Mariska Hargitay Shows off Her Rarely-Seen 3 Children Years after ‘Painful’ Adoption

• Hollywood actress Mariska Hargitay made a rare appearance with her kids at a Benefit Gala.
• She and her husband, American actor Peter Hermann, have one biological son and two adopted children.
• After going through a difficult time with the adoption process, the mom of three is no longer reluctant to show her kids off.

While attending the 2023 Stuttering Association for the Young Benefit Gala, Hollywood actress Mariska Hargitay and her dashing husband, Peter Hermann, stepped out to show support. Though the stars’ appearances were something to marvel at, what was even more pleasantly surprising was the presence of their rarely-seen children.

As Hargitay and Hermann took center stage on the carpet, three kids trailed along behind them. August, 16, Andrew, 11, and Amaya, 12, joined their parents for the special event.

Posing for a family picture, Hargitay looked stunning in a pastel green colored wrap-around dress and wore her luscious brown hair loose as she protectively held onto her daughter, Amaya’s shoulder, who looked gorgeous in an off-the-shoulder floral dress. The little girl stood beside her big brother, Andrew, who adorned a dapper suit that matched his father’s.

The eldest son, August, was situated in the middle of Mom and Dad in a blue long-sleeved t-shirt with a big smile on his face while his father placed a loving arm around his shoulders. August was born in 2006, and his siblings were adopted five years later, within six months of each other.

The “Welcome to 18” star has been married to her husband, Hermann, for 18 years, and the couple is still going strong. When asked about what the secret to being married for so long is, Hermann indicated that it all comes down to creating moments of joy and laughter:

“I never thought I would have this much laughter in my life. Not just actual laughter but also the way that Mariska is just the embodiment of laughter – of joy.”

Creating happy moments is imperative for the Hargitay-Hermann clan, and the family makes an avid point to engage in all sorts of fun family filled activities together. However, things were not always so rosy and peachy for the family, as Hargitay revealed that they had actually faced an array of challenges when going through the adoption process for both Amaya and Andrew.

Having lost her mom at a very young age, Hargitay was primarily raised by her dad and stepmom. In this transition, she gained a few half-siblings, which prompted her to recognize that a family has the possibility of being formed in more ways than one, as opposed to the general nuclear way.

Hermann got down on bended knee and popped the question with a stunning weathered platinum band set adorned with nine round diamonds, and they wed in 2004.

Opening up about the sometimes “devastating” times she and her husband went through when pursuing adoption, Hargitay warns that adoption is definitely not a process for the faint of heart. Hargitay’s family plan had always accounted for the presence of more than one child, and after she gave birth to her firstborn son at the age of 42, the couple knew they wanted a bigger family.

As a young girl who grew up with a stepmom and half-siblings, Hargitay always knew she wanted to adopt. A family vacation in Thailand further solidified this sense of early maternal instinct that she had inside of her:

“I remember being in Thailand and India when I was 9 or 10 and seeing kids alone in the street and thinking, ‘Where are their moms?’ They were so amazingly resourceful and soulful, and smart. And somewhere inside of me – even [being] so young – I had that maternal instinct, [and] I remember thinking, ‘I want to take them all home!’ “

After meeting Hermann and getting married in 2004, around 2010, the pair decided to start their adoption process. The couple went through trial and error and endured a five-hour-long home visit to no avail:

“There were several cases that didn’t work out. A lot of different kinds of complications [and] then after disappointments, came the big hope – which ended up being dashed. But, while it may be ironic, the hardest disappointment was also the greatest moment in terms of what it means to help build a family.”

An emotional toll started to affect the couple, constantly having their hopes of a successful adoption thwarted by different reasons, like, the birthmother changing her mind at the last minute in one instance, which Hargitay describes as extremely “painful,” to say the least. However, through perseverance, durability, and leaning on each other, they eventually became successful.

Precious baby Amaya Josephine Hermann was welcomed into the Hargitay-Hermann clan just a few weeks shy of being born in the U.S. Hargitay, and her husband were over the moon about her arrival and instantly fell in love with the gorgeous little girl. Four to six months later, her baby brother, Andrew Nicolas, joined the crew, born two months premature.

Andrew was a bonus baby, as the couple had thought they were done adopting. Still, after receiving another call from their lawyer asking them if they were interested, they found it impossible to say no. As for what protective big brother August had to say about the whole ordeal, his loving mom reported the following:

“August thinks this was all his idea! He said, ‘I want a baby sister,’ and Amaya came. Then he said, ‘I want a baby brother,’ and Andrew came. August is feeling pretty good and pretty powerful!”

As the heads of their family, it’s clear that Hargitay and Hermann value the importance of building a family based on love, joy, and cultural inclusivity. How they raise their children reveals a lot about who they are as individuals and as a couple.

Hermann was born in New York but was raised in Germany until 10. After moving back to the States, he studied and mastered the English language at Yale University and became an English teacher for some time before pivoting to acting. Once he found his passion, Hermann scored a guest appearance on the second season of the critically acclaimed series “Law & Order: SVU,” where he met his future wife and series regular Hargitay.

Before they wed in 2004, the couple went out on a first date after initially meeting on set. Hargitay claimed that she instantly knew that he was the one for her the minute Hermann invited her to church for their first date:

“I just knew, and again it just, you know, listen, the story of having your husband invite you to church for the first date, you’re like, ‘Really Peter? Really?’ It was so perfect [and] I just started sobbing. Peter thought I was crying because I was so moved by the service [but] no, it was because I was just overwhelmed realizing he was the one.”

When it comes to Hermann giving his account of the moment he knew Hargitay was the one for him, the actor positions his feelings in a slightly more philosophical way. According to Hermann:

“It was Mariska’s 40th birthday, and I actually saw Mariska with all of the people that she loved around her [and] it was like seeing this person who was now in the soil, that she was just dying to be planted in. Which was this abundance of people and this abundance of love, and I thought, ‘I want to be part of that soil.’ And that was the moment when I had not just parted the soil, but [became] a lot of the soil.”

Hermann got down on bended knee and popped the question with a stunning weathered platinum band set adorned with nine round diamonds, and they wed in 2004. The couple has remained happily married ever since, and Hermann credits the sustenance and strength of their relationship to the way in which they always find their way back to each other, through the good times and the bad:

“It’s the way we find our way back to each other. It’s this fantastically, wonderfully ridiculous way that we can swing back and forth any number of times [on] any given day, but fundamentally we know we have the same destination. We know where we’re headed, and it’s good, and we know we’ll get there together.”

Hargitay and Hermann have built their dream family with their adorable three kids. Despite being confronted with hurdles head-on during the time when they were building their desired family, they persevered together and came out thriving on the other side.