Mariska Hargitay "changed" her "nervous system" by re-examining the death of her mother Jayne Mansfield.

The Law and Order: Special Victims Unit star, 62, looked back on the loss of the actress in her 2025 documentary, My Mom, Jayne in which Mariska also reflected on her own trauma stemming from the car crash which killed her mother in 1967 as well as solving the mystery of her real father. Mariska - who was in the car with her mom when she died - has now insisted she's a changed woman after completing the project.

She told PEOPLE: "After all the longing that I had or all the sadness or regret, I feel like my mom is with me now. I was trapped in a car, and I had a lot of PTSD and a nervous system that was pretty wound up and scared, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"The only way to heal is to be in a community and in the present and not live in the past, and making my film was cathartic. It gave me a lot of internal space back. I think it changed my nervous system and I did feel so relieved and so free."

Mariska has taken a huge career leap this year by making her Broadway debut in Every Brilliant Thing, taking over from previous lead Daniel Radcliffe in the one-person production, and she has revealed she wouldn't have the courage to tackle the play without closing the door on her painful past.

She told the publication: It felt like a natural progression ... I don't think the timing is an accident. It's sort of extraordinary that my mom started on Broadway when she was 22 and that I've never done a play.

"I mean, I started in high school doing plays and then here I am like right after my movie comes out and I'm doing a play on Broadway and so that's something to take in and behold."

Mariska will make her debut in Every Brilliant Thing on Tuesday (26.05.26) at the Hudson Theatre in New York with the run being extended until 28 June.

In a statement released at the time her role was announced, Mariska said: "I read Every Brilliant Thing and cried, rejoiced, laughed, cried some more, and loved it so much.

"I'm always drawn to themes of healing and renewal, especially when the journey is rendered in all its complexity. It feels like an extraordinary gift to make my Broadway debut, the fulfillment of a lifelong dream, with a play that affirms life so emphatically.

"For me, the triumph of this beautiful piece of work - this luminously brilliant thing - is that through a deeply personal story, we experience the universal endeavour of keeping ourselves pointed towards light, compassion and hope."

Harry Potter star Daniel took his final bow in the play on May 24. Every Brilliant Thing revolves around a child reacting to their mother's suicide attempt and making a list of the things that make life worth living, with the audience encouraged to join in by shouting out the list.

As the child becomes an adult, their list continues to develop but it is now the older ones in need of a reason to be hopeful.