Red Carpet Confidential: Mariska Hargitay Pleased With Polite Son, Poet Hubby

Mariska Hargitay unpacks a converter every time she flies with three-year-old son August. After all, he deserves to watch his movies en route to his destination since he’s such a good boy.

“My son made me look really good when two people told me he said ‘excuse me, would you be so kind…’,” Mariska, 45, says. “Ooh! She said ‘what have you been teaching him?’ And I went ‘that.’ He’s very polite, and that makes me very proud. He’s Mr. Please and Thank You. That’s important to me.”

Hubby Peter calls him a “happy kid,” and Mariska begins to melt. Tears well up in the Law and Order: SVU star’s eyes when she talks about the man she married in 2004.

“My husband is the most soulful poet that I know, and he makes me very happy,” the actress, who suffered a collapsed lung earlier this year, says.

Likewise, Peter, 45, is enamored with Mariska for her sense of humor.

Hm, what makes her so funny? Could she be a prankster?

“There’s a spirit in some people that sees the world in a way that includes an incredible dose of a specific humor, and I think she’s really blessed with that spirit,” he tells me.

The 2009 best actress Emmy nominee calls Michelle Obama her inspiration.

“I love her. I admire her so much. She is intelligent and elegant and graceful and generous and compassionate and maternal and strong.

Does she think Michelle would make a good wife?

“I do! I’m sure she is because of how she does everything else in her life.”