Mariska Hargitay is known as the mother of three children, with Hermann Peter being her husband. She is best known for her role as Detective Olivia Benson on the hit television show Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, where she has starred for over 20 years.
Hermann first encountered Hargitay while working on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2002. It was during his debut as Trevor Langan, a defense attorney, in the second season of the show. Hermann, renowned for his portrayal of Charles Brooks on Younger, continued to play the character of Trevor for over 15 years and appeared in more than 30 episodes. However, the most significant outcome of his time on Law & Order was meeting his future spouse.
In August 2004, Mariska Hargitay wore a pale pink Carolina Herrera gown with the lining embroidered with her and her husband’s initials when she married her husband in the Historical Unitarian Chapel at Santa Barbara’s Santa Barbara Historical Unitarian Chapel. It was their first wedding anniversary after two years of being married. “That’s my husband,” I thought when I saw him at the church. Mariska Hargitay revealed in an interview with InStyle that she felt a strong bond with her husband when they first met on the set of Law & Order: SVU.
With Peter Hermann, what we know ahead about Mariska Hargitay’s family and her children. Shortly after, they adopted two additional children and celebrated the birth of their first child, Hargitay and Hermann, two years after getting married.
August Miklos Friedrich
Hargitay’s late father’s name was “Miklos” and “Friedrich” was the name of Hermann’s grandfather. According to People, the name “August” has been in Hermann’s family for over 200 years. Hargitay and Hermann’s first son, August, who is their only biological child, was born on June 28, 2006, when the actress from Law & Order was 42 years old.
I’m a fan of Hargitay, but I didn’t want her to have a C-section. I hoped she would have a natural delivery, even though the magazine reported that she had a C-section and it was late August. When I heard August’s first cry, I didn’t even know how much I loved her at that moment.
“My children, who I consider my guiding light, and my spouse serve as my educators,” she expressed. “They have taught me the importance of active listening. Hargitay disclosed to People in 2018 that motherhood has significantly transformed her, contributing to her growth as a more effective caregiver.”
She continued, “Ideal, or at least ideal for me, is our family. Complete, content, blissful, unpredictable, wild unit, we’re simply united. Furthermore, it was never anything that I’ve ever known.”
Amaya Josephine
I always thought that part of the plan was to adopt a child, and I really did think that Peter and I were on the same page about that. But I also had this fear that someone might just leave a baby on my doorstep if they knew I was going to adopt. I don’t know how it happened, but I guess I was just letting myself fall into the trap of thinking too much about how much God is involved in everything. Plus, we both wanted a big family because that’s what we always envisioned. I didn’t know if she felt the same way, but I always wanted a big family. In 2010, we started the adoption process, which included meeting with an adoption lawyer. In 2011, we adopted our daughter Josephine Amaya after completing home inspections and meeting with the adoption lawyer.
In the interview, Hargitay also recounted that her daughter encountered the Law & Order actress for the initial time, informing her biological mother, “‘I am aware that this is correct. You are the mother of this infant,'”
I remember thinking that I wanted to take all of them home, I had a maternal instinct; even when I was so young, somewhere inside me, I thought about adoption when I saw kids alone on the street, around 10 or 9 years old, in India and Thailand. Mariska Hargitay also mentioned that when she first thought about adoption, she saw other children without parents and she went to India and Thailand where she spent some time and saw herself as a kid. She also mentioned that these moms were incredibly smart, soulful, and resourceful.
Andrew Nicolas
Soon after Amaya and Hermann Hargitay brought baby Andrew, their second son, home, they received a call from their adoption lawyer, informing them that there was a two-month premature baby boy available for adoption. I don’t really know how to say it, but both Peter and I thought it was a no-brainer. And let me tell you, it was like a miracle… The whole thing happened in just two days! I’ve never made a bigger decision in my life.
It may be ironic that the greatest moment in terms of helping to build a family was also the hardest disappointment,” she said. “After big hopes were dashed, came the biggest disappointments. There were many different kinds of complications. There were several cases where the work didn’t pan out. “The actress told Good Housekeeping that the process wasn’t easy,” she told the actress, and soon after, Hargitay and Hermann welcomed two adopted children.
Hargitay expressed, “August is feeling quite well and quite influential!” Afterward, he mentioned, “I desire a younger brother,” and Andrew arrived. “He stated, ‘I desire a younger sister,’ and Amaya arrived. August believes this was entirely his concept!” Additionally, Hargitay playfully remarked to the publication that August perceives his siblings as an outcome of his desires.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit airs on Thursdays at 8 p.M. On NBC. Here’s how to watch it for free.
True Stories of Law & Order
If you love Order & Law, you’ll be obsessed with crimes that are often more chilling and stranger than fiction. Fans of the show know that real information can come from controversial verdicts and the trial, and that the crime is just beginning to be known. The book “The 25 Cases from Order Law” covers high-profile investigations, including the 30-year-old cold case of Robert Durst, and how a woman’s repressed memory led to its solving. Check out “The Best Episodes of the TV Hit Show” by Juré Fiorillo and Kevin Dwyer for more true stories behind the crimes of Order & Law.