Mariska Hargitay revealed this week that she's a survivor of sexual assault -- something a number of orgs advocating on behalf of victims are singing her praises over, for good reason.
The actress penned a gut-wrenching piece for People this week detailing her experience -- which detailed what she says was an outright rape committed by someone she considered a friend in her 30s. She doesn't specify when it happened, but she does remember it vividly.
She says, "I tried all the ways I knew to get out of it. I tried to make jokes, to be charming, to set a boundary, to reason, to say no. He grabbed me by the arms and held me down. I was terrified. I didn’t want it to escalate to violence. I now know it was already sexual violence, but I was afraid he would become physically violent. I went into freeze mode, a common trauma response when there is no option to escape. I checked out of my body."
Afterward, Mariska says she erased this incident from her narrative and tried forgetting it -- although, this issue is still very clearly near and dear to her heart ... evidenced in the fact that she founded the Joyful Heart Foundation, a nonprofit aimed at helping SA survivors.
Of course, there's also the fact she's been playing Det. Olivia Benson on 'Law & Order: SVU' for years now ... and her character is constantly out to catch predators of this nature as well.
Mariska has been getting praised for sharing her experience, but there are some advocacy groups in this space that wanna show her more love and appreciation ... including the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, the New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network and the New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault.
Reps for all 4 orgs tell TMZ that Mariska coming forward continues to strip away the stigma of victims feeling afraid or ashamed to come forward and speak their truth ... noting what she's doing here is helpful to countless other people out there in the world.
Scott Berkowitz of RAINN says, "Mariska Hargitay has already done so much for survivors of sexual violence through her career and her foundation. To now share her personal story is another brave and important act, and we stand by her and all survivors who take this step."
All the groups here tell us just about the same thing -- that Mariska's recounting echoes so much of what victims go through collectively ... and that talking about it encourages others to do the same. With someone as high-profile as her speaking out, it helps pave the way.
As MH says herself, "The experience was horrible. But it doesn’t come close to defining me, in the same way that no other single part of my story defines me. No single part of anyone’s story defines them."