Mariska Hargitay hosted the 2026 Emmys on Sept. 14, becoming the first woman to host the ceremony in 15 years. The actress, best known for playing Olivia Benson on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," took the stage just over a week after picking up two awards of her own.
Hargitay has been nominated eight times for her lead role on "SVU," winning the award in 2006. On Sept. 5, she won two Creative Arts Emmys for "My Mom Jayne," a documentary she directed about her late mother, actress Jayne Mansfield. Her husband, Peter Hermann, was there to celebrate. Hargitay posted a photo to Instagram on Sept. 6 of herself holding the two gold statues, captioning it, "God I love him."
A case two decades in the making
Two decades ago, Hargitay wondered whether her love life had gone cold. "I was single. I was 35," she recalled on "The Drew Barrymore Show" in 2022, "and my friends were like, 'Mariska, you need to get out more. Nobody's going to just show up on your show and ask you marry them.' And I was like, 'Oh yeah?'"
Hermann made his first appearance on "SVU" in a 2002 episode titled "Monogamy," playing defense attorney Trevor Langan. He and Hargitay began dating soon after, when he invited her to church for their first date. "I'm crying, and he thinks that I'm so moved by the sermon," said Hargitay, who has also starred in "Every Brilliant Thing." "And I'm crying because I'm like, 'I know I'm going to marry him. I found my husband. I love him.'"
Building a family
Hermann has said he knew he wanted to marry Hargitay after attending her 40th birthday party. "I actually saw Mariska with all of the people that she loved around her," he told People in 2019. "It was like seeing this person who was now in the soil, that she was just dying to be planted in it. Right? Which was this abundance of people and this abundance of love and I thought, 'I want to be part of that soil.'"
The couple married in 2004. Hargitay gave birth to son August two years later and adopted daughter Amaya and son Andrew in 2011. "I think my family is my biggest place of success in my life," she said on "Call Her Daddy" in 2025. "It's everything that I wanted. My husband is everything that I wanted. My husband is my home, my cheerleader, makes me laugh. He can fix anything, and the best dad."
The secret to 22 years together
Hargitay has offered a few explanations for what has kept the marriage strong. "We listen to each other and root for each other, and challenge each other and are committed and so invested," she told E! News in 2024. "We want the same things, and we cherish our union. That comes first."
In June, she told E! her new favorite phrase is "disciplined curiosity." "Really being curious about the other person and how they experience something and really listening," she explained. "I think that we get fearful, so we tighten up. But my husband is a great listener and an extremely thoughtful person, and he's taught me so much about that. So if there is ever a disagreement or an argument or we get scared or tight, I know that he will always think about it or think about what I said. So now, I'm like that: if we disagree on something, I really will try to understand what he means."
Humor helps too. "It's sort of everything for us," Hargitay said. "Because if you can joke about it, then there's a little bit of perspective and it's another way in and to say, 'I love you. I'm sorry. I'm still here. Can we laugh? Because no matter what, we're going to figure this out.'"
Sunday's big winners
"The Pitt" won outstanding drama series, and its star Noah Wyle won lead actor in a drama series. Rhea Seehorn won lead actress in a drama series for "Pluribus." "Widow's Bay" took outstanding comedy series, with Matthew Rhys winning lead actor in a comedy series for the show, while Jean Smart won lead actress in a comedy series for "Hacks."
"DTF St. Louis" won outstanding limited or anthology series. Rhys also won lead actor in a limited series or movie, for a different role, in "The Beast in Me," and Sally Field won lead actress in a limited series or movie for "Remarkably Bright Creatures." "The Traitors" won outstanding reality competition program, and its host, Alan Cumming, won outstanding host for a reality or reality competition program. "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" won outstanding variety series, and Jimmy Kimmel won outstanding host for a game show for "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?"
The 2026 Emmys aired Sept. 14 at 8 p.m. EST on NBC and Peacock.
