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To most people, Mariska Hargitay is known as Olivia Benson, the badass police detective-turned-captain in Law & Order: SVU. But at home, the 59-year-old actress is simply known as “Mom” to her three kids, whom she shares with husband Peter Hermann. Mariska married Peter, who is best known for his role in Younger, in 2004, and not long after they became proud parents to son August Miklos Hermann, 17, daughter Amaya Josephine Hermann, 12, and son Andrew Nicholas Hermann, 12. In recent years, she’s been accompanied by her kids to occasional red carpet events, and she’s shared cute family photos on her social media, like when she attended “The Eras Tour” with her daughter or shared a photo of her son on a recent family vacation.
Mariska welcomed her younger two children via adoption, and over the years she’s been open about how much joy she gets out of motherhood. “The thing that’s made me a better parent is my kids,” she told People in 2018. “Because they taught me to really listen. My husband is my North Star, and my kids are my teachers.” Here is everything you need to know about Mariska and Peter’s three children.
August Miklos Hermann
Mariska Hargitay, Peter Hermann and son August at the 2016 Joyful Revolution Gala in NY (Photo: Andy Kropa/Invision/AP/Shutterstock)
Mariska and Peter welcomed son August on June 28, 2006, less than two years after the couple’s wedding. Mariska had to undergo an emergency cesarean section, which came after a difficult pregnancy for the actress. She was diagnosed with gestational diabetes in her third semester, due to eating so much to keep up her energy to film SVU. But Mariska eventually gave birth to a healthy baby boy, which she had long been awaiting. “Nobody wanted to be pregnant more than me,” the star told Self Magazine in 2007. “From the minute I found out, I was wearing full-on maternity pants. My stomach was totally flat, mind you, but I was just so excited.”
August is now a teenager, and he’s been snapped on his mom’s social media pages before. Most recently, the actress shared a rare photo of the teen during a vacation to Kenya. She shared a selfie where he was sitting in the backseat behind her, and she included the caption “Safari Life” in the cute family photo.
Mariska has also opened up before about having a hard time missing out on things for August due to her career. “I get jealous that other people get to take August to school and pick him up. It’s hard for me to go to his school and not know all the parents,” she said in a previous interview. “They all know one another and it’s a community. I can’t always be a part of that. You can’t have everything, though.”
Amaya Josephine Hermann
Mariska Hargitay and daughter Amaya on the ‘Law & Order’ set in NY on Sept. 13, 2016 (Photo: SplashNews)
Mariska and Peter wanted to still expand their family after August’s birth, but were weary considering Mariska’s health issues. So, the couple looked into adoption, and on April 7, 2011, they adopted Amaya Josephine from Africa after attending her birth. “I basically pulled Amaya out,” Mariska told Good Housekeeping in 2012 about Amya’s birth. “Peter and I held her, and then the birth mother and I hugged for a long time. That was profound. That was one of the most meaningful moments I’ve ever had in my life.”
Amaya is also clearly a Swiftie! The mother-daughter duo attended Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” in Nashville in May 2023. The SVU actress raved about the “pure magic” of Taylor’s performance in an Instagram post. “Thank you magnificent and miraculous @TaylorSwift for your magic. It’s such a gift to be in your stunning, sparkly, powerful and délicate wonderland. How do you make a stadium filled with 70,000 people feel like your cozy living room,” she wrote in a caption.
The shared love of Taylor’s music didn’t end with the concert! Amaya was also Mariska’s date when she attended the red carpet premiere of The Eras Tour movie in October 2023. The two of them posed on the red carpet for a few fabulous photos.
Andrew Nicholas Hermann
Peter Hermann and son Andrew at an NBA game on Feb. 24, 2018 (Photo: JOHN ANGELILLO/UPI/Newscom/MEGA)
In October 2011, just a few months after they brought home Amaya, Mariska and Peter adopted a second child, son Andrew Nicholas, who was born two months premature. The couple’s adoption lawyer called them to inform them that a friend of theirs, named Andrew, had died, and also filled them in on a baby that needed a home. “It was like…a miracle. And I don’t use that word lightly,” Mariska told Good Housekeeping of adopting a second child. “I’ve never made a bigger decision so quickly. The whole thing happened in a total of two days. The couple decided to name their second son Andrew, after their friend who had passed.
Since completing her family, Mariska has been open about how raising three children wasn’t always easy. “It’s a lot, but that’s what you do. That’s life. You’ve gotta go with it. The highs are high, and the lows are low,” she said. And speaking of the highs, Mariska has made it clear that of all her blessings in life, being a mother is the best one. “Our family is so perfect, or at least perfect for me,” she said in her 2018 People interview. “Together we’re just this whole, happy, joyful, chaotic, crazy unit. I’ve never known anything that was more right.”
While celebrating the 25th anniversary of SVU, Mariska explained that her son doesn’t yet totally understand just how big of a deal her mom’s role on the series is in a 2024 People interview. “He thinks I play a cop on TV, end of story,” she explained. “So he asked ‘Why does everyone say I love you’ when we’re walking down the street?'”
