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Olivia Benson doesn’t just solve cases in the Special Victims Unit. Sometimes, the detective — or rather, Mariska Hargitay herself — needs to help a little girl lost in a park.
On April 10, Hargitay was filming a scene for the long-runnning crime series in New York City’s Fort Tryon Park when a young child saw her character’s police badge and thought she was a real police officer, an eyewitness told People. The little girl approached Hargitay — who was in the midst of filming opposite costar Ice-T — to ask for help to find her mom at the playground after the two had gotten separated. The actress not only paused production for 20 minutes, the eyewitness told the outlet, but eventually reunited and helped “console” the mother-daughter duo.
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In addition to this hopeful moment, Hargitay has long used her platform — and her 25 years as Det. Benson — to make an impact on real-life incidents. In 2004, she created the Joyful Heart Foundation, to help speak out for and in support of sexual assault survivors.
Earlier this year, Hargitay shared in detail for the first time her own experience as a rape survivor.
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In a deeply moving essay for People, Hargitay wrote of being raped by a man who “was a friend … then he wasn’t.” She described how “he grabbed me by the arms and held me down” and how she was frozen with fear and trauma. It took her decades for her to come to terms that what had happened was rape.
“I said for a long time that my hope was for people to be able to talk about sexual assault the same way they now talk about cancer. Tell someone you’ve survived cancer, and you’re celebrated. I want the same response for sexual assault survivors,” she wrote in the January essay. “I want no shame with the victim. The shame of the act belongs with the perpetrator: they’re the ones who committed the heinous, shameful act.”
If you or anyone you know has been sexually abused, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). A trained staff member will provide confidential, judgment-free support as well as local resources to assist in healing, recovering and more.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.