My.Mom.Jayne.A.Film.by.Mariska.Hargitay.2025.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH.en Subtitles

00:00:13,972 --> 00:00:17,About an hour ago, a big crowd
walked in our stage door,

00:00:17,976 --> 00:00:19,and it was Jayne Mansfield.

00:00:21,021 --> 00:00:24,Here she is,
the lovely Jayne Mansfield.

00:01:39,933 --> 00:01:42,I feel like Mother Goose
I have so many children.

00:01:42,727 --> 00:01:44,What are their names? Who's that?

00:01:44,354 --> 00:01:45,This is Miklós.

00:01:45,563 --> 00:01:46,Hi, Miklós.

00:01:47,023 --> 00:01:50,- Maria...
- Pardon? Who are you?

00:01:54,447 --> 00:01:55,This little fella, what's his name?

00:01:55,865 --> 00:01:56,What is your name?

00:01:57,033 --> 00:01:58,- Zolie!
- What?

00:01:59,869 --> 00:02:01,Get your own show, kid, will ya?

00:02:05,041 --> 00:02:06,What's your name, darling?

00:02:10,922 --> 00:02:12,Maria.

00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:20,I feel that if you bear children,

00:02:21,015 --> 00:02:23,your first obligation
is to your children,

00:02:23,768 --> 00:02:27,whether you're a movie star
or whether you wash dishes.

00:02:28,231 --> 00:02:30,If anything ever happens
to my career,

00:02:30,567 --> 00:02:31,if I'm in an auto accident,

00:02:32,026 --> 00:02:34,if my face is scarred,
if I lose my legs...

00:02:34,904 --> 00:02:37,if any terrible mishap happens,

00:02:38,283 --> 00:02:40,my children will always be cared for.

00:03:24,579 --> 00:03:26,I was three years old
when my mom died.

00:03:28,917 --> 00:03:31,And I don't really have
any memories of her.

00:03:34,839 --> 00:03:38,I can remember one time
eating a bowl of cereal...

00:03:39,886 --> 00:03:42,and I remember her touching my hair.

00:03:45,892 --> 00:03:48,But I don't know
if that's a real memory

00:03:48,937 --> 00:03:52,or something that I made up
because I wished it happened.

00:03:56,319 --> 00:03:57,After she passed away,

00:03:58,571 --> 00:04:01,a moment that's always
stayed with me is when

00:04:01,241 --> 00:04:02,I found my baby book.

00:04:05,161 --> 00:04:06,All of my siblings had one,

00:04:08,665 --> 00:04:11,but when I looked through mine

00:04:11,668 --> 00:04:13,it was practically empty.

00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:19,So on top of having no memories,

00:04:20,134 --> 00:04:24,I think it just gave me
a sense of more loss.

00:04:26,474 --> 00:04:28,It was like this little hole
in my heart.

00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:38,As I g***t older,
my dad would say to me,

00:04:38,695 --> 00:04:40,"Don't read the books
about your mother.

00:04:40,530 --> 00:04:41,Don't read the books.

00:04:41,864 --> 00:04:43,You don't need to read those books."

00:04:44,742 --> 00:04:46,He said that they were full of lies,

00:04:46,452 --> 00:04:48,full of sensational bullshit.

00:04:49,455 --> 00:04:51,Things that he didn't want me
to have to deal with.

00:04:53,167 --> 00:04:56,So I did everything he said
and I never read the books.

00:05:00,008 --> 00:05:03,At a certain point, I began
to carry a lot of shame

00:05:03,469 --> 00:05:06,about her image as a s***x symbol

00:05:07,015 --> 00:05:09,and all the choices
that came with that.

00:05:11,185 --> 00:05:13,So I pushed the idea of my mom

00:05:13,271 --> 00:05:15,further and further away
from my life.

00:05:17,859 --> 00:05:21,But as my career grew,
I started getting fan mail

00:05:21,612 --> 00:05:24,from people who knew
I was Jayne Mansfield's daughter.

00:05:26,326 --> 00:05:28,Maybe they knew her
or they had an interaction

00:05:28,911 --> 00:05:30,or they had a photo.

00:05:30,246 --> 00:05:33,And... it was just a lot.

00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:36,"Dear Ms. Hargitay, I have a program

00:05:36,419 --> 00:05:38,from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

00:05:38,588 --> 00:05:40,in which your mother starred."

00:05:40,131 --> 00:05:42,"Dear Mariska, I was a close
friend of your mom and dad."

00:05:42,300 --> 00:05:45,"Hello, Mariska.
Jayne lived next door

00:05:45,261 --> 00:05:48,and would practice
her violin every afternoon."

00:05:48,973 --> 00:05:50,"Dear Ms. Hargitay,

00:05:50,308 --> 00:05:52,you should have
this memorabilia of your mom.

00:05:52,852 --> 00:05:56,They include your birth announcement
and other stuff."

00:05:59,984 --> 00:06:01,I kept everything
that was sent to me,

00:06:03,321 --> 00:06:06,and I think
that was sort of the beginning.

00:06:09,660 --> 00:06:13,My mom became someone that I thought
more and more about.

