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There are few people who can command a room and simultaneously light up a room like New York City icon Mariska Hargitay, who appropriately just received the honor of lighting the Empire State Building.
The actor, director and activist, also known for her role as Capt. Olivia Benson on “Law & Order: SVU,” lit the historic NYC building in recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness Month and in partnership with her Joyful Heart Foundation, which she established 20 years ago after she started working on “SVU” to help survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence and raise awareness about the topics.
On April 5, Hargitay gave an impassioned and emotional speech at the Empire State Building, before pulling the lever to light up the building with the help of two of her three children: August and Amaya.
She began her speech by expressing her gratitude for being there on this “incredibly, incredibly significant day.”
Hargitay also couldn’t believe the Empire State Building would be lit up in Joyful Heart’s colors, blue and green, to “shine a light on Sexual Assault Awareness Month.”
“When I first encountered the country’s sexual assault and domestic violence statistics on ‘SVU,’ my head just exploded,” she said, noting there are an average of over 463,000 victims of rape and sexual assault who are 12 or older in the United States every year.
Hargitay is also a victim of sexual violence and opened up earlier this year about her past experience with rape because she “wanted to give it a name.”
In her speech, Hargitay reflected on the time around the Joyful Heart Foundation’s beginnings, saying, “I thought, ‘How can it be that everyone is not talking about this?’ And I still feel that way.”
She explained that while “the statistics persist” despite “the landscape around these issues” thankfully changing, she’s proud of the work her foundation has done, is doing and will continue to do.
“I see this light that we shine today — this beautiful, stately, enduring, resilient building that I love so deeply,” she continued, growing emotional, “as a symbol of the attention that I want on these issues and the survivors who are the people behind these issues to get every day.
“I want the light of our attention, of our compassion, of our desire for change, and most of all, our commitment to dismantling the systems that make this violence possible, to illuminate every building, everywhere, in every heart everywhere, and every mind everywhere, every day — and all the time.”
She added: “And wouldn’t it be nice if this is how change worked, if this is how advocacy worked, that we could just flip a switch.”
Hargitay noted that’s what she was doing today and “day by day,” but “most importantly”: “We’re doing it together.”
She concluded her speech on behalf of her team at Joyful Heart and “all the survivors” that she carries in her heart.
“Thank you for this unbelievable and extraordinary opportunity to shed this beautiful and vital and urgent light on these issues.”
Hargitay was then presented with a gift on behalf of the Empire State Realty Trust: a mini-Empire State Building statue. But before she walked away, Hargitay wanted to say a bit more.
She again got emotional while recalling that “nobody wanted to talk about” the statistics of rape and sexual violence when she started on “SVU,” noting people normally swept those issues under the rug because “these are such difficult things to talk about.”
“To be here today and have the biggest light in the world shining on the issue of sexual assault, when there are so many, is so profound in its history,” Hargitay tearfully explained. “And the world is changing.”
She concluded by thanking her team and the “awesome Empire State Building for all your beauty, and all your glory, and all your braveness, and for making the world a better place.”
It’s shaping up to be a big month for Hargitay, who, in addition to celebrating the 25th season of “SVU,” directed the season’s ninth episode, “Children of Wolves,” which is set to air Thursday, April 11, at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.
She also directed another episode in Season 24 called “King of the Moon,” and stopped by TODAY last year to talk about her love of the craft.
“It was one of the most joyous, creative highlights of my time at ‘SVU’ — truly,” she said.
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