"Deeply painful on every level": Mariska Hargitay reflects on life-changing motorcycle crash and its link to her mother’s death

Mariska Hargitay is connecting the dots between a life-altering accident and the legacy of her late mother, Hollywood icon Jayne Mansfield.

In a recent interview with The Shift, the Law & Order: SVU star spoke candidly about a serious motorcycle accident she experienced at age 34, the very same age her mother was when she died in a fatal car crash in 1967.

"I was involved in a serious motorcycle accident when I was 34. [That] is how old my mother was when she died. The experience was deeply painful on every level.”

Mariska Hargitay was only three years old when the crash that claimed Jayne Mansfield’s life also made headlines. She had been in the vehicle with her two brothers, Zoltan and Mickey Jr. All three children survived.

But the motorcycle accident decades later would become a powerful turning point. For Mariska Hargitay, it marked an emotional and existential shift.

“It was like I’d crossed a threshold. My trajectory was my own, my story was my own, without a predetermined ending. Within a year, I got the role of Olivia Benson on SVU.”

Now synonymous with that role, the Lake Placid actress said the moment marked more than just a career break.

“I can’t help but make a connection between that moment of liberation after the accident from what I feared was my fate and then stepping into this role that has become such a profound part of my life. It’s like I stepped out of a narrative that wasn’t mine and into my own story."

“I feel so peaceful and present in a new way”: Mariska Hargitay says she’s finally at peace after years of anxiety

Outside the world of primetime crime dramas, Mariska Hargitay has also found personal healing in her family life.

On an episode of Call Her Daddy last month, she opened up about how her husband, Peter Hermann and their three children helped her find emotional peace after years of anxiety.

"I feel so peaceful and present in a new way. I haven't always. I used to have a lot of anxiety. I'd be scared, and I'm just not anymore."

She added:

"I think I had a lot of catastrophic thinking and was waiting for the shoe to drop, which is understandable, losing my mother."

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The Plain Truth star also talked about the importance of humor in her family during her tell-all with The Shift. She told the outlet:

“Our family would be lost without laughter. I mean that in the deepest sense. It has always been a realm of safety for me, and that has become true for all of us. Laughter is a shared language, it’s a connection at a deep and vitally important level.”

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