This Girl Lost Her Mom at 3 Then Became a Famous Actress with a ‘Perfect’ Family

The little girl in the cover image grew up to become a successful and famous actress in Hollywood. She was born to two legendary Tinseltown entertainers on January 23, 1964, in Santa Monica, California.

Though she garnered TV roles here and there, they were often short-lived and somewhat forgettable. It was when she landed a recurring role on the hit show “ER” that her career was boosted. This ended up scoring her an even bigger role on the fan-favorite franchise “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”

The brunette beauty took charge as Detective Olivia Benson. In this role, she demonstrated her acting skills by portraying a distinctive character on the show. She played a lovable, empathetic, passionate, and warm investigator handling cases of domestic violence, child victimization, and sex offenses.

She even performed her own stunts and, as a result of her hard work, drive, and determination became the highest-paid actress on television at some point.

This actress, who is also multilingual (in addition to English, she can speak Hungarian, Spanish, French, and Italian), is Hollywood star Mariska Hargitay, 59.

Before becoming a Hollywood star, the social activist and actress was a little girl who had to learn to harness the power of grit and resourcefulness through tragedy. One of the most significant traumatic impacts that changed the course of her life was when she lost her iconic mom, Jayne Mansfield, at just three years old.

According to news reports, Jayne lost her life on June 29, 1967, due to an unfortunate car accident. Reports state that the car in which “The Girl Can’t Help It” star was traveling on the morning she died collided with the back of a trailer truck, resulting in her instant death.

Reportedly, Mariska and her siblings had been in the car with their late mom when the accident happened. A source claims that the family had been in transit to New Orleans, Louisiana, for a morning interview that Jayne was scheduled to appear on.

Luckily, Mariska and her siblings survived the fatal car crash, although they sustained injuries. Naturally, having lost such an instrumental figure in her life so young, Mariska was left devastated. She reflected on the loss of her mom in an interview, “Losing my mother at such an early age is the scar of my soul.”

As a result of their devastating loss, little Mariska and her brothers went to live with their dad, famous actor, businessman, and former bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay, who did his best to provide them with a relatively normal childhood. Mariska even participated in sports and competitions.

Mickey was already divorced from Jayne and married to his third wife, Ellen Siano Hargitay, when Jayne passed away, so Ellen became Mariska and her siblings’ stepmom.

Mariska went on to say how invaluable having a supportive and loving maternal figure was in her life after having experienced such a great tragedy. Sadly, the star also suffered another significant loss when her beloved dad passed in 2006 at the age of 80.

Given all she’s gone through, one might expect Mariska to succumb to all the adversity she has dealt with. However, far from giving in to the darkness, Mariska has persevered and endured despite the extensive grief. She shared, “…we keep going. And then we transform it. That’s been kind of my superpower, and the gift of having trauma early in life…”

Though she combats her trauma and has learned to face her challenges head-on, Mariska admitted that she is still navigating the emotional aspect of what she’s been through. Even as an adult, she revealed that her life has been about peeling back the trauma veil and learning to trust again.

With a marriage that spans almost two decades, when it comes to how the duo has made their relationship last this long, Peter said that no matter what they go through, he and Mariska have always found their way back to each other. He also mentioned that they never stray from their common goal as a couple and keep clear sight of where they’re headed on their journey together.

That journey includes their three children, August Miklos, Amaya Josephine, and Andrew Nicolas. Amaya and her little brother Andrew were adopted by Mariska and Peter within six months of each other in 2011, while the couple’s eldest son, August, was born in 2006.

Having come from a blended family herself, Mariska knows more than most about the beauty that lies in the fact that families come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes. Speaking about her family, she gushed, “Our family is so perfect, or at least perfect for me. Together we’re just this whole, happy, joyful, chaotic, crazy unit. I’ve never known anything that was more right.”

In another interview, Mariska also expressed how becoming a mother was instrumental to abolishing the negative emotions she carried from her childhood and her healing process. Together with her loving husband and kids, she has been able to forge her perfect family.