Mariska Hargitay has spent over a decade helping others who have experienced sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse through her charity, Joyful Heart Foundation, having experienced her own trauma first.
The Law & Order actress opened up about her "journey of learning how to respond to various traumas" in her personal life at the 18th Annual HOPE Luncheon Seminar in NYC on Tuesday November 12, which was attended by HELLO!
The actress spoke to a packed room at the annual event, held at the Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, while receiving a special Hope for Depression Advocacy.
"Joyful Heart is my response to learning the statistics of sexual violence and having them walk me back on my heels," she told the audience. "And it is an epidemic. In our country, in our world. And it responds to my own internal need for healing."
She went on to tell guests: "And a personal note, I've also gone through my own journey of learning how to respond to the various traumas that I have experienced in my life. I lost my mother when I was three years old and I grew up in a house where people were dealing with the tragedy in their own way.
© Patrick McMullan"And because there was so much grief, there wasn't room to prioritize anyone. We didn't have the tools that we have today to capitalise and understand trauma. So, it wasn't until much later in my life that I was able to do that for myself."
She continued: "I also suffered sexual trauma in my 30s. And it wasn't until much later that I found a language to acknowledge it. Joyful Heart was part of my response to my own experience where I built a whole foundation that responded to trauma and survivors the way that I wanted to be responded to."
© Sean ZanniThe actress was only three years on when her mother, Jayne Mansfield, died in a car crash in Biloxi, Mississippi, in 1967.
The Olivia Benson actress, whose father was Mickey Hargitay, was in the car, a 1966 Buick Electra 225, when it crashed head-on at high speed to the back of a tractor trailer, instantly killing her mom along with her attorney Sam Brody and their driver Ronnie Harrison, who was 20 at the time.
© Patrick McMullanMariska and her brothers Mickey Jr. and Zoltan were in the back of the car, and had minor injuries. The star was then raped in her thirties by a man she thought was her friend, and wrote a powerful piece about the traumatic experience for People magazine in January 2024.
"A man raped me in my thirties. It wasn't sexual at all. It was dominance and control. Overpowering control. He was a friend. Then he wasn't," she penned.
© Sean ZanniThe star added: "For a long time, I focused on creating a foundation to help survivors of abuse and sexual violence heal. I was building Joyful Heart on the outside so I could do the work on the inside." Mariska also wrote about wanting to change the narrative on how people address sexual assault.
"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. 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."
© Sean ZanniMariska was joined at the annual Hope for Depression Research Foundation luncheon by other fellow speakers, including NBC 4 anchor Chuck Scarborough, the charity's founder and chair, Audrey Gruss, and Professor of Neuroscience at Columbia University, René Hen.
James Remez, founder of Livingston Builders, was also honored with the Hope Corporate Visionary Award, while Hamilton Jewelers CEO, Hank Siegel, was given the Hope Community Ambassador Award.
