Law & Order: SVU star Mariska Hargitay reveals the identity of her biological father in her new documentary, My Mom Jayne.
For over two decades, Mariska Hargitay has captivated audiences as the fearless Olivia Benson on Law & Order: SVU, earning admiration not only for her on-screen talent but also for her real-life resilience. But now, the Emmy-winning actress is making headlines for a deeply personal revelation.
In her new documentary focusing on her mother, Jayne Mansfield, a movie star and s*x symbol of the ʼ50s and ʼ60s, Hargitay has revealed the long-held family secret, revealing the truth about her biological father.
Mariska Hargitay reveals the shocking truth about her real father in the new documentary
In a new documentary about her mother, Jayne Mansfield, titled My Mom Jayne, actress Mariska Hargitay has revealed a long-held family secret that the bodybuilder and actor Mickey Hargitay is not her biological father.
After her passing in 1967, Mickey Hargitay raised the actress and her two siblings, Mickey Jr. and Zoltán. However, she also opened up about an underlying feeling that something about her family story, specifically her paternity, wasn’t quite right.
“He was my everything, my idol. He loved me so much, and I knew it,” she told Vanity Fair while talking about her late father. “I also knew something else — I just didn’t know what I knew.”
Further, during the interview, she admitted she often felt “different” from her siblings, feelings that began to make sense in her 20s, when she discovered the truth about her biological father.
Who is Mariska Hargitay’s real biological father?
It was in her 20s that Mariska Hargitay discovered a painful truth that Mickey Hargitay was not her biological father. Instead, her birth father was Italian singer and comedian Nelson Sardelli.
As per Vanity Fair, Mariska Hargitay’s mother, Jayne Mansfield, got involved with Sardelli after filing for divorce from Mickey Hargitay in 1963. However, several months before the Law & Order: SVU star’s birth in 1964, the couple reconciled and got back together.
The truth hit Mariska when she saw a photograph of Nelson Sardelli. She recalled that the moment she saw his face, she instinctively knew he was her biological father, a realization that shook her to the core.
“It was like the floor fell out from underneath me,” the actress says in her documentary. (Vanity Fair) “Like my infrastructure dissolved.”
When she confronted Mickey Hargitay about it, he denied the claim. The conversation was so emotionally intense that she never raised the subject with him again before his passing in 2006.
After uncovering the truth, Mariska Hargitay was left questioning her identity and grappling with the painful revelation that her life may have been built on a long-held secret.
Mariska Hargitay reunited with her biological father after 30 years
Mariska Hargitay revealed that she was 30 years old when she first decided to meet her biological father and went to see him perform in Atlantic City. There, she introduced herself to Sardelli, who got emotional and told her, “I’ve been waiting 30 years for this moment.”
However, Hargitay admitted that her initial reaction was guarded. “I went full Olivia Benson on him,” she said. “I was like, ‘I don’t want anything, I don’t need anything from you..… I have a dad.”
However, she gradually formed a bond with the Italian comedian and his daughters. Yet, she asserted that this does not change the fact that she is “Mickey Hargitay’s daughter.”
The actress also shared that revealing the truth wasn’t easy. Many people had hesitated or discouraged her from going public with the story. But in the end, she chose to speak out, not only to unburden herself but to free everyone else involved from carrying the weight of the secret.
