Reunion Online

The season premiere of NBC's "Law and Order SVU" tackled the ongoing problem of backlogged rape kits sitting untested in police warehouses... delaying the prosecution of rape suspects. It was a problem brought to life in Los Angeles in 2009 and now actress Mariska Hargitay has started a foundation to help raise awareness and funds to get those rape kits tested.

It took years. It almost broke her heart. Here, for the first time, Mariska Hargitay shares the tender story of how she adopted her two precious new kids.

TV's favorite cop on managing tricky marriage moments, ignoring her son's bedtime — and staying safe and sane when life is moving a little too fast.

Hargitay is one cliché worth talking about. In the midst of 12- to 15-hour days of physically grueling shoots for Law & Order: SVU, Mariska finds time to be a hands-on parent to her four-year-old son, August; push the envelope to grow the Joyful Heart Foundation, her charity for survivors of sexual and domestic abuse—and chat with a reporter to explain how she has time to do it all.

For the last 11 years I've been on every case, sitting on every jury and hanging on every "dun dun" that "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" has to offer. But beyond implementing the law and keeping the order, it's the relationship between detectives Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler that has planted "SVU" on the TV landscape.

Mariska Hargitay's character on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has devoted her life to helping survivors of assault and abuse, and the actress is doing her part in real life as well. Her Joyful Heart Foundation, inspired by Hargitay's experiences on the show, aims to aid and inspire people who have suffered sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse.

Interview with Mariska Hargitay for More Magazine

It wasn't a personal experience or family history that made Mariska Hargitay aware of victims of sexual assault. It was fan mail. The letters to the actress playing Detective Olivia Benson of "Law and Order: SVU" were not typical fan mail.

Mariska Hargitay on recovering from her on-set accident and her work with the Joyful Heart Foundation.

Mariska Hargitay is a sharer. When the warm and outgoing Law & Order: Special Victims Unit actress talks to Health, she’s so eager to pass on tips for a healthier, more balanced life that she opens up her cabinets to recite what’s inside, then later sends a follow-up e-mail (signed ‘xo, Mariska’).