The Knicks’ stunning comeback in Game 4 of the NBA Finals spawned a treasure trove of viral moments — and not just the clip of OG Anunoby tipping in the game-winning basket with 1.2 seconds left. Footage of Mariska Hargitay celebrating the surprise victory alongside Taylor Swift instantly became a big #mood among sports and pop culture fans.
Wednesday was Hargitay’s second night in a row at the Garden, after watching Game 3 with her on-screen partner, Christopher Meloni. Her dedication to the team was put to the test for Game 4: She booked it over to Madison Square Garden right after finishing her performance of Every Brilliant Thing, the one-person Broadway play that she’s starring in (and recently featured a guest appearance by our very own Katie Couric).
“MSG is pretty sacred to me,” Hargitay tells Katie Couric Media in an interview. She's seen Bruce Springsteen and Swift there, but she's got a soft spot for the Knicks. The actress has developed a surprising friendship with Jalen Brunson — and she's the only celebrity the guard hugs after games. “He’s so inspiring,” she says of the basketball star. “He’s just amazing.”
These joyful, high-energy clips of her supporting the team are very different than what we're used to seeing of her. For 27 seasons, she's led Law & Order: SVU, playing the tireless champion for survivors who has worked her way up from detective to captain. While some actors might resent being synonymous with their biggest role, Hargitay has leaned into it. She doesn’t just solve sex crimes on TV; off-camera, her foundation Joyful Heart has been fighting for sexual assault and domestic violence survivors since 2004. Just last month, Hargitay’s work helped pass rape kit reform laws in all 50 states through its “End the Backlog” campaign, which aims to eliminate the hundreds of thousands of untested evidence boxes sitting in storage across the country.
She's also a cancer advocate. She lost her father, Mickey Hargitay, to multiple myeloma in 2006 — and she's now teaming up with Bristol Myers Squibb on a new initiative, Investigating Myeloma, to educate people on the complex form of blood cancer, which is the second most common blood cancer in the U.S.
Hargitay’s versatility is on full display in our wide-ranging conversation that touches on everything from sports to SVU to Broadway.
Katie Couric Media: What would a Knicks championship mean for you?
Mariska Hargitay: In this time in our country that's so divided, the Knicks have been very unifying — especially for New Yorkers. The way the team has brought the city together has been extraordinary. Seeing what hard work and determination do, what keeping hope and never giving up do, what Jalen's leadership has accomplished, and how the team has shown up in this extraordinary way has been very inspiring to many people.
The vibes are game-changing, and there's a beautiful love and a bond in the team spirit. You see somebody in a Knicks hat, and you're like, “Hi! We’re in it together!” It's really beautiful.
Speaking of other quintessentially New York things, I have to ask about SVU. In season 27, retirement came up for your character. Is that something that you're thinking about?
Not anymore! I think that in any job that's this difficult and taxing, where you see the darkest of what humanity can do to each other, it's natural not to want to subject yourself to it, especially when you feel you're not making a difference. It takes such an extraordinary amount of hope and discipline to stay in a job where this is what you see. But it’s important for us to show how it affects these characters — to explore the question, how do you put yourself back together after you see these stories?
You've done a lot of work for survivors of sexual assault. How does that make you feel?
It’s everything. The reason I started my foundation, Joyful Heart, was because I needed a way to respond to the material that I was immersed in, both on-camera and off. Not only was I dealing with the subject matter [of sexual assault] every day, but then people were disclosing their stories of abuse to me [in real life]. I couldn't stay on the show without having a response to the statistics. For me, it was incredibly empowering to tell these stories about what is, unfortunately, an epidemic in our country and around the world, and then do something about it. We’re raising awareness, helping people, providing community, and we're changing laws.
One thing I appreciate about SVU is that it’s never shied away from tackling real-world issues, like corruption and ICE. How do you approach that, given the environment we’re in?
It does take on a new meaning, and it makes us only double down and reinvest. It makes me never want to leave the show. At some point, I'm going to have to, but I think the stories we're telling are so important. Something so personal and profound has been taken away from survivors of sexual assault — violently, forcibly stolen from them, really. But the show provides a lot of healing and community for victims of assault. That makes me want to stay on it forever, because the fact is, you aren't alone. The shame and the stigma belong to the perpetrator, not to the person who had it done to them.
Is there a case or topic you've seen and thought, I really hope we cover this?
There always is, and they always get dealt with. The writers are constantly ripping stories from the headlines, which is, I think, why people still feel so engaged in the storytelling. In a way, it's mirroring society. Sometimes they're an amalgamation of stories, because we only have 42 minutes to tell the story, and that's part of the landscape of television. But it's been an extraordinary journey, and a very powerful one to be on.
Switching gears, why did you want to get involved with this initiative around myeloma?
The short answer is hope — wanting to honor my father and other people with multiple myeloma, and provide hope for them. The landscape is changing, and it inspired me so much to learn that Bristol Myers Squibb is running this incredible campaign on cell mod research and myeloma. New research is changing the landscape for people with multiple myeloma. It is very exciting, and I wish that my dad were still here, so he could benefit from this. But telling his story, and telling the stories of people with multiple myeloma, is really important, because it's very difficult to navigate, but it's becoming easier with this research and this campaign.
What was it like dealing with your dad’s diagnosis?
Brutal. It was really hard, and we were not prepared for it. We were in shock. I knew nothing about multiple myeloma. I first noticed my dad's behavior was different at my wedding. I misinterpreted [what was going on]. I thought he must be having an emotional reaction to my getting married. Afterward, we realized he was having bone pain and fatigue that was unrecognizable. He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, and we could hardly comprehend it or process it. But my dad navigated it beautifully and heroically, with such hope and grace.
We were quite hopeful for the first 14-15 months, but then we saw that the inevitable was coming. The silver lining was that we got very focused time with him and got to say goodbye to all, which is always a gift. Now, I’m just very inspired by the fact that the landscape is changing and that there is hope. With this campaign, I want to remind people that getting this diagnosis is a time to come together and be in community — not to isolate and retreat, but to stay connected, support each other, and love each other. Because it's hard, and that love is what's going to get you through to the other side.
