What is My Mom Jayne all about? Details explored as the Jayne Mansfield documentary releases on Max

My Mom Jayne is a documentary film about the life and career of the yesteryear's actress and s*x symbol, Jayne Mansfield. Her daughter, actress Mariska Hargitay, directed and co-produced the film alongside Trish Adlesic. It is executive produced by Nancy Abraham, Lauran Bromley, and Lisa Heller. The documentary film marks Hargitay's feature directorial debut.

The documentary premiered at the 78th Cannes Film Festival in the Cannes Classics section on May 17, 2025. It was released in limited theaters on June 20, 2025, and premiered on HBO and Max a week later on June 27.

The official synopsis of My Mom Jayne, as per HBO, reads:

"In her feature film directorial debut, Mariska Hargitay grapples with the public and private legacy of her mother, Jayne Mansfield, almost six decades after the Hollywood legend's tragic death. Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings Jayne left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of an extraordinary and complex woman."

It continues:

"A story of loss and longing, healing and transformation, My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay is a testament to the rewards of an unflinching search for truth."

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A look at the documentary My Mom Jayne

In My Mom Jayne, Mariska Hargitay delves deep into her late mother's legacy nearly sixty years after her death. Jayne Mansfield died at the age of 34 on June 29, 1967, in a tragic car accident that also involved Mariska and her two brothers. Mariska was 3 years old at the time of the accident and grew up without any memories of her mother.

Through the documentary, the now 61-year-old star reintroduces herself and viewers to the woman behind the public persona. In a statement to Variety on April 8, 2025, Hargitay called the documentary film "a labor of love."

"This movie is a labor of love and longing. It's a search for the mother I never knew, an integration of a part of myself I'd never owned, and a reclaiming of my mother's story and my own truth. I've always believed there is strength in vulnerability, and the process of making this film has confirmed that belief like never before," she said.

Jayne Mansfield started her career as a Playboy Playmate and gained mainstream popularity with her "blonde bombshell" image in the 1950s and 1960s. Furthermore, she proved her acting chops in the musical comedy The Girl Can't Help It, for which she earned a Golden Globe award for New Star of the Year in 1957.

The documentary showcases a different side of Jayne and explores her talents as a classically trained violinist and pianist. Contrary to her public image as a "dumb blonde," she was highly intellectual and fluent in languages like French, Italian, German, and Spanish in addition to English. In the film, Mariska also makes a startling revelation that her biological father is the Italian singer Nelson Sardelli, and not Mickey Hargitay.

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Who appears in the documentary film My Mom Jayne?

The cast of the documentary includes:

• Mariska Hargitay
• Tony Cimber
• Mickey Hargitay Jr.
• Ellen Hargitay
• Jayne Marie Mansfield
• Zoltan Hargitay
• Pietra Sardelli
• Nelson Sardelli
• Giovanna Sardelli
• Rusty Strait
• Jayne Mansfield (archive footage)
• Mickey Hargitay (archive footage)
• Sam Brody (archive footage)
• Merv Griffin (archive footage)
• Bob Hope (archive footage)
• Groucho Marx (archive footage)
• Edward R. Murrow (archive footage)
• Jack Paar (archive footage)
• Vera J. Palmer (archive footage)

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My Mom Jayne is available for streaming on HBO and HBO Max.