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Law & Order: SVU Star Mariska Hargitay Reveals She Was Raped -- By 'A Friend'

Mariska Hargitay opened up about a traumatic experience in her life for the first time ever this week. The actress, whose iconic character Olivia Benson

The actress, whose iconic character Olivia Benson works to solve sexual assault cases on Law & Order: SVU, revealed in an emotional new essay published by People on Wednesday that she is a victim of rape, too. The ER alum said she dove into her work with the Joyful Heart Foundation, which helped support and empower survivors of sexual assault and abuse: It wasn’t a confrontation, like ‘You need to deal with what happened,’ it was more like looking at it in the light of day: ‘Here is what it means when someone rapes another person, so on your own time, it could be useful to compare that to what was done to you.’ Then I had my own realization.

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