00:06:14,207 --> 00:06:17,During the pandemic,
I even threw her a birthday party.

00:06:17,919 --> 00:06:24,Happy birthday, dear Jayne

00:06:24,801 --> 00:06:26,Not a lot of people
throw birthday parties

00:06:26,761 --> 00:06:28,for their dead mothers,

00:06:29,347 --> 00:06:32,but there was a sort of magic to it.

00:06:35,144 --> 00:06:37,It was around that time
that I began to feel like

00:06:37,939 --> 00:06:40,I actually wanted to get to know her.

00:06:41,943 --> 00:06:44,Not as the s***x symbol
Jayne Mansfield,

00:06:45,279 --> 00:06:47,but just as Jayne,

00:06:48,533 --> 00:06:50,my mom Jayne.

00:06:52,829 --> 00:06:58,My dad, who was my rock,
died in 2006.

00:06:59,627 --> 00:07:03,And there were so many questions
that I never asked him.

00:07:05,174 --> 00:07:08,I've also never really talked
to my siblings much

00:07:08,261 --> 00:07:10,about their experiences.

00:07:12,306 --> 00:07:15,But I want to understand her now.

00:07:17,103 --> 00:07:19,Because it's a part of my life,

00:07:19,939 --> 00:07:21,and a part of me,

00:07:22,233 --> 00:07:24,that's always felt locked away.

00:07:53,806 --> 00:07:55,Sorry, let me
bring this in for a sec.

00:07:55,641 --> 00:07:58,I like the wood on top of that.
It's nice.

00:07:58,186 --> 00:07:59,- Custom.
- Yeah.

00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:03,Ready?

00:08:04,775 --> 00:08:06,So we'll go over here. Careful.

00:08:06,402 --> 00:08:07,Okay.

00:08:12,950 --> 00:08:14,Let's kiss like Danmama. Remember?

00:08:15,870 --> 00:08:17,That's how my grandmother
used to kiss.

00:08:24,253 --> 00:08:25,Ready?

00:08:28,633 --> 00:08:29,Okay.

00:08:30,176 --> 00:08:31,Are we good?

00:08:31,802 --> 00:08:32,I mean...

00:08:33,721 --> 00:08:36,- As good as we're gonna be.
- Good as we...

00:08:36,599 --> 00:08:39,I don't know how the hell you
g***t me to do this!

00:08:42,063 --> 00:08:44,Trying to make you a...
Trying to make you a big star

00:08:44,732 --> 00:08:46,with those baby blues.

00:08:46,234 --> 00:08:48,That's not gonna happen.

00:08:49,820 --> 00:08:51,So.

00:08:52,698 --> 00:08:54,- Here we are.
- You ready?

00:08:54,242 --> 00:08:56,Yes, we are.

00:08:56,202 --> 00:08:57,We're here.

00:08:57,828 --> 00:09:01,I've been waiting
for this day for a long time.

00:09:02,291 --> 00:09:04,And first of all,

00:09:04,794 --> 00:09:07,I just wanna say
thank you for doing this,

00:09:07,505 --> 00:09:10,and I feel like I'm nervous now

00:09:10,132 --> 00:09:12,because I know that you're not a fan

00:09:12,510 --> 00:09:15,of, you know,
talking about this stuff.

00:09:15,429 --> 00:09:17,So, we'll see where it goes
and see how we feel,

00:09:17,890 --> 00:09:20,and if you don't want to talk
about anything, don't.

00:09:20,184 --> 00:09:22,Thank you, Marish.
Thank you for asking me.

00:09:22,395 --> 00:09:26,It's an honor, definitely,
and anything you ask,

00:09:26,148 --> 00:09:28,you know I'm there for you.

00:09:28,150 --> 00:09:29,Thank you.

00:09:30,319 --> 00:09:34,I first want to talk about
our childhood a little bit.

00:09:35,032 --> 00:09:38,Because you have all these memories,
and I'm envious of that.

00:09:38,911 --> 00:09:40,I don't have memories.

00:09:55,011 --> 00:09:56,Well, you... your...

00:10:06,230 --> 00:10:07,Can you cut for a minute?

00:10:18,159 --> 00:10:19,I guess,

00:10:19,785 --> 00:10:22,rather than have, like, memories,

00:10:23,414 --> 00:10:27,it feels more like
I remember an essence.

00:10:28,711 --> 00:10:32,Like a nuance of the person,
if that makes sense.

00:10:35,426 --> 00:10:37,I remember her presence...

00:10:39,722 --> 00:10:43,and I remember some
of the feelings of that time.

00:10:47,980 --> 00:10:50,I have to kind of dig deep
to find them.

00:10:51,067 --> 00:10:56,But the general feeling
was good in those early days.

00:11:11,128 --> 00:11:13,Back then, we were living in Texas,

00:11:16,425 --> 00:11:18,and it was just me and her.

00:11:20,971 --> 00:11:22,I mean, I can just picture her,

00:11:24,183 --> 00:11:25,'cause she was so young.

00:11:27,436 --> 00:11:30,My father,...