Mariska Hargitay Admits She Feels Like a 'Victim of Secondary Trauma' After 25 Years of Solving Sex Crimes on “SVU”

"When I started the show, I wasn’t aware of how deeply it would go into me," Hargitay admits of her experience shooting 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'

Mariska Hargitay is opening up about the real-life impact of solving sex crimes on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

The 60-year-old actress told Interview Magazine it’s “been a process” to learn to separate herself from the dark subject matter of the hit NBC series after 25 years of playing Detective Olivia Benson.

“When I started the show, I wasn’t aware of how deeply it would go into me,” she explained in a conversation with Selena Gomez. “My husband Peter [Hermann] is always like, anytime I go anywhere, my first question is, ‘What’s the crime rate here?’ So it’s on the brain.”

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“There’s been times when I didn’t know how to protect myself, and I think I was definitely a victim of secondary trauma from being inundated with these stories and knowing that they were true,” she continued. “Those were the parts that I didn’t know how to metabolize, just because of the sheer volume of it. That’s also why I started Joyful Heart [Foundation], so I would feel like, well, at least I’m doing something about it.”

Hargitay started the non-profit in 2004 with the mission to “transform society’s response to sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse, support survivors’ healing, and end this violence forever,” according to the its website.

She shared that learning the statistics about sex crimes inspired her to shed a light on the topic.

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“I learned more about sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, than I ever had thought about,” she shared. “And quite frankly, before I started the show, I didn’t know a lot about it. When I read the script, I thought the show was so progressive, that they were willing to take on this subject matter.”

Hargitay recalled finding out about “the statistics of sexual assault” when the show’s creator received an award from the Mt. Sinai Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention Program during the show’s first season.

“I learned that one in three women will be assaulted, and one in six men,” she explained. “That’s what started the foundation for me. That’s when I started going, ‘I have to do something,’ because the show was obviously tackling the subject matter, but when I learned the statistics, I said, ‘Why isn’t everyone talking about this?’ And if I didn’t know, I figured nobody knows what an epidemic violence against women is.”

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Hargitay noted that it was important to her that storylines on the SVU be “ripped from the headlines.”

“I was so happy that we were, as sad as it is, holding up a mirror to society and saying, ‘This is part of us. These are some of the worst things that we do to each other,’’ she shared. “And one of the most gratifying parts of this job is how much community has come from it.”

“Women have learned so much about DNA and going to the hospital and reporting and what not to do and what to do after you’re assaulted. It has truly aided in so many people’s justice, not to mention their healing,” she added. “So it’s been quite a journey.”

In addition to the show and her foundation, Hargitay helped one Michigan prosecutor with thousands of sexual assault cases, Dateline NBC’s Andrea Canning shared on Today last month.

The Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star funded prosecutor Kym Worthy on her path to solving thousands of cases. Worthy first discovered that over 11,000 untested rape kits were sitting on a shelf in an evidence room. She took matters into her own hands and worked to get all of them tested.

Canning, 51, explained that the actress “helped them raise the money to get this done.” As a result, thousands of cases were solved and they discovered 22 serial rapists.

The Dateline broadcaster also noted that Worthy and Hargitay’s work is “having a ripple effect across the country [and] is making changes everywhere — for police departments for prosecutors’ offices.”

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Law & Order: Special Victims Unit returns Thursday, Oct. 3 on NBC.

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