Mariska Hargitay was just three years old in 1967 when her mother, the actress Jayne Mansfield, was tragically killed in a high-speed car crash in Biloxi, Mississippi. The vehicle Jayne was travelling in slammed head-on into the back of a tractor-trailer, claiming her life at the age of 34.
Decades later, it has come to light that Mariska herself narrowly avoided a similar fate. Featured in the debut issue of The Shift, the 61-year-old reflected on her near-death experience. Mariska was among 90 influential women celebrated for their powerful voices and impact on the future. The inaugural issue paid tribute to Gloria Steinem and her 91 years of activism.
During her interview with the outlet, Mariska opened up about a traumatic motorcycle accident she experienced at 34 years old. "I was involved in a serious motorcycle accident when I was thirty-four," she shared.
"Something opened up for me after that. Within a year, I got the role of Olivia Benson on SVU. I can't help but make a connection between [...] what I fear was my fate and then stepping into this role that has become such a profound part of my life."
"It's life I stepped out of a narrative that wasn't mine and into my own story," she added.
The actress also credited Gloria as one of her greatest mentors, who had “taught me so much about going after something". “It’s been such a joy in my life to start SVU and then shift it to something else – that was sort of my model of being fearless, and holding what’s possible and never relenting," she told WWD.
Jayne Mansfield's car crash
Mariska's HBO documentary My Mom Jayne captured the moment she discovered she was left at the scene of the car crash which killed her mom.
The star and her brothers, Mickey Jr. and Zoltan, were in the back of the car, and while they all escaped with minor injuries, Zoltan revealed that Mariska was accidentally left in the 1966 Buick Electra 225.
Trapped beneath the passenger seat, Mariska was eventually rescued from the wreckage, sustaining a head injury in the crash.
"This movie is a labor of love and longing. It's a search for the mother I never knew, an integration of a part of myself I'd never owned, and a reclaiming of my mother's story and my own truth," shared Mariska in a statement.
"I've always believed there is strength in vulnerability, and the process of making this film has confirmed that belief like never before."