User:Jakepull05/sandbox

Early Life
The car accident was extremely violent and nasty, the top of the car was ripped off while crushing Manfield's skull ultimately killing her. It was amazing how Mariska and her brother were not killed in the accident, however the scars are still with her. She says "a hole in my life that won't ever be filled. I will never get over it. I will always be a girl who lost her mom".

Life was extremely tough for Mariska trying to start her career as a Hollywood actor. Her entire life she was compared to her mother, people mentioning to her that her hair color should be different simply because of who her mother was. Any child having one of their parents die has a massive impact on a child's life and with Mariska not knowing who her mother, caused her to be upset frequently. She struggled after this loss, she had constant panic and anxiety attacks even at her grandparents house where she was supposed to be calm and relaxed. Even while growing up with her biological father, he eventually started dating again so Mariska eventually had a stepmother. She wasn't sure how she felt about it, she felt like any other child would when they think their mother is being replaced. She wanted to respect her mother by not loving her stepmother because she thought she wasn't being loyal.

Charity work
After Hargiaty received all these letters from these women she knew that she had the platform to something great. Her character, Olivia Benson was heavily involved in rape and domestic violence cases in New York and just about every episode she was always trying to defend the women because she knew the damage that was done to them. The women that watched the show and saw what Olivia was doing for these women them inspired them to write these letters to Mariska because they thought that she could help her, even though it was a fictional character. Mariska realized that she needed to do something about this because there are so many women that are struggling. So she became a certified rape counselor, she was able to talk to these women and give them hope that life can get better and hopefully provide them with a better life where they aren't scared. She's helped many women and bring a vast awareness to the problem that is going on in society, women are quiet and hurt and men should not be abusing women no matter what.

Another thing that she has done with her charity, is that she was building healing and wellness kits for women in crisis shelters. She and her charity created enough kits for around 600 women that were in the Los Angeles County's domestic violence shelters.

== References ==