Seeking justice is not any small activity—simply ask Mariska Hargitay.

The Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star admitted that the heavy subject material of the present, which premieres its twenty sixth season Oct. 3, could be exhausting to shake off.

“That’s been a process,” Hargitay advised Selena Gomez in a brand new sit-down for Interview journal printed Sept. 23. “When I started the show, I wasn’t aware of how deeply it would go into me. My husband Peter is always like, anytime I go anywhere, my first question is, What’s the crime rate here?’ So it’s on the brain.”

The Emmy winner—whose portrayal of Olivia Benson is the longest-running live-action character in primetime TV historical past—confessed that the present’s concentrate on crimes comparable to sexual assault, baby abuse and home violence does take a toll.

“There’s been times when I didn’t know how to protect myself, and I think I was definitely a victim of secondary trauma from being inundated with these stories and knowing that they were true,” Hargitay defined. “Those were the parts that I didn’t know how to metabolize, just because of the sheer volume of it.”