, 61, revealed with the premiere of her documentary My Mom Jayne that her biological father is not Mickey Hargitay, the man who raised her, but rather a former Las Vegas entertainer named Nelson Sardelli. As Mariska explains in the documentary — which marks her feature film directorial debut — she first learned of Sardelli when she was 25. She confronted Mariska, the only father she'd ever known, with the news, and after he insisted he was her father, the two never spoke of it again. But it left Mariska with many questions, wondering if she was Hungarian like her father and her brothers, Zoltan and Mickey Jr., or if she was really Italian like Sardelli. The actress opened up further about the revelation about her father in an interview with Vanity Fair. She told the outlet that she went to see Sardelli perform in Atlantic City, N.J., when she was 30 years old, and described his emotional reaction when she introduced herself. Moved to tears, he said, 'I've been waiting 30 years for this moment.' But Mariska said she found herself giving him a tough time and going "full Olivia Benson on him," referring to her SVU character. 'I was like, 'I don't want anything, I don't need anything from you.… I have a dad, ' ' she recalled telling him, explaining, 'There was something about loyalty. I wanted to be loyal to Mickey.' She told Vanity Fair that after the momentous meeting with Sardelli, she grappled with "knowing I'm living a lie my entire life." Sardelli, who is still alive and now in his late eighties, participates in the documentary, as do his other two daughters — Mariska's half sisters. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. In the film, Mariska explains that, at 61 years old, keeping this a secret was no longer necessary. Mariska also has an older sister, Jayne Marie Mansfield, from her mother's first marriage, as well as a younger brother, Tony Cimber, from her mother's third marriage, both of whom are also featured in My Mom Jayne. The actress told Vanity Fair that once she eventually built a bond with Sardelli and his daughters, she better understood that her mother returned to Mickey because she knew he would love and provide a stable home life for Mariska. 'I grew up where I was supposed to, and I do know that everyone made the best choice for me,' she said. 'I'm Mickey Hargitay's daughter — that is not a lie.' 'This documentary is kind of a love letter to him, because there's no one that I was closer to on this planet," she noted. Mariska told Vanity Fair that she and her Sardelli sisters gathered together for a private screening of the documentary in Las Vegas, and recalled how they were overcome with emotion. 'They just wept and wept and wept,' she said. 'These two women that I love so much — I made them secrets! It's so heartbreaking to me.' For Mariska, sharing her story with the world in the documentary was a way to "unburden all of us.' Following the film's premiere screening at Cannes on Saturday, the audience gave a five-minute standing ovation. Mariska was joined at the event by her husband, Peter Hermann, and three kids. Read the original article on People
News.com.au
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Mariska Hargitay reveals shocking secret she's hidden for 30 years
Mariska Hargitay's new documentary doesn't just explore the life of her famous mum, actor Jayne Mansfield. The film, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 17, also reveals the real identity of her biological father. For the first time, the Law & Order: SVU actor has revealed that her father is not actually well-known bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay. Thirty-six years ago, she found out her biological dad is a retired Las Vegas showman named Nelson Sardelli, it is revealed in the doco, My Mom Jayne. 'It was like the floor fell out from underneath me,' she said of learning the truth, stating that she was 'living a lie' for decades. 'Like my infrastructure dissolved.' Mansfield had a brief affair with Sardelli, 90, before she reconciled with Mickey. She and Mickey divorced in 1964. Jayne also was mum to daughter Jayne Marie with first husband Paul Mansfield, sons Miklós 'Mickey' and Zoltán with Mickey and son Antonio 'Tony' with third husband, Italian movie director Matt Cimber. Mariska recalled seeing a picture of Sardelli in her 20s and demanding the truth. Mickey initially insisted that he was her biological father. He later died at age 80 in 2006. Mariska would go on to meet Sardelli for the first time when he performed in Atlantic City, N.J. She was 30 years old at the time. 