Mariska Hargitay's Kids: All About Family With Husband Peter Hermann - Yahoo News
"Law & Order: SVU" star Mariska Hargitay and husband Peter Hermann are parents to three kids: August, 16, Amaya, 11, and Andrew, 10.
In 2006, Hargitay, 58, and Hermann, 55, welcomed August, and adopted Amaya and Andrew months apart in 2011.
"The thing that's made me a better parent is my kids," Hargitay told People in March 2018. "Because they taught me to really listen. My husband is my North Star, and my kids are my teachers."
"Our family is so perfect, or at least perfect for me," Hargitay, who plays Olivia Benson on "Law & Order: SVU," said. "Together we're just this whole, happy, joyful, chaotic, crazy unit. I've never known anything that was more right."
Speaking to Glamour in 2021, Hargitay said that she is different than her "SVU" character, and that comes through especially at home: "I like to laugh. like to make my kids laugh. And comedy has a real currency in our household."
Hargitay also spoke about how her own parents shaped her. Hargitay's mom, the actor Jayne Mansfield, died in a car accident when she was a toddler, leaving her father, actor and former Mr. Universe bodybuiler Mickey Hargitay, to raise her. She said she spent her childhood in a "frozen place."
Read on to learn more about Hargitay and Hermann's three kids.
August Miklos Friedrich Hermann, 16
On June 28, 2006, Hargitay and Hermann welcomed their first child, son August Miklos Friedrich Hermann.
In January 2007, Harigtay told SELF magazine that she developed gestational diabetes in her third trimester with August. Hargitay explained she ate to cope with the 15-hour work days on the set of "Law and Order: SVU."
"I was overwhelmed by my lack of energy," she said. "All I could do to survive was to eat."
"First time pregnant, you're like, I gotta eat more! I have to make sure he has enough of every single food group!" she added. "I did get into eating too much. This pregnancy was really hard for me at the end. I wasn't mobile."
Hargitay ended up giving birth to August via an emergency c-section delivery.
In a later interview with her charity the Joyful Heart Foundation, Hargitay described her son as a "compassionate guy."
Amaya Josephine Hermann, 11
In April 2011, Hargitay and Hermann adopted their first kid, daughter Amaya Josephine Hermann.
"I'm deliriously happy," Hargitay told People at the time. "From the minute she was born, she was just surprisingly alert and so full of love."
Hargitay said that she and her hubby considered both "international and domestic adoption," and that Amaya ended up being from the United States. "We're thrilled that this is the way our prayers were answered," she said.
Hargitay added that she and Hermann were deliberate in how they chose to expand their family. "We talked a lot about mixed-race adoptions, and we are very excited that we are now a multi-racial family. We're just so happy she's here," she said.
August thought that Amaya's arrival was all his idea, according to his mom. While speaking to her charity the Joyful Heart Foundation, Hargitay explained that August came home from a playdate one day and said that he wanted a little sister.
"When he said that, my husband, Peter, and I looked at each other and replied, 'It is so interesting you said that,'" she recalled.
"When we went ahead with the adoption, August thought it was his idea. Then he wanted a little boy. We said, really? A miracle happened and our second son, Andrew, fell out of the sky and into our home," she said.
Andrew Nicolas Hargitay Hermann, 10
Andrew is Hermann and Hargitay's youngest child. The couple adopted him in October 2011, months after the arrival after Amaya in April of that same year.
In June 2019, Hargitay told People that Andrew's arrival was a "little unexpected."
"We adopted Amaya, and Andrew, I always describe (him) as this angel that fell out of the sky," she said at the time.
"It's something that happened very quickly, when adoption can take a long time," Hargitay added. "We were so beautifully and surprisingly … not because we're not in sync, but surprisingly in sync about something so huge. So momentous."
While speaking to Parents, Hargitay noted that her kids are all different so she treats each one of them differently.
"My kids are so different, so they respond to different things," she said. "We do a Big Muscles class for Andrew, who was born premature. That class has helped him with balance and development. My daughter, on the other hand, loves music. She comes alive and just starts dancing when the music and drumming starts... and August is a swimmer."
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
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