Mariska Hargitay: I Love My Post-Baby Body

Not a new article (it’s actually from February 2013) but nice to read anyway:

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star Mariska Hargitay is pretty in purple on the March cover of Ladies Home Journal. In an accompanying interview, the 49-year-old actress – who is mother to children August, 6, Amaya, 2, and Andrew, 1 – opens up about her motherly curves, her fitness routine and how the perspective of age has helped her develop into the fulfilled person she is today.
On embracing her post-pregnancy body: “I love my curves because they scream, ‘I’m a mama!’ I’m the girl who started wearing maternity pants about an hour after I found out I was pregnant because I was so excited about becoming a mom. Things are sagging a bit – I’m not going to lie. But am I going to be upset about the sag or am I going to look at my three gorgeous kids and my husband and count my lucky stars?”
On how her kids help her keep fit: “I try to run because it keeps me sane. There are weeks I don’t do it at all. There are weeks when I do it every day. But I also live in a house with a lot of stairs and three young kids, and as clichéd as it sounds, chasing after my kids is no small feat. I don’t even need to go to a gym because all I do is go up and down stairs carrying toddlers!”
On becoming a confident woman: “I spent most of my 20s having people say no to me. I’d go on auditions and the casting directors would be like: You’re not tall enough, you’re not pretty enough, you’re not blonde enough, your nose is too big, your nose is too small, your skin is too dark, your skin is too light, change your name! There was so much rejection. I didn’t work for eight years. But my dad taught me not to give up. He’d hold his forefinger and his thumb about an inch apart and say, “Mariska, it takes about this much more to be a winner.” I’d get an audition and he’d say, “How hard are you going to work for it? What are you going to do today to get yourself closer to your goal?” So I did what I could to become the best actor I could be: I read every play, I went to acting class, I took every audition, I pushed myself when I didn’t feel like pushing myself. I acted confident even when I wasn’t. And slowly, by doing the thing I loved and by getting better at it, I became more confident.”

Source: http://www.celebritybabyscoop.com/2013/02/08/mariska-hargitay-i-love-my-post-baby-body