Mariska Hargitay on Uncovering The Real Story Behind Her Mother, Jayne Mansfield

The Run-Through with Vogue

Vogue

Fashion & Beauty, Arts

4.2 • 724 Ratings

🗓️ 1 July 2025

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Mariska Hargitay doesn’t just play a detective on Law and Order: SVU, she also investigates her own life in the new HBO Max documentary My Mom, Jayne. In the deeply personal deep dive, Mariska cracks open decades-old boxes (with a crowbar, no less) to uncover the untold story of her late mother, 1950s Hollywood icon Jayne Mansfield. On this episode of The Run-Through, hosts Chloe and Margaux Anbouba—Vogue’s senior beauty and wellness editor—sit down with Mariska in the pod studio to talk about grief, the emotional excavation process, and what she discovered about her own identity along the way.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is The Run Through. I'm Chloe Mel, and today I am joined by my colleague, Margo Ambuba. Do you want to introduce yourself, Madam?
0:13.2	Sure. Hi, everybody. I'm Margo. I'm Vogue's Senior Beauty and Wellness Editor. And today, we had the amazing pleasure of chatting with Mariska Hargitay, who you probably
0:24.1	know as Detective Olivia Benson from Law and Order SVU. She is also, in addition to being a mother
0:31.3	of three, an incredible philanthropist, and a wonderful woman. She is daughter of one of the most iconic women of 1950s Hollywood, Jane Mansfield.
0:41.5	And I didn't realize that Margo is a longtime Jane Mansfield fan.
0:46.3	Yes, she has been on my Pinterest board for as long as I've been Pinteresting.
0:50.7	I think that she has really incredible style.
0:53.4	I've always loved her in leopard print.
0:55.0	She has always had this beautiful, like, white, white, blonde hair.
0:59.2	And I love pinup style, like, with a twist, which she's always been doing.
1:03.9	And for those of you that did not read my story about the return of the bullet bra. She is one of my bullet bra icons.
1:11.5	She's a bullet bra icon.
1:12.7	It's true.
1:14.1	I'm really excited that Mariska made this film about her mother.
1:18.0	It's really beautiful.
1:19.0	I watched it.
1:20.4	Oh my God, Margot was slacking me throughout watching it.
1:23.2	I'm sobbing.
1:23.9	I'm sobbing.
1:24.5	It's really so beautiful.
1:26.3	It's called My Mom Jane. And I think that for those of you who know who Jane is, you probably have some preconceived notions about your idea of her. And I think you're going to learn a lot of surprising things about who she really was. And I think that Mariska learned a lot about who her mother was, which we get into
1:44.5	a lot in our conversation. It's really beautiful. I do love in a documentary when the filmmaker
	...

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