'I've been waiting 30 years for this moment,' the actor recalled him saying during an interview with Vanity emotional, Hargitay had a difficult time with their exchange and began to act like her iconic NBC character. '[I went] full Olivia Benson on him,' she told the outlet. 'I was like, 'I don't want anything, I don't need anything from you. … I have a dad, ' ' she recalled telling him. 'There was something about loyalty. I wanted to be loyal to Mickey.' Sardelli and his other two daughters — Mariska's half sisters — participated in the documentary, in addition to Mariska's other siblings Jayne Marie and Tony. At 61, the actor felt that there was no need to keep the identity of her biological father a secret from the public any longer. 'I grew up where I was supposed to, and I do know that everyone made the best choice for me,' she said. 'I'm Mickey Hargitay's daughter — that is not a lie.' Mariska further opened up about the loss of her mum in her doc, which she directed. On June 29, 1967, Mansfield died instantly in a car crash when the car she was riding in struck the rear of a trailer truck on US Route 90 east in New Orleans, Louisiana. Driver Ronald B. Harrison and Mansfield's companion, Samuel S. Brody, were also killed. Mariska, who was just 3 years old at the time, and her siblings Mickey Jr., 8, and Zoltan, 6, all survived the crash. Mansfield appeared in more than two dozen films during her career, including 1956's The Girl Can't Help It and 1957's Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? 'My mother was this amazing, beautiful, glamorous sex symbol — but people didn't know that she played the violin and had a 160 IQ and had five kids and loved dogs,' Mariska toldPeople in 2018. 'She was just so ahead of her time. She was an inspiration, she had this appetite for life, and I think I share that with her.' Mariska, for her part, has been married to fellow actor and Younger alum Peter Hermann since 2004. The couple are parents of three children — August Miklos Friedrich, born 2006, Amaya Josephine Hermann, born 2011, and Andrew Nicolas Hermann, born 2011. My Mom Jayne will be released on HBO on June 27.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Mariska Hargitay Reveals Identity of Her Biological Father, Says She Was 'Living a Lie My Entire Life'
Mariska Hargitay has revealed a long-held family secret: the truth about her biological father. The actress, whose mother was Jayne Mansfield, had believed for years that her father was Mickey Hargitay, the Hungarian bodybuilding champion who became an actor. He married Mansfield in 1956. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Law & Order' and 'SVU' Renewed at NBC 'Law & Order: Organized Crime' Teases a Stabler-Benson Reunion Mariska Hargitay Directing HBO Documentary About Her Mother, Jayne Mansfield When Mariska was only 3, she and her mother were involved in a tragic car accident that killed Mansfield instantly. Mickey raised their three children after Mansfield died. 'He was my everything, my idol. He loved me so much, and I knew it,' she told Vanity Fair. 'I also knew something else — I just didn't know what I knew.' In fact, she didn't know the truth until she was in her 20s. During a brief time in 1963-64, Mansfield filed for divorce from Mickey and began dating Italian entertainer Nelson Sardelli. However, Mickey and Mansfield reconciled months before Mariska's birth. Mariska had always believed something felt different between her and her siblings (Jayne Marie, Zoltan and Mickey Jr.), and when she was in her 20s, she saw a photo of Sardelli that confirmed her feelings. She says she knew right away that he was her biological father. When she asked Mickey, he denied it, and they never spoke of it again. When she was 30, Mariska traveled to Atlantic City to see Sardelli perform. After she introduced herself, she said, he became emotional and told her, 'I've been waiting 30 years for this moment.' 'I went full Olivia Benson on him,' she said of her reaction. '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.' (Mickey died in 2006.) She added that she struggled with 'knowing I'm living a lie my entire life.' Mariska ultimately became close with Sardelli and his daughters. She also realized that her mom went back to Mickey because she felt that being with him would be better for her daughter. 'I grew up where I was supposed to, and I do know that everyone made the best choice for me,' she said. 'I'm Mickey Hargitay's daughter — that is not a lie.' The Law & Order: SVU star also opens up about this revelation in her new documentary My Mom Jayne, which premiered Saturday at the Cannes Film Festival and debuts June 27 on HBO/HBO Max. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise 'Yellowstone' and the Sprawling Dutton Family Tree, Explained
