Much like her on-screen counterpart Det. Olivia Benson, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star Mariska Hargitay cares about helping survivors of domestic violence.
She advocates for survivors of DV and rape, with a special focus on testing the backlog of rape kits, through her Joyful Heart Foundation. And with October being Domestic Violence Awareness month, Hargitay is also using her Instagram to mark the occasion both loudly and subtly. For the first of the month, she posted an empowering message encouraging survivors to find support. But she also shared an adorable photo with her husband, fellow actor Peter Hermann.
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Take a look at the balloons and the caption, a heart emoji: both bright green, the color she uses to promote The Joyful Heart Foundation (the ribbon color for DV awareness in October is traditionally purple). Coming to or from a fundraiser, perhaps? In the semi-candid snap on the streets of New York, they look so happy together.
These two! Date night at the US Open and a romantic getaway to Italy wasn’t enough, huh? They just keep looking so in love, even after nineteen years of marriage.
Mariska Hargitay and her husband Peter Hermann
In an interview with People, Hargitay gushed about her solid-as-a-rock marriage “We sort of knew that we found the right one,” she said. “I never thought it could be this good, and I never knew that I’d be reminded on the journey, that I’d marry the right one. That I waited and married the right one, and it’s better than I thought it was. Because sometimes you take a snapshot and you go, ‘I can’t believe this is my life.’”
If Hermann looks familiar to any SVU fans, it could be because he played pricey defense attorney Trevor Langan on the show starting in Season 3. While not a regular cast member, he is the longest-running defense attorney in SVU history, as the department tends to burn through lawyers, and especially DAs, quickly. It was through the show that he met his now-wife Hargitay, in fact.
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But that’s not his only claim to NBC fame. In an iconic 30 Rock episode, Hermann plays an MSNBC employee whom protagonist Liz Lemon nicknames “The Hair” because he’s so handsome. They go on a successful date that’s cut short when — SPOILER — they realize they are distant cousins.
Liz also dates Dennis Duffy throughout the series, portrayed by Dean Winters, who also played SVU detective Brian Cassidy, Detective Munch’s original partner. Suffice it to say, Ms. Lemon has a thing for Law and Order guys. And Ms. Hargitay does, too!
