Mariska Hargitay's son, 18, almost towers over 6'5 dad Peter Hermann during rare family outing


The Law & Order: SVU star was joined by her family at the My Mom Jayne premiere


peter hermann and mariska hargitay at my mom jayne tribeca festival premiere© Patrick McMullan via Getty Image
Jenni McKnightUS Lifestyle Editor
June 14, 2025
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Mariska Hargitay enjoyed a special family outing on Friday when she was joined by her husband, Peter Hermann, and their three children at the Tribeca Festival premiere of My Mom Jayne.

The Law & Order: SVU star, 61, oozed old Hollywood glamour and looked just like her late mother, Jayne Mansfield, in a black, floor-length gown with a silver and nude beaded bust and cape, and white opera gloves.

Rare family appearance

The whole family made an effort, with her daughter Amaya, 14, wearing a structured white dress while Peter and their sons August, 18, and Andrew, 13, wore tuxedos.

However, it was teenager August who stole focus as he was almost as tall as his 6'5 dad and towered over his mom and siblings.

© Getty Images for Tribeca Festiva
Mariska and Peter were joined by all three children

Mariska and Peter welcomed August in 2006, and five years later, in 2011, they decided to grow their family again, this time choosing to adopt daughter Amaya. Less than a year later, they adopted their second son, Andrew.

In April, the actress announced that she had teamed up with HBO on the documentary My Mom Jayne, which she also directed, about her late mother.

© Patrick McMullan via Getty Image
August is catching up to his 6'5 dad

Speaking in a statement, Mariska said: "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.

"I've always believed there is strength in vulnerability, and the process of making this film has confirmed that belief like never before."

© Patrick McMullan via Getty Image
August is tall like his dad

The forthcoming documentary includes the bombshell revelation that Mariska's father, long believed to have been Jayne's ex-husband Mickey Hargitay, is instead Italian singer Nelson Sardelli, with whom Jayne had a brief relationship.

Jayne Mansfield

Before her untimely death at age 34, Jayne was married three times and welcomed five children. 

She first married Paul Mansfield in 1950, and they had one daughter, Jayne Marie Mansfield, 74, that year. 

© Getty Images for Tribeca Festiva
Mariska looked just like her later mother, Jayne Mansfield

She next wed Mickey in 1958, and they had three children together: Mickey Hargitay Jr., 66, then Zoltan, 64, and Mariska. After divorcing Mickey in 1964, Jayne wed Matt Climber, and welcomed her fifth child, Tony Climber, 59.

Mariska was only three years old when, in 1967, her mother died in a car crash in Biloxi, Mississippi.

The Olivia Benson actress was in the car, a 1966 Buick Electra 225, when it crashed head-on at high speed into the back of a tractor-trailer, instantly killing her mom along with her attorney, Sam Brody, and their driver, Ronnie Harrison, who was 20 at the time.

© Getty Images for Tribeca Festiva
Peter and Mariska looked incredible together

Mariska and her brothers, Mickey Jr. and Zoltan, were in the back of the car and escaped with minor injuries.

In a 2018 interview with People, Mariska spoke about losing her mother. "The way I've lived with loss is to lean into it," she began.

© Getty Images
Mariska is the daughter of the late Jayne Mansfield

"As the saying goes, the only way out is through. I'm not saying it's easy, and it certainly hasn't been for me. There's been a lot of darkness. But on the other side things can be so bright."

"She was an inspiration, she had this appetite for life, and I think I share that with her," added Mariska.

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