Mariska Hargitay’s Tribute to Mom Jayne Mansfield After Paternity Scandal

Mariska Hargitay channeled her late mother Jayne Mansfield while appearing on the The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Monday night.

For the television spot, the 61-year-old Law & Order: SVU star wore a black pantsuit with beaded accents throughout.

Her mother, who died in a car accident in 1967 at age 34, wore a form-fitting black dress with the same design during a glamorous moment at the Cannes Film Festival in 1958.

Hargitay, who premiered her documentary My Mom Jayne at Tribeca Festival last week, layered a black camisole under her jacket and added pointy-toe black heels.

She described her ensemble as ‘a little homage’ to her movie star mom. 

‘I think the reason I made this movie now is because I was ready to make it now,’ she said of her decision to produce the documentary 58 years after her mom’s tragic death. 

Mariska Hargitay channeled her late mother Jayne Mansfield while appearing on the The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Monday night

For the television spot, the 61-year-old Law & Order: SVU star wore a black pantsuit with beaded accents throughout

The Emmy-winning actress added, ‘In a way I feel like I’ve been preparing my entire life to make it.’

She went on to say that she discovered boxes of fan letters pertaining to her mom during the covid-19 pandemic.

‘I had the time to sit with each letter and people had sent me things that were truly a gift,’ Hargitay said finding the trove of personal stories and playbills.

‘So, I said, “I think I wanna dig in here,”‘ she added about feeling inspired to create the film.

Mariska had previously spoke of her mom during her own appearance at the Cannes Film Festival this year, telling Deadline: ‘The photos of her, in Cannes in particular, were always so meaningful to me because of how free and happy and in love she was with my father.’

She said the striking black and white images ‘seared this emotional place’ in her mind.

‘To be here, to bring her back here, and to tell her story was quite meaningful,’ she reflected.

Hargitay layered a black camisole under her jacket and added pointy-toe black heels. Her mother, who died in a car accident in 1967, wore a form-fitting black dress with the same design during a glamorous moment at the Cannes Film Festival in 1958

Jayne pictured holding a six-week-old Mariska in 1964

In her new movie, she dropped a bombshell revelation — that her biological father is former Las Vegas entertainer Nelson Sardelli and not Hargitay, the man who raised her.

The documentary reveals Mariska’s siblings’ account of being pulled out of the wreck that killed their mom and taken to safety, only to realize later that Mariska had been left behind by mistake. 

She was later found wedged under a seat with a head injury, at just three-years-old.

According to People, Mariska’s older brother Zoltan told her that Jayne had initially been in the backseat of the car but moved up front with her boyfriend Sam Brody during an argument. 

The children remained asleep in the back of the Buick Electra, where they survived the crash that killed Jayne, Sam and driver Ronald Harrison.

My Mom Jayne premieres on HBO Max on June 27.