Mariska Hargitay has been playing beloved TV character Olivia Benson for almost half of her life, and while it “has surpassed my wildest dreams,” she admitted it has taken a toll. In a conversation with Selena Gomez for Interview magazine,

Special Victims Unit' star Mariska Hargitay admits she feels like a "victim of secondary trauma" after 25 years of solving sex crimes on the hit NBC series, adding, "When I started the show, I wasn’t aware of how deeply it would go into me.

There's been times when I didn't know how to protect myself, and I think I was definitely a victim of secondary trauma from being inundated with these stories," said Mariska Hargitay.

SVU' star Mariska Hargitay says the show's storylines gave her 'secondary trauma' and led to her Joyful Heart Foundation.