Mariska Hargitay Channels Mom Jayne Mansfield at Emmys 2025

"I stand firm in that," she added. "I feel very free, and I think about what an honor it is when people are authentic and vulnerable with me. We all have a story. We all have complicated families."

With Jayne dying in a car accident when Mariska was just 3 years old, she had only heard stories of her mom—both positive and negative.

"One of the things that I grew up hearing is how smart she was," she explained to NPR in July, "how determined she was, and what a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful sense of humor she had."

But with Jayne making her name as a Hollywood sex icon, Mariska found herself conflicted growing up. She admitted, "As I got older and started to see sort of this public image and the photos of her, it was all very confusing, because nothing lined up with what I had heard about her."

But over the years, and with the help of her film, she saw the real Jayne.

"Finding those private moments," she reflected, "those were my ways into her, into her soul. I would catch an expression that I never saw or just a private thought or a private moment, and I would be like, 'there you are.'"

For more stars at the 2025 Emmys red carpet, keep reading.