Law & Order’s Mariska Hargitay was raped by a friend-Kitty Chrisp-Entertainment – Metro

Mariska Hargitay has opened up about the horrific experience (Picture: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

Law and Order’s Mariska Hargitay has revealed she was raped by a friend while in her 30s.

The 59-year-old actor said she had tried in vain to make jokes, be charming, and set boundaries ‘to get out’ of the situation.

‘He grabbed me by the arms and held me down. I was terrified,’ she recalled.

In a personal essay for People, she continued: ‘I didn’t want it to escalate to violence. I now know it was already sexual violence, but I was afraid he would become physically violent.’  

The actor described how she then froze and checked out of her body as a ‘trauma response’ to the crime.

She survived the aftermath of the rape, Mariska explained, by not ‘processing’ the fact it happened to her. She cut it out, and removed it from the narrative of her life.

Mariska said she was in her thirties when her friend raped her (Picture: @therealmariskahargitay)

The Law & Order star is calling for an end to sexual violence (Picture: Will Hart/NBC via Getty Images)

Through her campaigning for Joyful Heart – a foundation helping survivors of abuse and sexual violence – Mariska said she was building it ‘from the outside’ so she could ‘work on the inside’ and heal herself.

In speeches for the charity, she recalled saying, ‘I’m not a survivor,’ which at the time she truly believed.

Mariska previously talked about the rape to her husband, fellow Law & Order starPeter Hermann, but had ‘minimised’ what it was.

‘My husband Peter remembers me saying, “I mean, it wasn’t rape,”,’ she recalled.

‘Then things started shifting in me, and I began talking about it more in earnest with those closest to me. They were the first ones to call it what it was.

‘They were gentle and kind and careful, but their naming it was important.’

She explained how opening up is an effort to raise awareness of acquaintance rape.

She is turning 60 soon (Picture: @therealmariskahargitay)

Mariska wants to raise awareness of acquaintance rape (Picture: Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images)

Mariska also said she wants survivors of sexual assault to be celebrated, just like those who recover from cancer are.

‘I want no shame with the victim. The shame of the act belongs with the perpetrator: they’re the ones who committed the heinous, shameful act,’ she said.

She also called for an end to sexual violence, and specifically the ‘power structures’ which enable it.

From the man who she used to call a friend, she wants acknowledgement of his crime and an apology.

She concluded the piece by saying the experience does not define her.

‘I’m turning 60, and I’m so deeply grateful for where I am. I’m renewed and I’m flooded with compassion for all of us who have suffered. And I’m still proudly in process,’ she said.

In 1999, Mariska first appeared in NBC drama Law & Order as detective Olivia Benson, the only protagonist of the series.

She is still playing her 25 years on with the 23rd season set to be released this month.

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