Mariska Hargitay Talks Embracing 'Vulnerability' in Her 60s: 'Fear Is an Illusion' (Exclusive)

Mariska Hargitay is not afraid of personality.

Talking exclusively to PEOPLE on City and country At the Philanthropy Summit on Tuesday, Oct. 29, Hargitay shared that since turning 60, openness and vulnerability has become her “superpower” and a part of herself that she’s fully embraced over the years.

“I think that vulnerability that I’ve been preaching for years is my superpower,” he said Law and order: SVU star tells PEOPLE. “I think it just saves a lot of time. And I look at what I respect in other people and respect the whole person. I don’t want just one part. I want them all.”

“We have great roles and scared parts and badass parts and brave parts and small parts. So for me, recognizing that I’m a whole person, not just one thing, like everyone else.”

Hargitay jokes that she’s turned vulnerability into “a bit of a sport” as she says she encourages those around her to also not be afraid to open up to her.

Mariska Hargitay attends the ‘Town & Country’ philanthropy summit in New York on October 29.

Craig Barritt/Getty

Mariska Hargitay Reveals Advice She Would Give Her 20-Year-Old Self: ‘I Wish I Had More Self-Compassion’ (Exclusive)

“As soon as you point out the similarity [in] person, their fear disappears,” she tells PEOPLE. “And so I discovered that vulnerability is the glue. It is a gathering magnet.”

Hargitay says being as personal as a public figure has helped her break down her fears and barriers with others and build stronger connections with people in general.

The PEOPLE Puzzler has arrived! How fast can you solve it? Play now!

“I just think personality levels the playing field,” she tells PEOPLE. “We just cut through all the red tape… we have fear and we think there are limits. And then as soon as the conversation starts, it’s like: ‘Oh my God, me too’. And there’s that beautiful, cozy humanity that comes into play. And suddenly we see all our similarities.”

“So I like to highlight the fact, I guess, that we are the same and that we have more in common than we don’t and that people are people, period. And so in many ways fear is an illusion. And I think we can break through unkindness and fear or indifference by being human.”

Mariska Hargitay recorded in May 2024.

Dia Dipasupil/Getty

Mariska Hargitay Reveals the Surprising Cameo ‘All the Famous People’ Want Law and order: SVU: ‘So strange’

Elsewhere in her chat with PEOPLE, Hargitay shared the advice she would have given her 20-year-old self in retrospect.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. “I wish I had more compassion for all parts of me,” she says. “I didn’t know we were all specialists. I wasted too much time saying, ‘They’ve got this. I wish I had that. I wish I had that.’ And it’s important to strive and continue, ‘I love that quality. I love that quality. I want more of that. I want more of that,’ and integrate that.”

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education