Mariska Hargitay showed off a photo of her famous mom, Jayne Mansfield, on Instagram. It’s clear from the picture that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree when it came to the mother-daughter duo’s good looks. Though Hargitay tragically lost her mother at a very young age, it’s moments like this that help her feel connected to the Hollywood bombshell.
The Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star shared a family photo of Mansfield to her Instagram page days ago. In the shot, Mansfield could be seen crouching by a few cats relaxing on a rug. The Girl Can’t Help It star was showing off her famous figure in a swimsuit, with her trademark blond locks swept back in a chic looking bun.
Hargitay lost her mother when she was only 3 years old. The “Face That Launched A Thousand Ships” died in a car accident in 1967. The 19-year-old driver, Ronald B. Harrison, and Mansfield’s lawyer and boyfriend, Samuel S. Brody, also lost their lives in the crash. Hargitay was in the car that day with her two older brothers, 8-year-old Mickey Jr. and 6-year-old Zoltan, who also survived the crash. The actress behind Olivia Benson revealed that she has no memory of the crash that took her mother’s life. Regardless, it’s still left a scar that Hargitay deals with to this day.
“The way I’ve lived with loss is to lean into it,” Mariska Hargitay told People in a 2018 interview. “As the saying goes, the only way out is through. In my life, certainly I’ve tried to avoid pain, loss, feeling things. But I’ve learned instead to really lean into it, because sooner or later you have to pay the piper.” One of the ways the actress honors her mother’s memory is by remembering the details that made Jayne Mansfield such a special woman.
“My mother was this amazing, beautiful, glamorous sex symbol — but people didn’t know that she played the violin and had a 160 IQ and had five kids and loved dogs,” Hargitay said. “She was just so ahead of her time. She was an inspiration, she had this appetite for life, and I think I share that with her.”
That’s not the only thing Hargitay had in common with her gorgeous mother. There’s definitely a physical resemblance as well. “Someone once said about [remembering] my mother: ‘All you have to do is look in the mirror,’ ” she added. “She’s with me still.”
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Mariska Hargitay has become a star in her own right, which often puts her in the crosshairs for unscrupulous tabloids. For instance, the National Enquirer claimed a year ago that Hargitay was leaving Law & Order: SVU to pursue a film career. Gossip Cop found that claim to be untrue. We reached out to Hargitay’s rep, who confirmed our hunch that this story was full of baloney.