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Mariska Hargitay Is ‘Happy With Where Her Life Is’ After Facing Tragedy as a Child

Law & Order: SVU star Mariska Hargitay is 'happy with where her life is,' a source tells Life & Style, after the actress dealt with a horrific childhood tragedy.

When Peter Hermann guest-starred on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2002, Mariska Hargitay recalls she had a very strong reaction to meeting him: “My knees getting weak,” she told Entertainment Tonight. Mariska, 60, and Peter, 56, “just had to be together,” a source exclusively tells Life & Style, noting they attended a church service on their first date — where she sobbed after coming to the realization that he was The One. Together, they have three children — August, 17, Amaya, 12, and Andrew, 12 — and watching them grow has “erased many of my negative childhood feelings and filled them with something new,” Mariska says of losing her own mother, Hollywood bombshell Jayne Mansfield, as a toddler.

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