“I think she’s made her own mark” — Mariska Hargitay praised by co-star Ice-T ahead of Jayne Mansfield documentary release

As My Mom Jayne prepares for release, Ice-T isn't hesitating to offer support for his longtime screen partner, Mariska Hargitay. The Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star had taken the reins on the project, as she has produced and directed the documentary that traced the legacy of her mother, Jayne Mansfield. The film pulls back the curtain on personal family details, including the identity of Mariska Hargitay's biological father.

Ice-T, who had shared the screen with Hargitay for more than two decades, spoke to Us Weekly about the film and his admiration for her work.

“I think she’s made her own mark,” he shared.

He added:

“I don’t think she wanted to make her mark as Jayne Mansfield’s daughter. She just wanted to [be her], and I respect that.”

He also mentioned hearing that she did “really well” with the documentary, a sentiment that reflected years of collaboration and mutual respect.

Mariska Hargitay honors late mother in a heartfelt documentary

Ice-T shared that he enjoyed seeing Mariska Hargitay take the spotlight at the Cannes Film Festival, where she promoted the upcoming documentary.

“I love Mariska when she glams up. And I also know by her mother being Jayne Mansfield, I think Mariska intensely always went against the grain, like, not glamming up,” Ice-T said.

He added:

“And I’m like, ‘You’re glamorous. Don’t fight it. Let it go. Let it go.’”

Mariska Hargitay, who has played Olivia Benson on Law & Order: SVU since its debut, has become one of NBC’s most recognizable stars. Ice-T, said he hopes she will

“embrace the whole thing.”

The documentary marks a personal milestone for Mariska Hargitay, who lost her mother, actress Jayne Mansfield, in a car accident in 1967. She was just three years old at the time and survived the crash alongside her siblings. She was raised by Mickey Hargitay, the Hungarian-born bodybuilder often believed to be her father. However Hargitay later learned her biological father was Nelson Sardelli, an Italian entertainer.

My Mom Jayne will include home videos and photos of Jayne Mansfield, offering a more intimate look at Mansfield’s life and legacy.

“This movie is a labor of love and longing. It’s a search for the mother I never knew, an integration of a part of myself I’d never owned, and a reclaiming of my mother’s story and my own truth,” Mariska Hargitay said.

She added:

“I’ve always believed there is strength in vulnerability, and the process of making this film has confirmed that belief like never before.”

Mariska Hargitay shares candid memories of loss, identity, and her iconic mother

In a conversation with Vanity Fair, Mariska Hargitay reflected on the tragedy that shaped her early childhood, the car crash that took her mother, Jayne Mansfield’s life.

“I don’t remember the accident. I don’t even remember being told that my mother had died, I look at photos, and I don’t really remember anything until I was five,” she said, recalling the haunting absence that defined those formative years.

Hargitay admitted that she grew up feeling alienated from her mother’s public persona. To the world, Jayne Mansfield was the blonde bombshell. To Hargitay, that image was a source of discomfort.

“It all started with the voice, when I would hear that fake voice, it used to just flip me out. I’d think, Why is she talking like that? That’s not real.” she recalled.

Her father, Mickey Hargitay, a former Mr. Universe and actor who took on the role of a single parent after the crash, tried to offer a more grounded picture of the late star. She recalled:

“My dad would always say, ‘She wasn’t like that at all. She was like you. She was funny and irreverent and fearless and real.’”

However, for a young Mariska, who was raised in a conservative Catholic environment, reconciling the tabloid figure with a more nuanced reality wasn’t easy.

“I just wanted my mom to be like the other moms! Like, Why are you always in a bathing suit? Why so much breast? I just wanted a maternal mother image,” she said.

There was even a time she felt shame about it all.

“I was embarrassed by the choices that she made,” Hargitay admitted.

My Mom Jayne has been Hargitay's way of processing the shame she felt growing up.