Mariska Hargitay, August Miklos Friedrich Hermann attend day 12 of the US Open 2022, 4th Grand Slam of the season, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 9, 2022 in Queens, New York City© Getty

Mariska Hargitay's son August, 18, towers over her in rare photo after departure from family home for college

The Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star shares three children with husband Peter Hermann

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Mariska Hargitay is keeping her family close, even in professional settings. The actress appeared on the cover of the latest of Town & Country's four covers for their Philanthropy issue.

For the magazine's shoot, along with sporting some very Olivia Benson-approved fashions herself, she brought on the oldest of her three children with husband Peter Hermann as well.

Mariska, 60, and Peter, 57, are parents to sons August, 18, and Andrew, 13, plus daughter Amaya, also 13. August left the family home for college this fall.

However, it looks like mother and son are reuniting for her latest photoshoot, as Mariska posed for a snap for the cover with her oldest son, who towered over his 5'8" star mom.

Mariska wore charcoal gray oversized Max Mara coat with droopy sleeves, while August was dressed in a black turtleneck sweater with tan pants and embraced his mom in the sweet photo.

In her conversation with the publication, Mariska spoke extensively about her work with the Joyful Heart Foundation, which she started in 2004, just months after her wedding to Peter.

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Mariska posed for a sweet photo for the issue with her son August

She recalls being inspired to do so while swimming off the Kona coast in Hawai'i and suddenly being surrounded by a pod of dolphins, and panicked. "It was a lot, and I didn't know what was happening."

Mariska was eventually able to find her way back to the boat that took her out into the water, and the first words she said when she boarded were: "I'm going to start a foundation for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence."

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"I knew nothing about how to start a foundation," she explained, highlighting the immense amount of letters and reception Law & Order: Special Victims Unit received once it hit the air from other survivors of assault. "I was an actor on a TV show."

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The actress is also a mom to 13-year-olds Andrew and Amaya

However, Mariska was able to channel her star power and find the resources to build the foundation, which is now two-decades strong. 

Her husband Peter even told the magazine: "Celebrity and being in the public eye can of course be a complicated thing, and people wield it and interact with it in many different ways, but in Mariska's case, it's a beautiful way for people to tap into the power of her extraordinary heart."

MORE: Mariska Hargitay recalls childhood of 'pain' and 'trauma' with famous parents

During a conversation with Selena Gomez for Interview Magazine recently, she also touched on the difficulty of shutting out the difficult subject matter and trauma from filming Law & Order before going home to be with family.

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She shares her children with husband Peter Hermann

"That's been a process. When I started the show, I wasn't aware of how deeply it would go into me. My husband Peter is always like, anytime I go anywhere, my first question is, 'What's the crime rate here?'" 

MORE: Mariska Hargitay gets a sweet surprise on the set of Law & Order: SVU

"There's been times when I didn't know how to protect myself, and I think I was definitely a victim of secondary trauma from being inundated with these stories and knowing that they were true," she continued. 

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"When I started the show, I wasn't aware of how deeply it would go into me."

"Those were the parts that I didn't know how to metabolize, just because of the sheer volume of it. That's also why I started Joyful Heart, so I would feel like, well, at least I'm doing something about it."

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