She has played Olivia Benson in creator Dick Wolf’s ripped-from-the-headlines franchise since 1999.
Mariska Hargitaycouldn’t have known that playingLaw & Order: Special Victims Unitprotagonist Olivia Benson would hit her hard.
So it’s on the brain.
Mariska Hargitay plays Olivia Benson.Virginia Sherwood/NBC via Getty
The awful statistics she learned on the show drove her to found theJoyful Heart Foundation.
As NBC journalist Andrea Canningreported in August, “they found 22 serial rapists among these kits.”
“I was not the boss and I had no power,” Benson said.
“I was also overwhelmed and scared and kind of looked up to everybody.
It was more of a patriarchal society 25 years ago.
They set the rules in their universe and we just showed up in it.
That’s a really peaceful place to be.”
