Mariska Hargitay reveals a shocking family secret that she is kept for more than 30 years

Mariska Hargitay opens with a family secret that she kept for over 30 years.

At the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday May 17 Law and order: SVU Actress, 61, revealed with the first of her documentary My mom Jayne That his biological father is not Mickey Hargitay, the man who raised him, but rather a former artist from Las Vegas named Nelson Sardelli.

As Mariska explains in the documentary – who marks her debut as a director of feature films – she first learned Sardelli at the age of 25. She confronted Mickey, the only father she ever knew, with the news, and after he insisted that he was her father, the two never talked about it.

But that has left Mariska many questions, wondering if she was Hungarian like her father and brothers, Zoltan and Mickey Jr., or if she was really Italian like Sardelli.

The actress higher on her father’s revelation in an interview with Vanity. She said at the point of sale that she had gone to see Sardelli perform at Atlantic City, NJ, when she was 30 years old, and described her emotional reaction when she presented herself.

Improved in tears, he said, “I have been waiting for 30 years for that time.”

But Mariska said that she found herself to give him trouble and “go to him” full Olivia Benson “, referring to her Svious character.

“I said to myself,” I don’t want anything, I don’t need anything about you.

She said Vanity That after the important meeting with Sardelli, she struck “knowing that I live a lie all my life”.

Sardelli, who is still alive and now at the end of the 80s, participates in the documentary, just like her two other daughters – the half -sisters of Mariska.

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In the film, Mariska explains that at 61, keeping this a secret was no longer necessary.

Mariska also has a older sister, Jayne Marie Mansfield, of her mother’s first marriage, as well as a younger brother, Tony Cimber, of her mother’s third marriage, both also appearing in My mom Jayne.

When Hargitay was only three years old, she, with her two older brothers, survived the car who killed Mansfield, then 34 years old in 1967.

The actress said Vanity That once she finally built a link with Sardelli and her daughters, she understood better than her mother returned to Mickey because she knew he would like and offer a stable family life to Mariska.

“I grew up where I was supposed to do it, and I know that everyone has made the best choice for me,” she said. “I am the daughter of Mickey Hargitay – that is not a lie.

“This documentary is in a way a love letter, because there is no one I got closer to this planet,” she noted.

Mariska said Vanity That she and her Sardelli sisters gathered for a private screening of the documentary in Las Vegas, and recalled how they were overwhelmed by emotion.

“They just cried and cried and cried,” she said. “These two women that I love so much – I gave them secrets!” It’s so heartbreaking for me. ”

For Mariska, sharing her story with the world in the documentary was a way to “discharge us all”.

After the first screening of the film in Cannes on Saturday, the public made a standing ovation of five minutes. Mariska was joined during the event by her husband, Peter Hermann, and their three children.