Mariska Hargitay attempts to come to terms with her late mother, Jayne Mansfield, in โMy Mom Jayne,โ the new HBO Original documentary she directed and produced featuring interviews with relatives about the iconic bombshell. Hargitay, though, says sheโs had her own, more recent, interaction with her mother.
โI didnโt put this in the movie, and my editor wanted to kill me because I told him too late โ you never know when memories come,โ she told the Los Angeles Times. โI had this beautiful dream. I never dreamt about her, except one time.
โI was still living in my house that my dad built for me on Warbler Way. I dreamt that she came to my house, and I was like, โWhat? Hi!โ I said, โIโm so happy youโre here. I canโt believe I get to meet you.โโ
The โLaw & Order: SVUโ star said she had a request for her mother in the dream.
โThen I said, โListen, I need you to come downstairs so you can see (the photos),โ because I had a whole wall of photos of her in my house,โ she said. โBut she never came downstairs.
โAnd I just remember going, โPlease, I really want to show you.โ Sheโs like, โI canโt, I have to go.โ I just remember how happy I was that she came over and then I got to meet her. But itโs also very telling that she didnโt come downstairs. Maybe Iโll start to dream about her again. I hope.โ
Mansfield died in a car accident at the age of 34 in 1967. Hargitay, who was born in 1964, was 25 when she discovered her biological father is Italian singer Nelson Sardelli, and not Hungarian bodybuilder, actor and one-time Mr. Universe Mickey Hargitay.
โMy Mom Jayneโ attempts to pull back the curtain on just who Mansfield was.
โI would say she was a kind, compassionate, funny, empathetic, ambitious woman,โ Hargitay told TODAY.com.
โI just think she was extraordinary,โ she said, while noting her mother was โahead of her time.โ
Hargitay also said she needed to understand just who her mother was, beyond the sex symbol image she was known for by the public.
โI think I was angry that I didnโt know the person behind the pose, if you will,โ she said June 26 on TODAY.
โWe want our moms to be normal. I wanted my mom to be June Cleaver,โ she added. โI wanted just a regular mom that baked cookies and put notes in my lunch bag, and instead I had this mom that walked around in a bikini and heels. And what is that? And why are you talking like that?โ
