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Mariska Hargitay Reunited with Kelli Giddish for a Cause Benson & Rollins Would Love
Hargitay and her best friend, Ali Wentworth, met up with Giddish for a special event supporting the SVU star's Joyful Heart Foundation.
Although Mariska Hargitay and Kelli Giddish no longer share the screen full time on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, the two real-life pals recently teamed up to support a great cause — and it looks like they had a blast doing it!
On Sunday, July 14, Hargitay and Giddish reunited to participate in an event supporting the Joyful Heart Foundation, which Hargitay founded in 2004. Hargitay's best friend, actress Ali Wentworth, posted an adorable photo on Instagram to commemorate the occasion — and the SVU stars never looked better!
"We came. She talked. We walked. We support survivors! @thejhf #sisterhood #wewalkthewalk #beachwalk," Wentworth said.
The three friends walked in support of the fantastic cause and Joyful Heart's straightforward mission: to raise awareness and transform society's response to sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse.
"❤️you certainly do walk the walk ❤️," Hargitay sweetly commented a few hours after the photo was posted.
Although it's not the same as seeing Olivia Benson and Amanda Rollins together again on SVU, seeing the stars reunite for such a powerful reason is more than enough to satiate fans' appetites! The duo's last shared scene was Season 24, Episode 9, "And a Trauma in a Pear Tree," and saw Rollins get married — with Benson standing by as a witness.
Mariska Hargitay's best friend Ali Wentworth guest starred on SVU
The two have been best friends for decades (Wentworth even makes the SVU star's birthday cake every year, and the two walked the catwalk together) so it's only natural that Wentworth has had a stint on SVU.
She appeared in Season 17, Episode 8's "Melancholy Pursuit" with the simple role of "Lady in the Park," however, at the time the two were spotted filming together on location during a chilly NYC day.
In 2021 while guest hosting Live with Kelly and Ryan, Wentworth detailed a hilarious story in which she attempted to enlist the help of Olivia Benson. The two actresses went hiking in Tennessee and encountered a black bear.
"I had a complete personality disorder with the bear," Wentworth said. "He was pretty close and I was doing, screaming and then rolling, screaming and then rolling, and he literally looked at me and was like, 'You're a crazy person' and kept going and left."
She continued, "I'm dropping that name because I kept saying, 'You're Olivia Benson, do something, go fight the bear! And she wouldn't fight the bear... We got back because this really sweet couple in their 80s picked us up, it was like, Tim and Joanne, and we were like, 'help, help! We got in the car — I was sitting on Mariska's lap — they drove us back to where we were staying."
Hargitay's Joyful Heart Foundation
Hargitay decided to start the JFH after researching statistics for her iconic role on SVU — and the star realized that her platform on the series could be more far-reaching than she initially thought. On the JFH website, Hargitay explained why she started the foundation:
I obviously had my role to play on television, but I felt a great responsibility to these brave women and men and wanted them to know that they had been heard and that they could have hope. I studied the subject, trained to become a crisis counselor and used my visibility as an actress to become an advocate. I knew I wanted to play a role in healing that pain, ending the isolation, and honoring the great courage survivors were showing by reaching out for help.
The result was the Joyful Heart Foundation.
I started the Joyful Heart Foundation in 2004 to help survivors of sexual assault heal their minds, bodies and spirits and reclaim their lives. The pursuit of justice can be an integral part of that healing. Even though the landscape around these issues has changed so dramatically—thanks both to years of advocacy and to many brave new voices—we all know that it takes courage for a society to turn towards these issues, to risk talking about them. I am proud to stand with survivors, advocates and members of the criminal justice community to send a powerful message to other survivors: "We hear you. You have suffered enough. Your healing—and pursuit of justice—are our priorities."
As is well-documented, Hargitay has always cherished her on-screen role as Benson and has never shied away from using her platform to advocate for what really matters in life. It's one of the main reasons why fans are so drawn to the actress — after all, it's comforting to know that the person portraying such a loving, caring person on-screen is just the same when the cameras stop rolling.
