Mariska Hargitay is opening up about the moment she was approached by a lost child in New York City while filming SVU.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Hargitay admitted her “mama bear instincts” kicked in and she did “what any mother on this planet would do” in that moment to help the child reunite with her mom.
She humbly admitted as well that she doesn’t know if the little girl really thought she was a police officer or just someone she felt she could trust in that moment. “We were meant to connect in that moment,” she admitted.
Hargitay said she hasn’t stayed in touch with the young girl but in the moment she was able to reunited the girl with her mom she did get to celebrate the moment with a hug. “It was beautiful.”
While filming an episode of SVU in New York City, lead actress Mariska Hargitay was approached by a young girl. If you didn’t know any better, you would think it was a part of the script. Only to find out it wasn’t.
According to People, while dressed in her SVU gear, initial reports revealed the little girl mistook Hargitay for a real life police officer after she was accidentally separated from her mom and needed help on April 10.
I swear to god she’s actually olivia benson pic.twitter.com/3zK8o0ohcx
— mace (fan account) (@90sbenson) April 11, 2024
The child was at the Anne Loftus Playground in Fort Tryon Park when she got separated from her mom. Hargitay stopped what she was doing to help.
Minutes later, the mom and the little girl were reunited.
It’s unclear if even the girl’s mom knew who Hargitay was, but thankfully Hargitay was in the right place at the right time to help them reunite.
On social media, people praised Hargitay for her good deed, saying “I swear to God she’s actually Olivia Benson,” referring to her SVU character.
“Imagine, you [lose] your kid and Olivia Benson brings them back to you,” another commenter wrote. “Awww that’s why I’m a true fan there heart is pure gold,” another added.
“Can we love Mariska any more?”
The child’s mom has not yet spoken out about the moment personally.
Harigtay is a mom herself, so she knows a thing or two about caring for young ones. In a January interview with People, she opened up about being an older mom.
“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,” she admitted.
Hargitay married her husband, actor Peter Hermann 20 years ago in 2004 when she was 40. She was 42 when their oldest August was born in 2007 and 46 when they adopted Amaya and Andrew in 2011.
“When I was younger I wasn’t as present but as I’ve gotten older I’ve started to accept and appreciate,” she continued telling People. “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.”