Mariska Hargitay Says She Has “Secondary Trauma” From Law & Order: SVU

Seeking justice is no small task—just ask Mariska Hargitay.

The Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star admitted that the heavy subject matter of the show, which premieres its 26th season Oct. 3, can be hard to shake off.

“That’s been a process,” Hargitay told Selena Gomez in a new sit-down for Interview magazine published Sept. 23. “When I started the show, I wasn’t aware of how deeply it would go into me. My husband Peter is always like, anytime I go anywhere, my first question is, What’s the crime rate here?’ So it’s on the brain.”

The Emmy winner—whose portrayal of Olivia Benson is the longest-running live-action character in primetime TV history—confessed that the show’s focus on crimes such as sexual assault, child abuse and domestic violence does take a toll.

“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 and knowing that they were true,” Hargitay explained. “Those were the parts that I didn’t know how to metabolize, just because of the sheer volume of it.”