The Truth About Mariska Hargitay's Famous Parents

Jayne Mansfield was a huge star, per Biography, appearing "in an astonishing 2,500 newspaper photographs" from from September 1956 to May 1957. However, her life — and her career — was cut tragically short. 

According to People, Mariska Hargitay's father, Mickey Hargitay, passed away in 2006 at the age of 80, but, Mansfied, his second wife, passed away decades before him. In 1967, according to History, Mansfield, along with two other adult passengers and three of her children, were driving to New Orleans when they collided with a truck. Mansfield and the other adults died, but Hargitay and her two older brothers, Mickey and Zoltan, who were in the backseat sleeping, incredibly survived.

These days, Hargitay only has a scar on the side of her head to remind her, but it hasn't been easy for the actress to live with that tragedy. "The way I've lived with loss is to lean into it," Mariska said in an interview with People in 2018. In addition to leaning into her loss, Hargitay has also made it her mission to collect Mansfield memorabilia, "which she buys whenever she gets the chance," per a 1985 People article.

Collectibles aside, she doesn't have to look very far to feel close to her mom. "Someone once said about my mother: 'All you have to do is look in the mirror,'" she told People. "She's with me still."

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