Mariska Hargitay Recalls Meeting Peter Hermann Ahead of Anniversary

Published: 7:08 PM PDT, June 4, 2024

Mariska Hargitay and Peter Hermann are gearing up to celebrate a major milestone. ET spoke to the Law and Order: Special Victims Unit star at the Gotham TV Awards on Tuesday, and the actress recalled her first encounter with her husband.

“My knees getting weak,” Hargitay told ET of what she remembered most from her initial meeting with Hermann, with whom she’ll celebrate her 20th wedding anniversary on Aug. 28. “It’s so amazing. It’s so amazing.”

The couple tied the knot in 2004 and share three kids: August, 17, Amaya, 12, and Andrew, 12. That’s not the only milestone Hargitay has this year, though. The actress also turned 60 in January and is celebrating 25 years of SVU.

“It’s been incredible. It’s been 25 years and I haven’t been able to take it in until this year. I think [because of] the milestone of it all,” Hargitay told ET of the long-running series. “I was walking into my wrap party with my 17-year-old son [and] I remember going, ‘We’re going to the wrap party of my TV show that has been on for 25 years.’ I don’t feel anywhere near done and that’s good.”

“I’m just so proud of the stories we’ve told and the lives we’ve affected and the way we’ve moved the needle toward healing,” she added. “I am privileged and I know it and I’m grateful for it.”

As for her character, Olivia Benson’s, legacy, Hargitay said, “Strength, vulnerability, and never giving up no matter what.”

It’s a legacy that was fully on display back in April, when Hargitay, while filming SVU, helped a young girl who’d lost her mom. At the time, an eyewitness told ET, “Mariska was filming with Ice-T and was interrupted by a little girl walking into the scene. She walked straight to Mariska.”

The eyewitness added that Hargitay paused filming after she was approached by the little girl and happily helped reunite her with her mother. 

“It was so natural and normal. It wasn’t really an Olivia moment. It was a little girl that couldn’t find her mom and there’s nothing more important than that — nothing,” Hargitay told ET of the moment. “It was so natural and so easy and it didn’t really require thought. It was instincts. It was just maternal instincts.”

It echoes what Hargitay told ET about the experience last month, when she noted, “This little angel girl was in need and we connected and I could see that. So I did what any mother on this planet would do. I got to hug her mom and her, and it was beautiful.”

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