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Mariska Hargitay revealed that she spent Father’s Day with her biological father, Nelson Sardelli.
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The actress, who was raised by her mother’s husband, said that Sardelli apologized to her during their time together.
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Hargitay announced her father’s true identity earlier this year, ahead of her documentary My Mom Jayne.
Mariska Hargitay is discussing her relationship with her biological father
The Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star reflected on her complicated family dynamic during a Q&A following a screening of her documentary, My Mom Jayne, which revealed that her biological dad is not Mickey Hargitay but instead Nelson Sardelli, the ex-lover of her mother, Jayne Mansfield.
During her appearance at HamptonsFilm’s SummerDocs series in East Hampton, N.Y., on Thursday, Hargitay revealed that she spent Father’s Day with Sardelli this year. “It was so magical,” she said (via PEOPLE). “He apologized and he said, ‘Thank you for forgiving me.’ And I said, ‘Thank you for making the choice that you made.'”
She continued, “So it’s like everyone was right in the end, but I grew up not knowing that.”
Hargitay knew her true parenthood with certainty by the time she was 30, but did not discuss the matter publicly out of respect for Mickey Hargitay, who raised her. She eventually decided to share the truth in her documentary, which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
“It’s a matter of sitting with it for so long and acquiring some wisdom and loosening my grip on thinking that it had to be this secret,” Hargitay told Entertainment Weekly. “I realized that the truth is ultimately what sets us free, and I had kept my goal to be loyal to my father long enough.”
Hargitay said that making the documentary offered new insights into the nuances and complex emotions of her family history. “It became this living, breathing story, and I wanted to understand each person and the choices that they made because I didn’t have the whole picture,” she explained. “When I learned the whole story from more of a bird’s eye view, I said, ‘It’s such a beautiful family story.'”
The actress also told EW that she was “so scared and so angry” that her father’s true identity would become public over a decade ago. “I was so fearful to have to confront it before I was ready to,” she said. “Thank God it never went anywhere. It’s been a real gift to me to be able to tell it in my time when I was ready.”
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At the Q&A, Hargitay further reflected on her decision to discuss her true parentage in the doc. “So many people carry things that they don’t need to,” she said. “I think the only way out is through.”
The process of making the film offered Hargitay new perspectives on her parents. “Once I understood why, there was magic on the other side, and there was love on the other side,” she said. “I spent my life feeling unworthy, not wanted, not claimed, not good enough, abandoned. And then I realized, ‘Oh, no, sweetie, you were chosen six ways from Sunday.'”
My Mom Jayne is now streaming on HBO Max.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
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