Photo:Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
In this week’s issue of PEOPLE,Mariska Hargitaysays her “dream role” ofLaw & Order: SVU’sOlivia Bensoncame when she was 35. “It felt right on every level,” she recalls of her first script reading.
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Martin Schoeller
“I’m so grateful that I’m an older mom. Grateful that I became successful older. I don’t know if I could have handled it when I was younger,” says Hargitay, who iscelebrating 25 years onSVUupon its return on Jan. 18, as well as the show’s 25th anniversary.
“When I was younger I wasn’t as present but as I’ve gotten older I’ve started to accept and appreciate,” saysHargitay, who’s turning 60 on Jan. 23. “And now I’m going to savor this moment. I want to share my lessons and where there is pain that I can fix that really inspires me to lighten the load.”
Mariska Hargitay and Peter Hermann with their three children at Disney World in 2022.Mariska Hargitay/instagram
Mariska Hargitay/instagram
Her cosmic connection to Olivia Benson is further inspiration. “It’s been such a privilege to live with her and have this character as a beacon,” she says. “Olivia is so many things that I’m not and yet she has a clarity and north star to justice, and what seems to be an inexhaustible well of perseverance towards that goal.”
Survivor Ericka Murria with Mariska Hargitay at the Joyful Revolution Gala in 2017.Courtesy Mariska Hargitay
Courtesy Mariska Hargitay
“I lived this perfect feminist story,” she says. “I lived it in many ways onSVUand inmy own life. And I’m just so grateful and I want to pay it forward.”
For more on Mariska Hargitay, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribehere.
source: people.com
