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In Hollywood, there are A-listers and then there’s royalty. Mariska Hargitay lands in the latter category. The daughter of screen legend Jayne Mansfield, Hargitay has followed in her mother’s footsteps, becoming luminary in her own right for her portrayal of Olivia Benson on “Law & Order: SVU.”
It’s a role that’s earned her both an Emmy and a Golden Globe. Not to mention that, at 27 years and counting, it’s the longest-running primetime series in NBC history.
On this day, however, Hargitay hasn’t come to unpack the latest season of the crime drama. Instead, we sit down in TODAY’s Orange Room to talk about the latest season of her life, a chapter that’s been especially fulfilling for a number of reasons.
Among them? She’s just wrapped her successful Broadway debut, sat courtside with bestie Taylor Swift before her beloved Knicks took home the championship, and premiered the deeply-personal film “My Mom Jayne,” which earned the 62-year-old yet another an Emmy nomination.
If she wins, she won’t have far to go to pick up the trophy since Hargitay is also hosting the Emmys this year, the first time a woman has hosted the awards show since Jane Lynch held the distinction back in 2011.
It’s undoubtedly Hargitay’s moment. The actor reflects on the “profound healing” that got her here and how the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson played a part in it. She also delves into her partnership with the Purple Leash Project, a campaign that spotlights the need for more pet-friendly domestic violence shelters, an initiative near and dear to her heart — and that’s where we begin.
This interview has been lighted edited for clarity.
An initiative close to your heart is the Purple Leash Project, a campaign that helps facilitate more pet-friendly domestic violence shelters. It’s something many people don’t think about until they realize that survivors often stay in abusive relationships because they don’t want to leave their pets.
First of all, I just want to acknowledge the fact that I didn’t think about it either and that’s what hit me so hard when I learned about it, because I don’t think anybody thinks about that.
So, it’s a really powerful and extraordinary initiative. Just the idea that a survivor shouldn’t have to choose between her safety and her animals. There’s already so many barriers of why not to leave and why not to go, but this one is a huge one.
This idea that pets are actually family members and oftentimes the most consistent, steady presence in a survivor’s life, that provides so much comfort, so much support, so much safety, really. And here was a reason that people weren’t going.
Up to 50% of survivors were not wanting to go, to leave their animals. So, it’s actually a brilliant initiative to a way of supporting survivors. It takes that off their plate and they’re doing it all over and I was just so moved by it and so happy to get on board.
Our pets really are our family.
They’re like your children. They are an extended part of your family. Also, the idea of animals being used as threats or used as tactics to keep the person there or threaten that if they leave, they’ll hurt the animal. More than 70% of women in shelters report that their abuser has used an animal as a form of control.
So, it’s innovative, brilliant and so survivor-centric. And it is truly something that supports healing and gives survivors the courage to leave and supports them in a profound way.
In the last year, you released “My Mom Jayne,” made your Broadway debut, realized your longtime dream of seeing the Knicks win the championship and, most recently, were tapped to host the Emmys. For all intents and purposes, it’s the season of Mariska Hargitay. How does that feel to you?
I’ll tell you what it feels like: When I made this film, everything changed. I think the way I described it is finding so much more internal space that I didn’t have. It really settled my nervous system and was very profoundly healing for me in ways I was aware of, and in ways that I wasn’t.
My friend Kelli Giddish, my amazing co-star, had said to me after she saw (“My Mom Jayne”), because she knows me very well, she says, “I can’t wait to see what you do next,” and that really resonated with me really deeply.
For me, it wasn’t an accident that all this … it was like a pathway started opening up because I think, and I’ve always believed, that the only way out is through. That’s sort of my motto.
This is also why I made this film, this is why I did that. Because I was carrying something that I didn’t want to carry and I realized, wasn’t mine to carry.
So, in a way, yes, I’m doing all these amazing things and I’m doing all these new things. In a way, it’s surprising and sort of unbelievable. And in a way, it feels like, “Of course. Now.” Because I’ve gotten ready for it internally.
I’ve always been a person to take on new challenges, but the fact that these opportunities are coming – I think that something shifted. So when the play came, I was 62. My mother was 22 (when she made her Broadway debut), and I made this film. So, I just believed that it wasn’t an accident that after I made the film, it sort of cleared that out and dealt with it and had a new reconciliation and new peace with it and so much new discovery.
So, the fact that the play came, I went, “Of course it did.” And I feel a little bit like that with the Emmys. As much as it was a shocker for me, I went, “Got it.”
Even Jalen (Brunson), all the Knicks stuff, that’s been so fun and exciting and he really is like my excellence mentor or my teacher of what’s possible in a very similar way that my dad was for me. I think that’s what also I love about him because my dad said, “You can do anything, you just have to set your mind to it.” That’s how I was raised.
So, when I see what Jalen has accomplished with the odds he goes up against, and his work ethic, and the fact that he holds a space to win, always, always, there’s no quitting ever with him, which is what my dad taught me.
It’s like, we don’t quit in this family. We keep going. It depends how much you want it. So it’s sort of this beautiful duality, that on one hand it’s, “Oh my gosh.” And on the other hand, it feels natural and I’m excited and ready in a way.