Real-Life Love
Mariska Hargitay’s Husband Peter Hermann Shocks Her With Sentimental Gift in ‘My Mom Jayne’
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star Mariska Hargitay went on an emotional journey to learn more about her mother, Jayne Mansfield, in the new documentary My Mom Jayne, which she also directed. Hargitay was only 3 years old when her mother was killed in a car accident in Louisiana.
The actress admitted she does not have any real memories of her mother, so her siblings have helped fill in the blanks about their mother’s life. When Mansfield was married to Mickey Hargitay, they lived in a lavish mansion in Los Angeles. Mansfield was a talented piano player and had a grand piano in the house that featured murals of cupids designed by Glenn Holse.
Singer Engelbert Humperdinck bought Mansfield’s home 10 years after she died and sold the house in 2002. He notably kept the grand piano, and Hargitay said in the documentary that she’d been “hoping for years that he’d be willing to part with it.”
At the end of My Mom Jayne, Hargitay was reunited with her mom’s beloved Steinway & Sons grand piano, thanks to her husband, Peter Hermann. “Do we own it?” an emotional Hargitay asked Hermann. He replied, “Yeah. Happy birthday.” Hargitay turned 60 in January.
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Hargitay burst into tears and hugged her husband. Their children, August, Amaya, and Andrew, then joined the family group hug. “I can’t believe you did this,” Hargitay whispered to her husband. The grand piano was safely brought back to Hargitay and Hermann’s home in New York City.
In the credits of the documentary, Hargitay gave a sweet shoutout to her beloved husband. She wrote that she had “love and gratitude beyond measure” for Hermann. The couple met on the set of Law & Order: SVU and have been married since 2004.
As Hargitay mined through her mother’s life for the documentary, she also revealed that Nelson Sardelli, not Mickey Hargitay, was her biological father. She finally met Sardelli when she was 30 years old and has kept her true paternity a secret until now.
The Emmy winner reflected about the highs and lows of her life in her recent Call Her Daddy sit down. She said she feels “peaceful and present” in a way she’s never felt before. “Now I feel steady and grateful and loved,” Mariska continued. “I think my family is my biggest place of success in my life. It’s everything that I wanted. My husband is everything that I wanted.”
My Mom Jayne, Streaming Now, HBO Max
