Talk about inspired method acting.
Law & Order: SVU’s Mariska Hargitay, who plays Olivia Benson, the commanding officer of a fictional Special Victims Unit in New York City, was key in investigating “over 11,000” sexual assault cases in Detroit, Michigan.
The turn of events, set to be explored in the Thursday, August 15 episode of the news podcast, “Dateline True Crime Weekly,” saw Hargitay, 60, funding the mission of a prosecutor, Kym Worthy, who discovered more than 11,000 untested rape kits sitting on the shelf in a police evidence room.
Andrea Canning, a Canadian Dateline journalist and the podcast’s host, shared details of the upcoming podcast episode on the Today show on Tuesday, August 13. “They found 22 serial rapists among these kits … and they needed money for this effort so who stepped in? None other than Law & Order’s Mariska Hargitay,” Canning, 51, said. “She helped them raise the money to get this done and it’s having a ripple effect across the country. It’s making changes everywhere, from police departments to prosecutors’ offices.”
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The news comes seven months after Hargitay bravely opened up about her personal experience with sexual assault, penning a powerful essay for People that was published on January 10.
“A man raped me in my thirties,” Hargitay wrote in the essay. “It wasn’t sexual at all. It was dominance and control. Overpowering control.” Hargitay revealed that her attacker was “a friend.”
“I tried all the ways I knew to get out of it. I tried to make jokes, to be charming, to set a boundary, to reason, to say no. He grabbed me by the arms and held me down. I was terrified. I didn’t want it to escalate to violence,” the actress wrote. “I now know it was already sexual violence, but I was afraid he would become physically violent. I went into freeze mode, a common trauma response when there is no option to escape. I checked out of my body.”
Through her role as Benson — a character she’s played since 1999 — Hargitay has been able to connect with multiple sexual assault survivors. In 2004, she also created the Joyful Heart foundation, which aims to “transform society’s response to sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse, support survivors’ healing, and end this violence forever.”
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Art continued to imitate life for Hargitay in April this year, when Hargitay was mistaken by a young girl for a real-life police officer as she filmed scenes for Law & Order: SVU in New York.
A witness told People at the time that a “little girl” was separated from her mother in the Anne Loftus Playground in Fort Tryon Park and “enlisted Hargitay for help.” Hargitay reportedly stopped production on the show for 20 minutes in order to help locate the child’s mother and “console” them both.
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.
