Mariska Hargitay Says ‘Law & Order: SVU’ Has Given Her ‘Secondary Trauma’

By Emma Chance | Celebrity | September 25, 2024 |

By Emma Chance | Celebrity | September 25, 2024 |

Mariska Hargitay recently spoke with fellow New York-based crime show star Selena Gomez for Interview Magazine, where she reflected on her 25 years on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and how the show has changed her.

“When I started the show, I wasn’t aware of how deeply it would go into me,” Hargitay said. “My husband Peter [Hermann, who also has guest starred on the series] is always like, anytime I go anywhere, my first question is, ‘What’s the crime rate here?’ So it’s on the brain.”

“There’s been times when I didn’t know how to protect myself,” she continued. “I think I was definitely a victim of secondary trauma from being inundated with these stories and knowing they were true. Those were the parts that I didn’t know how to metabolize, just because of the sheer volume of it.” I can’t stand watching SVU for the sheer volume of the trauma, so I can’t imagine having to act in it. That feeling of helplessness is why she started her foundation, Joyful Heart, which benefits victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse.

But she noted that, while she was the underdog when the show started a quarter of a century ago, now she has seniority and power on the set, so she can rise above the overwhelming subject matter and keep herself sane while also telling a powerful story.

“It was more of a patriarchal society 25 years ago. They set the rules in their universe and we just showed up in it. But as I grew and evolved, both as Mariska and as Olivia Benson, I think my favorite part is that as I evolved, I didn’t give away pieces of myself…If anything, I took them back. So I’m in this very unique place of being a total badass, I know my worth, I know my power, I know what I have to offer, and I’m totally comfortable with my vulnerability, with all the ways I still feel like a little girl. That’s a really peaceful place to be.”

I will echo Selena Gomez’s response to basically everything Hargitay said in the interview: “I love that.”