Mariska Hargitay Reveals Why She Felt Late Mom Jayne Mansfield's Presence Recently: 'I Always Look for Signs'

The 'Law & Order: SVU' star remembered her late mother, who she lost at age 3, during 'Variety's Power of Women event on May 2

Mariska Hargitay knows when the spirit of her late mother Jayne Mansfield is around.

During her speech as an honoree at Variety’s Power of Women event in New York on May 2, Hargitay, 60, sang her praises for fellow honorees Anitta, Shonda Rhimes and Amy Schumer. The latter, dressed in what the SVU star described as a “glorious sequiny pink dress,” received a special shoutout from the actress.

“Amy, I met you and fell in love with you, as everyone does immediately. You make everything better,” she began. "You make shoulders go down, and relax people, and turn anything that's stressful into immediate fun.”

When Hargitay saw Schumer, 42, in her gown, she said she “immediately thought” of Mansfield — who died at age 34 in a 1967 automobile accident — and told the Trainwreck star, “I feel like my mom’s here with me.”

“Because you’re Jayne Mansfield incarnate right now, so thank you for that,” she said to Schumer. “I always look for signs, and she's here and she's today with me.”

Hargitay, the daughter of Mansfield and bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay, continues to honor her late parents on social media. On April 20, 2023 — what would have been Mansfield’s 90th birthday — Mariska shared an image of the Hollywood icon in her heyday.

“We live to love you more every day,” she wrote in the caption.

Related: Mariska Hargitay's On-Trend Coquette Hair Bow Is a Sweet Nod to Late Mom Jayne Mansfield

Mariska previously opened up to PEOPLE in 2018 about how losing her mother at age 3 shaped the person she is today.

“The way I’ve lived with loss is to lean into it,” the actress said of her mother, a screen star of the ‘50s and early ‘60s. “As the saying goes, the only way out is through. In my life, certainly I’ve tried to avoid pain, loss, feeling things. But I’ve learned instead to real­ly lean into it, because sooner or later you have to pay the piper.”

Related: Mariska Hargitay's 5 Siblings: All About Her Brothers and Sisters

She called her mother “an inspiration” with “an appetite for life,” a trait they share. The producer also paid tribute to the many dimensions of Mansfield’s life: While being known as “this amazing, beautiful, glamorous sex symbol,” Mansfield could play the violin, had a 160 IQ and “loved dogs” as well.

“Someone once said about [remembering] my mother: ‘All you have to do is look in the mirror,’” the Emmy Award winner added. “She’s with me still.”

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Law & Order: Special Victims Unit airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.

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