For a few weeks, we have been hearing Mariska Hargitay talk about the documentary she made about her mom, Jayne Mansfield. I don’t know about you, but I have been really wanting to see My Mom Jayne, and wondered how I would be able to watch it. Today, HBO Max announced that they will start streaming it on June 27th.
The gorgeous ’60s sex symbol died in 1967 in a tragic car accident. Mariska, then 3, was in the backseat of the car. Thankfully, she doesn’t remember that night. But sadly, she also doesn’t remember her mother when she was alive. So, she was on a quest to learn more about her mother. And in the process, she learned a lot about herself.
As the actress explores the complexities behind who Jayne Mansfield was in public, she reckons with the persona that Jayne created, but was later desperate to escape. Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings, who each has their own memories of their mother, and an excavation of the photographs, letters, and cherished belongings Jayne left behind, Mariska assembles a new picture of the extraordinary, complex woman whose image and legacy she resisted for so many years. With courage and vulnerability, Mariska engages in the process of opening herself to a new, hard-won collection of memories—and a deeper level of truth.
I will be watching her truth, and it sounds like I will be shedding a tear. Will you be watching?
