Mariska Hargitay Talks Becoming An ‘Accidental Activist’ For Abused Women

etcanada.com:

Mariska Hargitay is fighting for sexual abuse victims beyond her role on TV. The “Law & Order: SVU” star is on the new cover of People magazine, and in the issue she talks about how the series led her to activism.

RELATED: Mariska Hargitay Shares Insane Throwbacks Of Herself In A ‘Power Rangers’ Movie She Was Fired From “So many of them said, ‘I’ve never told anyone this before,’” she says of women who have told her their stories of abuse. “Having the character, Olivia Benson, listen — that was so powerful,” she adds. “People used to call me the accidental activist.

I didn’t take this job on ‘SVU’ to do this work. But I think I was meant to do this.” Since “SVU” premiered, Hargitay has trained as a rape crisis counsellor.