Mariska Hargitay discloses that Nelson Sardelli, not Mickey Hargitay, is her biological father. The “Law & Order: SVU” star makes this revelation in a new interview with Vanity Fair while promoting her upcoming documentary about her mother, “My Mom Jayne.”
Hargitay discovers the truth about her paternity after seeing a photo of Sardelli in her 20s. “It was like the floor fell out from underneath me,” she tells Vanity Fair. “Like my infrastructure dissolved.”
The actress’s mother, Hollywood icon Jayne Mansfield, had a “well-publicized romance” with Sardelli, an Italian entertainer, before reconciling with Mickey Hargitay prior to Mariska’s birth. Mickey, a Hungarian bodybuilding champion turned actor, raises Mariska as his daughter.
At age 30, Mariska meets Sardelli after watching him perform. She approaches him saying, “I don’t want anything, I don’t need anything from you…. I have a dad.” Despite this initial boundary, she gradually develops a relationship with Sardelli and his daughters.
Sardelli, who immigrates to the United States from Brazil in 1965, builds a career in entertainment as an actor, stand-up comedian, and singer. His Italian parents move to Brazil in the early 1920s “looking for a better life.” He participates in Hargitay’s documentary about her mother.
Despite this revelation, Hargitay maintains deep reverence for Mickey Hargitay. “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 explains.
Hargitay also discusses the car crash that kills her mother while she is in the vehicle. “I don’t remember the accident. I don’t even remember being told that my mother had died,” she shares with Vanity Fair.
Through the documentary process, Hargitay comes to peace with her complicated family history. “I grew up where I was supposed to, and I do know that everyone made the best choice for me,” she concludes.
