Law & Order: SVU star Mariska Hargitay has always been known for her dedication and willingness to perform her own stunts. However, as she entered her 60s, she recognized the need to step back from the more physically demanding aspects of her role.
Hargitay’s journey in Hollywood wasn’t always smooth. In her 20s, she struggled to find steady acting work. It wasn’t until she was cast as Olivia Benson in her 30s that her career truly took off, providing her with financial stability and fame.
Now in her 60s, Hargitay is firmly established as one of the highest-paid actors on television. She has embraced this new chapter of her life with enthusiasm, finding many positives in turning 60. Speaking to the Joyful Heart Foundation, she shared, “I love it. You have clarity, you know who you are—decisions are easier.”
Yet, aging has also brought some challenges, especially for someone as physically active as Hargitay. She candidly discussed the changes she’s experienced: “Your metabolism starts to slow down. Everything starts to sag. In my head, I still think I’m a 20-year-old athlete,” she said. Hargitay, who has always been athletic and a dedicated runner, found it tough to accept that her body couldn’t keep up with her youthful spirit.
Her co-star, Chris Meloni, who maintains a rigorous fitness routine, shares similar sentiments. Reflecting on their earlier years, Hargitay recalled, “We used to do our own stunts. Always. For 10 years, we said, ‘We have to do our own stunts.’ We’d have to be badasses. I don’t know what we were trying to prove. And now we’re both like, ‘No way! Let the stunt double do it!’ The fact is, we can get hurt, and we do get hurt.”
This realization was reinforced by a serious injury Hargitay sustained while filming an action scene. In an interview with Redbook, she recounted the incident: “I jumped and landed on pads, but on the second take something happened—I just landed wrong. I got up and felt that something inside was not quite right. At first, I thought I had the wind knocked out of me. I was angry with myself. Later, I thought maybe I’d pulled a muscle, but I didn’t focus on the injury and kept expecting it to get better.”
Three months later, her condition worsened, with chest pains and shortness of breath. Fearing a heart attack, especially given her family history, she sought medical help. “They took an X-ray and found that my right lung was 50 percent collapsed. I began to panic. I was so scared. I had a procedure hoping to stave off more serious surgery, but it didn’t work, and I ended up in surgery about two weeks later,” she explained.
Even after her recovery, the injury reoccurred. “After I got the clearance to go back to work, everything was normal. They told me the injured lung was now stronger than the healthy one and that there was a greater chance of the healthy lung collapsing than the right one going down again. Then, on March 5, it happened again. I was one out of 1,000, statistically,” she said.
Despite these physical setbacks, Hargitay remains undeterred. She continues to excel on SVU, embodying a character that has grown with her over the years. She embraces aging, seeing it as a journey of growth and improvement. “The age thing was never something I was scared of. I didn’t get cast until I was 35, and then the show kept going as I aged. At 45, we’d been on for ten years and I just met my husband. The man of my dreams. I got married at 40. I had August at 42. So it was like defying all the odds,” she shared with People.
Mariska Hargitay’s story is a testament to resilience, adaptability, and the power of embracing each stage of life with grace and determination.