All About Mariska Hargitay’s Parents, Jayne Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay

As the daughter of actress and icon Jayne Mansfield and bodybuilder-turned-actor Mickey Hargitay, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit star Mariska Hargitay had a unique upbringing.

Jayne was a Hollywood bombshell in the 1950s and 60s, known for her beauty, style and independent spirit. She met Hungarian Mister Universe winner Mickey at the height of her career and they married in 1958. Mickey then became a star in his own right, appearing in films alongside Jayne including Will success spoil Rock Hunter? and Hercules’ love.

According to Los Angeles Timesthe two divorced in 1964 after they welcomed three children together: Mariska, Miklós and Zoltan. A few years later, Jayne was tragically killed in a car accident in 1967, while 3-year-old Mariska and her brothers were injured in the back seat.

The star often said that her mother’s death at such a young age deeply shaped her. “The way I lived with the loss was that I relied on it. As the saying goes, the only way out is through,” she told PEOPLE in 2018. “I’m not saying it’s easy, and it certainly wasn’t for me. There was a lot of darkness. But on the other hand, things can be so bright.”

However, Mariska believes that Jayne is with her every day. “Someone once said Fr [remembering] my mother: ‘All you have to do is look in the mirror,’ she added.

Her father Mickey passed away in 2006 after a long illness, and she often pays tribute to both of her late parents on social media. “Thank you dad for always supporting me. I love you. Always,” she captioned the June 2019 post on Father’s Day, with a black-and-white photo of Mickey with his arms around her.

Here’s everything you need to know about the parents of Mariska Hargitay, Jayne Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay.

Jayne saw Mickey for the first time while he was performing

Jayne Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay at the Makeup Artist Ball on September 29, 1956 in Los Angeles, California.

Earl Leaf/Michael Ochs Archive/Getty

Jayne, one of the most famous celebrities of her time, was in the audience when she first saw Mickey perform on stage.

After winning the title of Mr. Universe, Mickey was invited by actress Mae West to join the cast of muscle men in her show in Las Vegas, Mae West Revue, according to The Independent.

Jayne attended one of the shows, and when asked what she would like, she reportedly replied, “I’d like a steak and the man on the left,” referring to Mickey.

They got married in 1958

Jayne Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay on their wedding day in January 1958.

USC/Corbis/Getty Libraries

Jayne and Mickey were married on January 13, 1958 at the Glass Wayfarer’s Seaside Chapel in Los Angeles with 100 guests, according to Entertainment Weekly.

More than six decades later, said the church’s reverend Los Angeles Times that people still remember how Jayne was carried to the limo – which had a big “Just Married” sign hanging from the back window – after the ceremony.

After Jayne and Mickey divorced in 1964, they both remarried – Jayne to director Matt Cimber and Mickey to Ellen Siano. Mickey and Ellen raised Mariska, along with her two brothers and three half-siblings, in LA after Jayne’s death.

“I called her mom,” said Mariska Good housekeeping 2012, thinking of her stepmother, Ellen. “We were blessed that she really embraced and loved us so quickly. And I was very happy to have a mother figure in my life after such a terrible accident.”

They lived in the “pink palace”

Jayne Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay at the premiere of “Giant”. ; Mariska Hargitay at the 33rd Annual Colleagues Spring Luncheon and Oscar De La Renta Fashion Show on April 25, 2023.

Earl Leaf/Michael Ochs Archive/Getty ; Rodin Eckenroth/Getty

A year after their wedding, Jayne and Mickey bought a mansion on Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California. Together, they transformed the 25-room home into what became known as the “Pink Palace,” with many shades of pink, shaggy rugs and heart motifs, according to Architectural Digest.

In 1960, while giving the BBC a tour of the house, Jayne said the lavish pink mansion was like “living in a beautiful powder box”.

The home was also filled with signs of the couple’s love for each other. The “coat of arms” on one wall of the living room included the letters “J&M” flanked by two cupids, and Mickey built Jayne a 40-foot-wide heart-shaped pool with the words “I love you Jaynie” in gold plaque at the bottom.

The actress also shared that Mickey designed many of the other custom touches in the home – including a wooden table and headboard for their bed.

After Jayne and Mickey divorced, the house was then owned by Engelbert Humperdinck and Ringo Starr, among others, according to Curbed LA.

They welcomed three children together

Mickey Hargitay, Jayne Mansfield and children Zoltan, Miklos, Mariska and Jayne Marie.

