Mariska Hargitay reflected on her mother Jayne Mansfield’s death while attending the Hope for Depression Research Foundation’s 18th Annual HOPE Luncheon Seminar.
“I lost my mother when I was 3 years old, and I grew up in a house of people dealing with the tragedy in their own way,” Hargitay said on Tuesday, according to Us Weekly.
“Because there was so much grief, there wasn’t room to prioritize anyone. We didn’t have the tools that we have now to metabolize and understand trauma.”
Hargitay’s mother, a Playboy Playmate and actress, died in a car crash at age 34 in 1967. The “Law & Order: SVU” star and two of her siblings were in the vehicle at the time of the accident.
While accepting the 2024 Hope Award for Depression Advocacy, the “Lake Placid” actress admitted it wasn’t until “much later in life” that she learned about the tools she needed to address her past traumas.
“I also suffered sexual trauma in my 30s, it wasn’t until much later that I found the language to acknowledge it for what it was,” Hargitay, 60, said.
She revealed that founding the Joyful Heart Foundation two decades ago was “part of my response to my own experience.”
Hargitay went on to express her gratitude for her therapists who have helped her throughout her healing journey.
“I built a whole foundation that responded to trauma and survivors the way that I wanted to be responded to,” she continued in her speech.
“I had the good fortune to find extraordinary therapists who introduced me to many different healing modalities.”
The mother of three explained that complex trauma is something “so many of us carry.” But she assured others who might be struggling that “there is hope.”
In 2018, Hargitay revealed how she manages to “live with loss” during an interview with People.
“The way I’ve lived with loss is to lean into it,” she said at the time. “As the saying goes, the only way out is through. In my life, certainly I’ve tried to avoid pain, loss, feeling things. But I’ve learned instead to really lean into it, because sooner or later you have to pay the piper.”
The “ER” alum said that her experience with grief “hasn’t been easy” but that “on the other side things can be so bright.”
Mansfield’s daughter then described her as an “amazing, beautiful, glamorous sex symbol.”
“She was just so ahead of her time. She was an inspiration, she had this appetite for life, and I think I share that with her,” Hargitay said.
Mansfield welcomed five children before her death in 1967, including Jayne Marie Mansfield, Miklós “Mickey” Hargitay, Jr., Zoltán Hargitay, Mariska and Antonio “Tony” Cimber.
