The “Superpower” Mariska Hargitay Got After Losing Mom Jayne Mansfield at 3

The Law & Order: SVU star’s mother built a glamorous career and welcomed five children before her tragic death in 1967.

Although Mariska Hargitay mostly grew up without her mother, Jayne Mansfield, there’s no denying the special connection they share. The Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star is not only a beloved and talented actress just like her mom was decades ago, they’re both total stunners and look so alike. Read on to learn all about Mansfield, her glamorous career, how Hargitay coped with her mother’s tragic death, and more.

Who was Mariska Hargitay’s mom, Jayne Mansfield?

Jayne Mansfield was a famous, award-winning actress who was known for her roles in several beloved films. In the ’50s and ’60s, she starred in many blockbuster movies including Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, The Girl Can’t Help It, The Wayward Bus, and Promises! Promises! 

In addition to acting, Mansfield was also a Playboy Playmate, making her debut on the magazine’s cover in 1954. And with her bright blonde hair and toned physique, Mansfield was known as one of the most popular sex symbols of her era. Outside of her career, Mansfield was also a mother of five and, according to her daughter, an animal lover who also played the violin.“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,” Hargitay told People in a 2018 interview. “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.”

Mickey Hargitay picking Jayne Mansfield off the ground as she yells in a scene from the film ‘Promises… Promises!’, 1963.

How many children did Jayne Mansfield have?

Jayne Mansfield had five children. The actress welcomed her first child, daughter Jayne Marie Mansfield, with her first husband Paul Mansfield. She also shared three children — daughter Mariska Hargitay, son Miklós “Mickey” Hargitay Jr., and son Zoltán Hargitay — with her second husband, Mickey Hargitay, a bodybuilder who won Mr. Universe and actor she shared the screen with many times. Mansfield also welcomed a son, Antonio “Tony” Cimber, with her third husband, Matt Cimber.

Jayne Mansfield’s tragic death occurred when Mariska Hargitay was just 3 years old 

At the young age of 34, Jayne Mansfield tragically died in a car accident outside of New Orleans on June 29, 1967 when the vehicle she was traveling in collided with the rear of a trailer truck. Mansfield was seated in the front of the car with a driver and her boyfriend, while three of her children — 3-year-old Mariska along with her brothers, Mickey Jr., 8, and Zoltan, 6 — were sleeping in the back. All three children survived the crash. Hargitay told Ladies’ Home Journal that while she doesn’t remember the accident, she was left with a “zigzag” scar on her head. Over the years, the SVU star has talked about growing up without a mother and how it’s affected her. “All my life I’d had this problem with following through, not feeling that I was worth it,” she shared with Ladies’ Home Journal in 2009. “Not having a mother makes you think, ‘If only I’d been better, she wouldn’t have left me.’”In 2021, Hargitay shared in an interview with Glamour that while losing her mother at such a young age forced her to learn hard life lessons very early, she also sees it as her “superpower.”“I think I learned about crisis very young, and I learned very young that s— happens and there’s no guarantees, and we keep going. And then we transform it,” she told the magazine. “That’s been kind of my superpower, and the gift of having trauma early in life.”

Mariska Hargitay’s mom was married to her dad, Mickey Hargitay, for six years

Jayne Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay first met in the 1956 when the blonde bombshell spotted the Hungarian-born bodybuilder as he appeared in Mae West’s Las Vegas act as one of the show’s “muscle-men,” according to The Independent. Mansfield famously said at the time, per The New York Times: “I’ll have a steak and the man on the left.”The couple eventually married in 1958 and welcomed three children together. During their relationship, they starred in several films together including Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, The Loves of Hercules, Promises! Promises!, and Primitive Love.While they divorced in 1964, Hargitay’s father once said that being married to the beloved actress was “the greatest experience” of his life. “She was one of the greatest ladies in my life I have known,” he said in a 1988 interview. “I lived with her for eight years … and to me, she is entirely different than what people say about her and write about her. She was a great lady.”

Mariska Hargitay honored her late mother at her wedding

When Hargitay married her husband, Peter Hermann, in August 2004 in a gorgeous wedding in Santa Barbara, she made sure to include her late mother in her special day. During the ceremony, the bride carried a sentimental locket that held photos of Mansfield and her grandmother. You can see a photo of the touching wedding detail published in InStyle.

Photo: Getty ImagesWhile it’s been many decades since Hargitay’s mother passed, the SVU star still continues to keep her memory alive. And she still finds herself discovering new things about her. During a 2024 appearance on TODAY, for instance, Hargitay shared that she had just found an old photo of her mother, taken when she was just 8 years old with two white bows in her hair.“Look at her bows!” Hargitay excitedly showed Savannah Guthrie. “It just undid me, this photo of this little precious girl. And I was like, ‘You are my inspiration.’”