Mariska Hargitay’s career took a turn when she met a foul-mouthed Long Island psychic

Mariska Hargitay made an arresting visit to the Call Her Daddy podcast this week, speaking about her new documentary portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, My Mom Jayne, as well as her work on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which she’s been on, in her words, “since 1926.”

At the beginning of her career, Hargitay was fairly certain her path was in comedy — not playing a detective for 26 seasons — and she felt pretty entrenched in Los Angeles, living in a large house with several friends. But a visit to the East Coast indicated that her life was about to change.

“I used to go to New York twice a year and just see theater. I was 34, and I come to New York, and a friend of mine said, ‘You have to go to this psychic on Long Island.’ I didn’t even know where Long Island was,” Hargitay recalled.

She continued, “So I drive out to this guy’s house on Long Island, and he gives me a psychic reading. And because my mom was famous, I was like, you are just probably gonna Google me, you know, Jayne Mansfield’s daughter, and then come up with some bulls—. So I sit down with this guy and he says, ‘You see that face?’ I have this on [a] recording. ‘You see that face right now?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He goes, ‘You’re gonna be famous for that face, that face, that serious face.'”

A little taken aback, Hargitay replied, “I’m gonna be a comedian. And he says, this is my favorite thing I think anyone’s ever said to me. He goes like this: ‘I don’t give a rat’s ass what you think.'”

Continuing, the psychic said, “‘You’re gonna be famous for that face.’ And then he says to me, ‘And you’re moving to New York.’ And I said, ‘No, I have this gorgeous house my father built.’ I was living in a house with, like, 32 roommates because I had this house and it had five rooms. I rented out rooms, so I’m actually living out an episode of Friends. Not an episode, but the whole season because I had so many roommates. [So] I was like, ‘I live in L.A. This is my town. I have my roommates. I have my house.'”

Then the punchline: “Swear to God, six months later, I got SVU.”

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And since that time, she has been a New York City staple — unable to walk to the bagel store without people giving her hugs and telling the woman who plays Detective Olivia Benson all about their personal struggles. (Something Hargitay takes in great stride, as she explains in the podcast.)

Importantly, however, is the phrase rat’s ass.

“He said, ‘I don’t give a rat’s ass‘,” Hargitay repeated. “How great is rat’s ass?”

You can watch and/or listen to Mariska Hargitay chat on the Call Her Daddy podcast for over an hour by clicking the play button below.