Mariska Hargitay: Brother’s Jayne Mansfield Home Gift
A one-of-a-kind gift once owned by her late mother left Mariska Hargitay speechless and emotional after it was presented to the television star by her older brother.
The touching moment was captured on video in a scene that was not included in Hargitay’s HBO documentary about Jayne Mansfield, “My Mom Jayne,” but was released on Instagram by HBO on July 1.
Hargitay’s brother Zoltan Hargitay presented his sister with a pair of porcelain sinks, one with an original angel design in the basin and another with six hearts on it.
He told her the sinks belonged to Mansfield, who died at 34 in a car accident in 1967. Mariska Hargitay, who was just 3 years old at the time, was in the back seat with Zoltan Hargitay and their brother, Mickey Hargitay Jr., when it happened.
“These were Mom’s sinks in her bathroom,” Zoltan Hargitay says. “And I want you to have them. I get teary-eyed seeing like this, but these were her sinks.”
Mariska Hargitay’s jaw drops at seeing the gift.
“I can’t believe you have this,” she says.
The sinks appear to be ones that were once in Mansfield’s home on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles during her fame in the 1950s and early 1960s.
“When I saw these, I snatched them up really quick,” Zoltan Hargitay says. “It was amazing.”
Mariska Hargitay admires the angels in one of the sinks.
“And see how this is all original,” Zoltan Hargitay says. “So there’s only two sinks in the world. And one of them is bigger than the other one, so I’m thinking the bigger one was on the right.”
“Maybe it was Dad’s?” Mariska Hargitay says in reference to Mickey Hargitay.
The “Law & Order: SVU” star then appreciates the sink with hearts in the basin.
“Oh, my God, look at this,” she says. “I don’t even know what to say. Thank you.”
“This belongs to you … because she used this, and then you can have this and do the same,” Zoltan Hargitay tells her. “Isn’t that cool?”
“I don’t have words for that,” Mariska Hargitay replies. “I love this so much, Zolie.”
The two then share a high-five.
“Two hands on the sinks!” Mariska Hargitay jokes.
The sinks add to the list of heartwarming keepsakes from her mom that Mariska Hargitay now has in her possession. For her 60th birthday, she received Mansfield’s treasured grand piano in a scene at the end of “My Mom Jayne.”
Zoltan Hargitay had been pondering what to do with the sinks before deciding his sister should have them.
“I initially wanted to incorporate it, but mother, daughter, and everything that you’ve done here for us,” he says.
“So sweet,” she replies.
Mariska Hargitay now has the sinks in her home.
“I just redid this bathroom because my brother, when they were tearing down the pink house, he got the sinks,” she told the Los Angeles Times in an interview about the film. “He gave them to me. I just ripped out our whole bathroom and had them put in with that pink marble. I’m living with her now, with pink roses and her sinks and my pink quartz hearts. She’s with me now.”
The documentary details Mariska Hargitay’s journey toward learning more about her mother, examining her feelings about her mother’s fame and discovering that Mickey Hargitay was not her biological father. The film reveals that Italian singer Nelson Sardelli is her biological father, which she did not learn until she was 25 years old.
“You kind of made everything full circle,” Zoltan tells her. “Thank you so much.”