How long were Jayne Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay married? Daughter Mariska Hargitay reveals actor was not real father

Jayne Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay were a well-known Hollywood couple during the 1950s and 1960s. They were renowned for their glitzy lifestyle and intense relationship. The couple tied the knot in 1958 and were married till 1964.

Decades later, their daughter, actress Mariska Hargitay, has made a startling discovery. In a new documentary, My Mom Jayne, other than unveiling an unseen side of her mother, Mariska reveals that Mickey Hargitay was not her real father, something she concealed for more than three decades, according to Vanity Fair.

In 1956, Hungarian-born bodybuilder and actor Mickey Hargitay met Jayne Mansfield, a blonde actress and s*x icon of the 1950s. After being married on January 13, 1958, the couple became a mainstay of celebrity tabloids. They have three kids together: Miklós, Zoltan and Mariska. They also frequently starred together in movies and advertisements.

Their home in Beverly Hills, which came to be known as the Pink Palace, was extravagant as it was quirky, per Architectural Digest, reports People. The public's obsession with the couple's relationship was fueled by their co-starring roles in films like The Loves of Hercules (1960).

In 1963, Hargitay filed for divorce, which was granted in 1964. Hargitay later married Ellen Siano, and Mansfield married director Matt Cimber.

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Mariska Hargitay’s shocking revelation about Mickey Hargitay

According to a recent article published by Vanity Fair, Mariska revealed that Mickey Hargitay was not her real father, and her father is really Nelson Sardelli, a singer and former Las Vegas performer of Italian descent who was born in Brazil.

"I’m living a lie my entire life," she said, per the outlet. She added: “There was something about loyalty. I wanted to be loyal to Mickey.”

Mariska said she realised the truth at the age of 25, which is about 36 years ago. It was a complicated emotional awakening. She did not go public till now out of love and respect for the man who reared her. Talking about this, she said:

“It was like the floor fell out from underneath me. Like my infrastructure dissolved.”

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Her meeting with Nelson Sardelli

Mariska finally got to meet her biological father, Nelson Sardelli, at the age of 30. Recalling her meeting with him, she said in an interview with Vanity Fair:

“I’ve been waiting 30 years for this moment. It wasn’t a fairy-tale scene for Hargitay, though. I went full Olivia Benson on him.”

About what she told Sardelli at the time, she recalled:

“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.”

Marisa kept quiet about the fact despite communicating with her biological father, since Mickey had asked her to never bring up the subject again. Soon, however, the burden of silence became too much to bear.

Mariska makes it apparent that Mickey Hargitay was her father in every sense, even if he was not her biological father. She firmly stated in the same interview with Vanity Fair:

“I’m Mickey Hargitay’s daughter — that is not a lie. He was my superhero.”

She continued:

“This documentary is kind of a love letter to him, because there’s no one that I was closer to on this planet. They are my kids. Now I understand so much, and, boy, is it sweet.”

According to Page Six, she remembers the difficulties of growing up in the shadow of sorrow, having lost her mother, Jayne, in a terrible automobile accident when she was just three years old in 1967. She attributes her emotional stability to Mickey Hargitay, she revealed this in an interview during a Sunday Sitdown with TODAY’s Willie Geist.

She remarked:

“I was sort of raised with the motto of, ‘We don’t quit in this family.’”

She shared an anecdote as well:

“He would say to me, ‘It takes this much more to win in the swim meet,’ which was, you know, super challenging for me. High school sports and my father’s training taught me how to get back on the horse and have the stamina to do SVU.”

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