Bettmann

Jayne and Mickey welcomed three children together – their two sons, Miklós and Zoltan, and their daughter Mariska. Jayne had one child from a previous marriage, a daughter, Jayne Marie. Mickey was also the father of his daughter Tina from a previous relationship.

“We take our kids everywhere we go,” Jayne said Star Weekly magazine. “I don’t believe in having them and then leaving them to someone else to raise.”

This rang true in the episode The Merv Griffin Show 1966, when Jayne brought a whole group of children, including 2-year-old Mariska, for her on-air interview.

– We lost one somewhere along the way, sometimes it’s so easy to lose them – Jayne joked to the presenters explaining why her eldest daughter Jayne Marie was not on stage. “But I’ll put an ad in the newspaper. I hope to bring her back.”

Mariska was not the only Hargitay sibling to follow in their parents’ Hollywood footsteps. Her older brother Zoltan worked in the art department on several films in the 1990s. But her brother Miklós lived a more private life – owning a plant shop in LA for more than four decades.

Mariska credits her father for her strength and work ethic

Mariska Hargitay and Mickey Hargitay at the Golden Globe Awards on January 16, 2005.

SGranitz/WireImage

During the more difficult moments of Mariska’s early career — thinking of the roles she didn’t get before her breakthrough role in the Law and order: SVU — her father Mickey taught her to persevere.

“I could have given up a million times, but my dad drilled me so that our family doesn’t give up,” said Mariska Parade in 2019. “So if you don’t get it, it means you’re not ready and you have to get up and try again.”

Mariska also called her father a “superhero,” comparing him to Wonder Woman. “She’s the female version of him,” she added. The external strength of her father Mr. Universe was obvious, but Mariska also appreciated his emotional resilience.

“My dad gave me so much advice and support at such a young age,” she told the magazine. “He achieved so many unattainable goals, and he beat his own drum. That’s what he was telling me. Like, ‘What does it matter what people think?’ He was so clear about what it takes to be successful.”

Her father often attended events with Mariska before he died in 2006. The year before, Mariska paid tribute to her parents during her speech for Best Actress in a TV Drama Series at the Golden Globe Awards.

“Forty-nine years ago, my mother accepted [a Golden Globe], and my father was with her. And tonight I am happy enough that my father is here with me,” she said. “You are my hero. You taught me not only by your word but also by example, Dad, and I love you.”

Mariska felt a new connection with her mother after having her own children

Mariska Hargitay and Peter Hermann pose with their children, August Miklos Friedrich Hermann, Andrew Nicolas Hargitay Hermann and Amaya Josephine Hermann at the Association of Stutterers for Youth (SAY) 2023 Benefit Gala on May 22, 2023 in New York City. ; Jayne Mansfield holds 6-week-old Mariska Hargitay in March 1964.

Jamie McCarthy/Getty; Archive Photos/Getty

Although Jayne died when Mariska was very young, she felt a deep connection to her mother after having children of her own.

“I understand her in a new way that gives me peace,” said Mariska Good housekeeping 2010. “Being a mom was healing. Now I understand the love she had in her and that makes me feel closer.”

Mariska and her husband, actor Peter Hermann, have three children together – sons August and Andrew and daughter Amaya.

All about the three children of Mariska Hargitay and Peter Hermann

said Mariška The Red Book 2009 that when she suffered from a collapsed lung earlier that year, a familiar sense of loss set in.

“All those old fears about my mom and grandpa [who also died at an early age] came shooting up. Having a child changes everything,” she told the publication. “Suddenly you have so much to lose, so much to live for.”

On her motherhood journey, Mariska developed an even greater admiration for Jayne.

“My mother was this amazing, beautiful, glamorous sex symbol — but people didn’t know she played the violin and had an IQ of 160 and had five kids and loved dogs,” she told PEOPLE in 2019. “She was so ahead of her time. . She was an inspiration, she had an appetite for life and I think I share that with her.”

Mickey appeared on Law and Order: SVUs 100th episode

Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson, Mickey Hargitay as Michael in ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’ 2003.

Will Hart/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty

Law and order: SVUThe milestone 100th episode was made even more special by the guest appearance of Mariska’s father, Mickey.

In the opening scene of the 2003 episode “Control”, Mickey plays a grandfather who, along with his granddaughter, witnesses a bloody man fall down an escalator. After that, he gives a statement to detective Olivia Benson — played by his daughter Mariska.

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Source: HIS Education