Kelli Giddish Once Reflected on Her Summer Sleepover With ‘SVU’ Star Mariska Hargitay
Law & Order SVU stars Kelli Giddish and Mariska Hargitay have grown close with each other over the years. So much so that Hargitay invited Giddish and other co-stars to a bit of a SVU exclusive slumber party.
Kelli Giddish once reflected on the bond of her ‘Law & Order SVU’ cast
Giddish was welcomed with open arms when she was first cast in SVU. It could’ve been an intimidating process for the actor. Although she’d been on SVU before, being cast as detective Amanda Rollins would’ve seen Giddish signing on to the show as a regular. She’d be joining Mariska Hargitay, Ice-T, and others, who all already knew each other for decades. Fortunately, they immediately made Giddish feel like she was a part of the family.
“No, I mean, they really love what they do, everybody there. And it’s such a pleasant set and everybody gets along. And they totally included me and Danny [Pino] into the fold in a very graceful, hilarious way. The humor on that set … It’s just hysterical,” she once told HuffPost.
After more than a decade on SVU, Giddish became as much a part of the family as any of the other SVU stars. So much so she was invited to a sleepover Hargitay hosted that seemed to be SVU members only.
“It’s amazing. We were all at her house on Memorial Day weekend, to start the summer an ‘SVU sleepover.’ And she’s gracious as a host, both on set and off, with her time and her actual home,” Giddish once told Black Film. In that case, we had a great time, we got everybody together. I don’t think there’s a lot of the cast that would do that… And then also to have a nice house in the Hamptons.”
The ‘SVU’ cast and crew always went above and beyond to help Kelli Giddish
Giddish’ SVU family wasn’t just great to be around for the actor, but they were also very dependable. One example was when Giddish ended up pregnant in real life. Giddish could’ve easily been written off the show for a while. But instead, the SVU writers decided to make Amanda Rollins pregnant as well to accommodate her. This was only one of many instances where her SVU team provided Giddish major help and comfort.
“One of the wonders of this job is feeling like a family because we are around each other so much,” Giddish once told Stuff. “I’ve never felt more supported in my life as when I was pregnant and working on this show. I had my kid and they gave me all the time I needed but, of course, I love to work so I was going, ‘Excuse me, I’m waiting to come back to work.’ They let me set the pace and that’s not something that ever happens in TV.”
Her pregnancy got even more complicated when Giddish’ husband ended up sick during that period.
“He was in the hospital for two months, completely paralysed, and they once again rallied around me. The job, the people I work with and for, I can’t say enough good things about,” she said.
“It’s just nice to come into that office and know that we’re not going to fight and kind of support each other, as I think these two characters would in real life,” Giddish added. “I love it so much. Mariska and I have become closer and closer as the years have gone by and because I’ve gone through a lot and she’s gone through a lot – it’s life and we’ve been here for each other – and it affects the writing of our characters. I think the bond and the closeness are not put upon our characters. I think it’s very much honest.”
