Mariska Hargitay Clarified Helping Young Girl on ‘Law & Order SVU’ Set
Law & Order SVU star Mariska Hargitay had a moment earlier in the year where she helped a lost girl find her way. She recently revealed how the two met in the first place, and why their union might’ve been meant to be.
Mariska Hargitay didn’t think the lost girl confused her for a cop
Hargitay channeled both her SVU character and her instincts as a mother earlier this year. She was shooting an episode of her television show when a very young girl wandered onto set. The visitor couldn’t find her parents and went to Hargitay for help. Afterwards, it was reported that the award winner put the episode’s production on pause to help reunite the child with her parents.
Some might’ve thought the lost girl thought Hargitay was a cop. At the time, Hargitay was wearing Olivia Benson’s well-known attire. In an interview on LiveKellyandMark, Hargitay provided a little more detail about that day. And she also shared why she thought the girl came up to her.
“I saw this little girl and she just had these big glassy eyes, and she was alone. I don’t think that she thought I was a cop, she was too young for that. I think our eyes connected, and I saw her looking for her mom,” she said. “So, I just walked over to her and I said, ‘Hey, honey. Are you okay? Where’s your mommy?'”
But Hargitay didn’t think the child understood English too well. It was then she offered to help the child find her parents. It was a small moment, but still a bit emotional. Hargitay felt she and many others knew what it was like being away from a parent at such a young age.
Mariska Hargitay knows how to go into ‘cop mode’
This wasn’t the first time Hargitay helped a civilian, and it might not be her last. Speaking with Good Housekeeper, Hargitay once reflected on an incident where she had to assist a pregnant woman. Unlike the incident with the lost child, however, Hargitay wasn’t on set or in character. Still, even as herself, Hargitay sprung into action in the same way that Olivia Benson would.
“I can go totally into cop mode,” she said.
So, when the pregnant woman passed out, she immediately knew what to do.
“I yelled, ‘Call 911; get her water.’ Then I started going through all of the questions with her that could answer what might be wrong with her. It was completely like an episode of the show,” she said.
Hargitay also felt being Benson for so long helped her responsibilities as a mother, which were new to her at the time.
“It really prepared me for motherhood, because as a cop, you are in charge of any emergency and you need to stay calm, take control, and get the help and the attention you need to fix it. It’s the same thing with being a parent,” she said.
Mariska Hargitay continued helping lives with the Joyful Heart Foundation
Hargitay’s run as Olivia Benson inspired her real-life activism. The actor would come into contact with many fans of the show who’d tell her about their own experiences with domestic violence and abuse. Some of these personal stories Hargitay heard hadn’t been told to anyone, and kept secret for years. It was a testament to how the show’s reality based stories impacted its viewers.
She would seek to personally help domestic violence victims with The Joyful Heart Foundation.
“Sexual assault and domestic violence was something I didn’t know about when I started the show,” she once said in an interview with her organization. “And through all the research that I did to prepare to play this role, I learned the statistics and was so deeply horrified that I wanted to do something about it. I think the biggest eye-opener was learning that one in four women will be sexually or physically assaulted in her lifetime. Then I started to receive letters from victims, many disclosing their stories of abuse, many for the first time in their lives. Because I was living in this material, I felt that Joyful Heart was something I could actively do to feel like I was part of a change.”
How to get help: In the U.S., call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788.
