Mariska Hargitay is opening up about forgiving her dad — when she discovered he wasn't her biological father after all.
The Law & Order: SVU actress is one of five children late Hollywood icon Jayne Mansfield had before her death in 1967, when her daughter was three years old, and in the car crash that killed her mother.
Up until she was in her twenties, Mariska believed Jayne's husband Mickey Hargitay was her father, and it wasn't until the release of her directorial debut, a documentary about her mom titled My Mom Jayne released in 2025, that she revealed it was in fact Las Vegas entertainer Nelson Sardelli.
© GettySpeaking on the Hoda Kotb podcast Making Space, Mariska recalled learning Nelson was her biological father — she suspected it after a fan of her mother's showed her a photo of him — and confessed: "I was so angry and felt betrayed."
"I confronted my dad and he denied it," she continued, remembering her repeatedly questioning him on why he never told her.
"He goes, 'What are you talking about?! You look exactly like my father. You are my daughter. You are my daughter,'" she said.
© Getty"And it was so beautiful, now," Mariska added, explaining: "Because I understand. He was also in so much pain. That was the day I became an adult. Because I loved him so much, that I said, 'We're good.'"
"We don't need to talk about it anymore, because I felt like he was in more pain than I was," she recalled thinking. "But also, I was his daughter, and that's how he saw it, and that was his truth."
"Two things can be true at once. It was extraordinary, but I'm the one that had to learn that, not him," she maintained, noting that both Mickey and Nelson had "an understanding."
© Alamy Stock Photo"My dad Mickey said to Nelson, 'You don't have to tell me who the father of this baby was,' because Mickey knew. And Nelson said, 'You're the father of this baby, because you're the one that wakes up in the middle of the night with her, you're the one who is always there for her, and that's the truth,'" Mariska further shared.
© Getty ImagesSome years after discovering Nelson was her father, Mariska went to visit him in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he was performing at the time. She told Vanity Fair of the encounter: "I went full Olivia Benson on him," referring to her Law & Order: SVU character. "I was like, 'I don't want anything, I don't need anything from you… I have a dad' … There was something about loyalty. I wanted to be loyal to Mickey.'"
Revealing Nelson's own reaction — the two appear to have an amicable relationship and he was featured in My Mom Jayne — Mariska said he burst into tears, and told her: "I've been waiting 30 years for this moment."
