Mariska Hargitay opens up over losing Jayne Mansfield

Mariska Hargitay has opened up over losing her mother, Jayne Mansfield.

The Law & Order: SVU star, whose mother died in a car accident when she was three, spoke this week about how the traumatic experience had affected her emotional development as she grew up.

Speaking at the Hope for Depression Research Foundation's 18th Annual HOPE Luncheon Seminar, Mariska, 60, described her grieving household.

"I lost my mother when I was three years old, and I grew up in a house of people dealing with the tragedy in their own way," Mariska said.

"Because there was so much grief, there wasn't room to prioritise anyone. We didn't have the tools that we have now to metabolise and understand trauma."

A Hollywood actress and Playboy playmate, Jayne was 34 when she was killed in the 1967 crash, with Jayne and two of her siblings also in the vehicle.

Mariska also spoke about the Joyful Heart Foundation, which she founded in 2004 "to heal, educate and empower survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse", per the charity's website.

"I built a whole foundation that responded to trauma and survivors the way that I wanted to be responded to," Jayne pointed out. "I had the good fortune to find extraordinary therapists who introduced me to many different healing modalities."