All About Mariska Hargitay & Peter Hermann's 3 Kids

Yahoo

18 hours ago

Despite Hollywood being known for celebrity relationships that come and go, Mariska Hargitay has defied the norm over the years. Not only has the Law & Order: SVU star been happily married to her husband Peter Hermann since 2004, but the two of them have created a beautiful family of five.
Hargitay and Hermann are proud parents to three kids. The actress gave birth to her first son, August, on June 28, 2006. At the time, his birth made headlines because Hargitay was 42 at the time.
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In 2011, Hargitay and Hermann added more members to their crew by adopting their daughter Amaya in April 2011, and their youngest son Andrew six months later in October.
'Our family is so perfect, or at least perfect for me,' Hargitay told People in 2018. 'Together we're just this whole, happy, joyful, chaotic, crazy unit. I've never known anything that was more right.'
Check out everything we know about Hargitay and Hermann's kids below:
Over the years, August and his siblings have all happily joined their mom at public events. In June 2025, they even turned heads in matching black and white chic looks at the My Mom Jayne premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival.
But August has joined his mom for mother-son solo outings too. They've attended the US Open together as a tradition in 2014, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
When Hargitay and Hermann adopted August's younger siblings in 2011, the actress gushed to People about how happy then-4-year-old August was at the time.
'He is over the moon,' the actress told the outlet. 'He calls her his baby because he says the whole thing was his idea. He always talks about how he's going to protect her. He's going to be a great big brother.'
In 2023, Hargitay and Hermann were announced as the new inductees for the Stuttering Association for the Young's Hall of Fame. Their involvement with the Association started when August's stuttering started and he was looking for a community.
'Our son stutters and it was so beautiful to have this lovely community to introduce him to and learn about it from the experts,' Hargitay told People.
'I think that being in a place where you're surrounded by the people who are dealing with the same thing you are is super special,' August told the outlet. 'In school, there aren't a lot of other people, or on the sports teams you play, at the organizations you go to, at the events I'm at with my parents. There's always a lot of pressure and conversation. So to be in a place where the edge is off and it's encouraged, it's welcomed? It's special.'
Since his teen years, August has shown fans that he got his dad's tall genes and has grown taller than his mom. In some red carpet pics, he looks a full head taller than Hargitay (and we're guessing she's wearing heels too!).
As the oldest one in his family, August made Hargitay and Hermann empty-nesters for the first time when he went off her college in the fall of 2024. His college and major have yet to be revealed, but we know his parents are so proud.
'My husband Peter and I are in the process of watching our oldest son graduate from high school,' Hargitay said in her speech at the Gotham TV Awards. 'And we've been shuffling around our house for the last few months just muttering, 'Where does the time go? Where's the time go? What happened?''
Amaya joined the Hargitay-Hermann household in 2011, and she was welcomed with open arms. 'I'm deliriously happy,' Hargitay told People at the time. 'From the minute she was born, she was just surprisingly alert and so full of love.'
'We were considering both international and domestic adoption and we're thrilled that this is the way our prayers were answered,' she said. 'We talked a lot about mixed-race adoptions, and we are very excited that we are now a multi-racial family. We're just so happy she's here.'
In an interview with Good Housekeeping, Hargitay revealed that she and her husband were right there in the delivery room when Amaya was born.
'I basically pulled Amaya out,' she said, per People. 'Peter and I held her, and then the birth mother and I hugged for a long time. That was profound. That was one of the most meaningful moments I've ever had in my life.'
Taylor Swift fans out there know that the singer is a big fan of Hargitay and her SVU character Olivia Benson (after all, she named one of her cats after her!). So, it was so sweet to find out in 2023 that not only is Hargitay a Swiftie, but so is Amaya!
The mom and daughter attended the premiere of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour movie in October 2023 side by side, per Access Hollywood. On the carpet, Amaya and Hargitay made fun poses for the cameras. Amaya also showed off her signature style that night in a black moto jacket over a tutu-inspired tulle dress.
One week after Hargitay and Hermann expressed their desire to adopt again after Amaya, they welcomed their youngest son, Andrew, who was born a few months earlier.
'We never in a million years thought it would happen this quickly, but something inside of us knew that this was right, and we said, 'Yes, yes, yes!'' she told People at the time. 'We knew this was our guy. Everything about it felt right. It felt divinely right.'
With only a few months between him and his sister Amaya, the two bonded right away. 'They'll lie in the crib together, and she'll hold his hand and put her arm around him,' Hargitay said after his adoption. 'She's already so protective of him.' How adorable is that?
In January 2024, Hargitay revealed that Andrew freaked out after he learned that his mom was a voice in Tales From Earthsea, a Japanese anime fantasy film from 2006.
'He found out that I was in this movie. He said, 'What? You're in this movie?' And we sat and watched it,' she told People. 'And I'm sitting on the couch with my 12-year-old son who, first of all, [thinks] the movie's good, but he just thought it was the coolest thing.'
'So for him to see me in this movie that he loves, he said 'Mom, it's such a cool character,'' she said. 'And it was this moment of had I known that, almost 20 years ago, that I would have this moment with my son that was so bonding and sacred, I just sat there going, 'I don't know that life gets better than this moment.''Best of SheKnows
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