Olivia Benson was hit hard.
Mariska Hargitay, 60, who played Olivia Benson on “Law & Order” since 1999, making her the longest-running character on a primetime drama, said the show had affected her “profoundly.”
“When I started the show, I didn't realize how deeply it would ingrain itself into me,” Hargitay said in a recent interview with “SVU” fans. Selena Gomez Published on Monday Interview Magazine.
Hargitay, who has been married to “Blue Bloods” actor Peter Helman since 2004, added, “The first thing my husband asks me anywhere I go is, 'What's the crime rate here?' So it's always on my mind.”
She continued, “There were times when I didn't know how to protect myself, and then I think I definitely became a victim of secondary trauma, with all these stories being inundated and knowing that they were true. It was just too much, and I didn't know how to process it.”
On the show, Benson is constantly solving violent sex crimes, which in real life is what Hargitay Joyful Heart Foundation 2004.
The foundation's mission is “to transform society's response to sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse, help victims heal and end this violence permanently.”
To date, it has helped solve thousands of sex crime cases.
The actress said that by starting the foundation, “at least I feel like I'm doing something.”
Hargitay told the Only Murders in the Building actress that when she started on the show, “I wasn't the boss, I didn't have any power.”
“I also felt overwhelmed and scared and looked up to everyone. 25 years ago it was a much more patriarchal society,” she explained. “They made the rules in their world and we just showed up. But as I've grown and evolved, both as Mariska and as Olivia Benson, I think that's the part I like the most is that as I've evolved, I've never let go of parts of myself.”
Hargitay added that she's now in a very unique position of being “a totally amazing person. I know my worth, I know my power, I know what I have to offer, and I'm totally comfortable with my vulnerability and all the ways in which I still feel like a little girl. It's a really peaceful place.”
“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” season 26 premieres Thursday, October 3 (9 p.m.) on NBC.
