At the end of summer, celebrities, influencers, and tennis aficionados alike flock to the US Open, and among the latest A-List attendees on Labor Day weekend was Mariska Hargitay.
The Law & Order: SVU actress is spotted at the event almost every year, and this time around she had a very special date: her eldest son August.
The NBC mainstay has three kids with her husband Peter Hermann, who she met on set of SVU while filming the beloved procedural in 2002, and they tied the knot in 2004. Their kids are August, 16, Amaya, 12, and Andrew, 11. August is the pair’s first and only biological child, while their youngest two were adopted within six months of each other in 2011.
On Tuesday, Mariska and her son braved the sweltering New York heat and were spotted enjoying a match at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens.
Mariska was photographed wearing a breezy white button-down shirt, while her son looked just as crisp in a button-down chambray shirt.
Mariska Hargitay shares unseen photo from wedding to Peter Hermann August appears to be a big fan of tennis, and last year he also attended the US Open with his mom, on September 9th.
© GettyThe teenager makes sporadic public appearances with his parents, and earlier this summer he stepped out with his whole family for the Stuttering Association for the Young’s (SAY) Gala, where his parents were inducted into the organizations Hall of Fame.
At the event, Mariska revealed to People that August has a stutter, and said: “It was so beautiful to have this lovely community to introduce him to and learn about it from the experts.”
© GettyShe further explained: “It was extraordinary when we first heard his stutter to meet Taro [Alexander] and have someone to go to because so many stutterers live in isolation. And there are so many people who come [to SAY] for the first time, and when they come they say that they’d never heard another person with a stutter,” referring to the organization’s founder, Taro Alexander.
© GettySpeaking of her experience having a son with a stutter, she said: “The thing about stuttering, and what I’ve learned, is so many times people who stutter try not to speak or try to switch the word or not say anything, get out of it, hide. It’s so heartbreaking to think that all these amazing humans with so much to offer would be holding it in because of how the world treats them, or for fear.”
The mom-of-three added: “It’s been so exciting to learn and to understand and educate people because as soon as people know, they’re like, ‘Oh, my gosh. Thank you. Tell me more. Tell me more.’ It’s been just a beautiful journey.”
Her husband Peter then weighed in with: “It is increasingly important that we give out grace to take space and take time and to let the ideas out that want to come out,” adding: “And some of it is just speaking. Just everyday speaking, that chance to simply be.”
