Jamie McCarthy/Getty ImagesFormer President Bill Clinton may not have been looking as healthy as he did a few years ago, but Mariska Hargitay was looking fabulously fit as a fiddle last night at the Food Bank for New York City's Sixth Annual Can-Do Awards at Pier 60 in New York City.
The Emmy-winning Law & Order: SVU star was in and out of the hospital with a collapsed lung for the past few months, even having to sit out a few episodes of her NBC drama.
"Sooooo much better," the beauty exclusively told E! News when asked how she was doing. "I've turned the corner and I'm feeling great. Really great."
Hargitay—dressed in a sleek, one-shouldered LBD and metallic trench coat—appeared to be having a ball as she yukked it up with her tablemates, including Jimmy Fallon, Emeril Lagasse, Josh Charles and Mario Batali.
It was only during the live auction that the mood changed a bit…
When auctioneer Billy Harris took the stage to get the ball rolling for the "Slippery When Fed" package, the crowd went crazy. The package included Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio, Batali and David Chang cooking dinner—together!—for a party of 24 in the winner's home.
Hargitay, Fallon and Lagasse were determined bidders and, as the numbers climbed into tens of thousands of dollars, Batali and Colicchio were egging on the bidding war that erupted between Fallon and Lagasse.
The Late Night host won the prize for a whopping $60,000!
The Food Bank's Honorary Dinner Chair, R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe, made a point to invite himself to the party before introducing Clinton, the evening's surprise guest.
Indeed, the crowd was surprised to see the former White House resident, and Batali himself appeared starstruck, taking tons of pictures as he watched the former prez, Bono and award recipient Jon Bon Jovi have a chat.
When Rachael Ray and the evening's emcee, Stanley Tucci, joined them, he finally put the camera down and got in on the action.