Mariska Hargitay made a rare outing with her son August and daughter Amaya in an adorable family moment.
The Law & Order star took the 17-year-old and the 12-year-old along with her in a special moment as she was set to light up the Empire State Building in partnership with the Joyful Heart Foundation and NBC Entertainment.
Mariska, 60, wore a classic blue dress with a v-neck, while August towered over her in a casual black fit. Amaya put an arm around her mom, wearing a black skirt, cream jumper and white sneakers.
Her son Andrew, also 12, wasn’t there – nor was her husband Peter Hermann. But the mom of three was spotted sitting courtside with Andrew in February, as they watched the New York Knicks together. Despite the absence of Andrew and Peter, the family’s faces were all lit up with smiles.
© NBLAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT — Lighting Ceremony at the Empire State Building — Pictured: (l-r) Amaya Hermann; Mariska Hargitay, Founder, Joyful Heart Foundation; August Hermann — (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC via Getty Images)CIn honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month and the 25th season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Mariska lit up the Empire State Building in teal and blue.
Notably, teal is the signature color of Mariska’s organization, the Joyful Heart Foundation, which works to empower victims of sexual violence by ending the backlog of rape kits and providing mental health resources. The color is also associated with sexual health awareness month.
Mariska opened up about her story of surviving sexual violence to People back in January.
© NBC“A man raped me in my thirties,” Mariska said, adding: “It wasn’t sexual at all. It was dominance and control. Overpowering control.”
“He was a friend. Then he wasn’t. I tried all the ways I knew to get out of it. I tried to make jokes, to be charming, to set a boundary, to reason, to say no. He grabbed me by the arms and held me down. I was terrified”, she explained.
Mariska continued that she had found it difficult to process the trauma, so she “removed it from my narrative”.
In 2004 she founded Joyful Heart, inspired by the contents of her SVU scripts, to raise awareness and support fellow survivors of sexual assault.
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