Mariska Hargitay Says She Struggles Raising Two Children

Maiska Hargitay plays the part of a very capable detective on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit with aplomb but parenting her two children is much harder she says.

Mariska and husband Peter Hermann adopted daughter Amaya Josephine this April and she joins her big brother August who is 4 1/2.  “It’s a new skill to have two children that want you at the same time,” Hargitay said.  While Hargitay has spoken of the joy Amaya brings her, she also doesn’t gloss over the work it takes.

“Sometimes … I wanted to rip my hair out,” she says. “Where I’m like, ‘August! Amaya! August! Amaya!’ You don’t know what to do.”  “So … [it’s my] first time with two-children syndrome and I’m trying to figure it all out. But so far everyone’s been pretty good.”

Amaya, she says, is “spectacular. I am not going to lie: It was very difficult leaving the house tonight. It’s very difficult leaving the house anytime with my baby at home.”

Hargitay needn’t worry too much about leaving home, though, with August to watch over his baby sister.

“He is so protective” she says. “He is a little bit like the gate-keeper of her. He’s been really … amazing … so affectionate. He says, ‘I’m going to be her protector.’ And something else. Teacher. Guidance and protector. She gets a lot of kisses.”

The actress, 47, isn’t just suffering from two-child syndrome. She’s also got a hit show to worry about. But she says she’s going to start slowly reducing her role to find more balance in her life.

“I’m so madly in love and married to my show,” she says. “But its been very difficult for me with two kids, so what I wanted this year in terms of my deal was lifestyle issues … I needed more time with my kids. So I will be working a little bit less and eventually getting a little promotion, so we are going to bring on a new detective.”