Mariska Hargitay looks slender in a royal blue dress at the Empire State Building in NYC as she shines a light on Sexual Assault Awareness month

Mariska Hargitay spoke out for victims of sexual assault on Friday as she helped shine a light on the problem at the Empire State Building in New York City.

The Law and Order: SVU actress and activist, 60, whose Joyful Heart Foundation received a generous donation from Taylor Swift earlier this week, spoke in an impassioned speech about the work she did for some two decades before making the move .

April is Sexual Violence Awareness Month.

“When I first came across the sexual assault and domestic violence statistics on SVU, my head exploded,” said the actress who spent a quarter century starring as detective and now Captain Olivia Benson on the hit cop show.

She noted that there is an average of 463,634 victims of sexual assault and rape age 12 and older in the U.S. each year, emphasizing “that this is almost half a million victims per year.

The Law and Order: SVU actress and activist, 60, who founded the Joyful Heart Foundation, spoke in an impassioned speech about the work she has done over the past two decades before flipping the switch to light up the iconic building

When she first heard this staggering statistic, the Emmy winner said she thought, “how could everyone not be talking about this, and I still feel that way.”

“The landscape around these issues has certainly changed, that God,” she said, adding, “I couldn’t be more proud of the work that Joyful Heart has done and is currently doing and will do, but the statistics persist. The violence continues and the suffering continues.”

She compared the strength and resilience of the New York icon, who was hit by a 4.8 magnitude earthquake on Friday, to the strength and resilience of victims of sexual violence.

The historic landmark was undamaged and the New York Police Department reported no major incidents as a result of the earthquake.

“I want the light of our attention, of our compassion, or our desire for change, and especially of our commitment to dismantle the systems that enable this violence.”

One of the Joyful Heart Foundation’s programs is called Defining Manhood for the Next Generation, which “examines young men’s attitudes about gender roles, masculinity, the characteristics of ‘good men,’ and the male role models who influence these views.” ‘

She became emotional as she accepted the opportunity to illuminate the Empire State Building in the colors of Joyful Heart, blue and green, “on behalf of all the survivors I hold in my heart… to shed this beautiful, vital and urgent light on these issues .’

The veteran actress was joined by two of her three children, August 17, and Amaya, 12, to light up the building.

“When I first came across the sexual assault and domestic violence statistics on SVU, my head exploded,” said the actress who played Olivia Benson on the hit cop show for a quarter century, noting that there was almost half a million victims are 12 years old. + annually in the US

She became emotional as she accepted the opportunity to illuminate the Empire State Building in the colors of Joyful Heart, blue and green, “on behalf of all the survivors I hold in my heart… to shed this beautiful, vital and urgent light on these issues ‘

Hargitay was accompanied by two of her children, Amaya 12, and August 10. She shares them and younger brother Andrew, 11, with husband Peter Hermann, 56. The former model looked sophisticated in a blue body con dress with a V-neck and 3/4 long sleeves

She shares she and younger brother Andrew, 11, with her husband Peter Hermann, 56.

The former model looked sophisticated in a blue body con dress with a V-neck and 3/4 sleeves.

She stepped out in taupe pumps and accessorized with stacked necklaces, including a blue stone pendant.

The Joyful Heart Foundation helps focus educational programs, including those designed to “dismantle the systems that enable (sexual) violence”

Before the ceremony, the veteran actress posed for some photos on the deck of the New York landmark, covering her beautiful blue dress with a cream-colored wool coat.

The coat emphasized the warm skin tone of the actress. Her shoulder-length brown hair was styled in loose curls and she wore camera-ready makeup with a strong red lip

The Law and Order: Organized Crime actress also posted photos on deck, covered in a cream-colored wool coat, which highlighted her warm skin tone.

Her shoulder-length brown hair was styled in loose curls and she wore camera-ready makeup with a strong red lip.

Earlier this year, the star opened up about her own sexual assault, revealing that a man she thought was a friend raped her when she was in her 30s.

In an essay People Last year, she wrote that working with her foundation helped her “see what healing could look like.”