‘Law & Order: SVU’ Star Mariska Hargitay Reveals Update on Her Knee Injury

Law & Order: SVU star Mariska Hargitay has revealed an update on her previous knee injury, which she sustained while on vacation with some friends in 2020. While speaking to Glamour about her life and career for the magazine;’s recent “Women of the Year” special, Hargitay recounted the incident and explained that he initially ignored the injury and just worked through the pain. Unfortunately, that same year, the actress fell and broke her ankle at the Black Widow movie premiere in Long Island.

Eventually, Hargitay had to seek medical treatment, as strongly encouraged by her friend and fellow actress Brooke Shields. “It was really rough, four months of hell,” Hargitay shared. “And I kept saying, as I do about everything, ‘What does this mean? Why is this happening, and what is my responsibility in it?’ And that was the lesson about learning to not push through and to listen to our body. And that’s been a really profound lesson for me, listening to our gut-because that’s our superpower.”

Coincidentally, Shields was present for both accidents and praised Hargitay for her strength and determination. “If anything, it gets harder the longer you’re on it. This type of longevity is very rare,” Shields told Glamour. “She’s incredibly loyal, and she really makes things important to you a priority. She’s never not available to you, never not the first one to celebrate the women in her life. It’s not about competition; she is a girl’s girl, but she doesn’t compete with her girlfriends. And she can hang with the husbands and be hysterical. She can banter.”

In addition to her physical health issues, Hargitay also opened up to Glamour about her mental and emotional health, sharing that for a long time she lived in a “frozen” state of being. “I clearly was in that frozen place for a lot of my childhood-of trying to survive, actually trying to survive,” the 57-year-old actress revealed. “My life has been a process of unpeeling the layers and trust and trusting again. “Hargitay went on to share, “I think I learned about crisis very young, and I learned very young that s— happens and there’s no guarantees, and we keep going. And then we transform it.” 

She added, “That’s been kind of my superpower, and the gift of having trauma early in life. I’ve spent the last 50-how old am I?-57, so 54 years sort of trying to figure out what happened and why, and what am I supposed to do with it?”  Fans can catch Hargitay continuing her on-screen fight against crime and abuse when Law & Order: SVU returns Thursday at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.