Mariska Hargitay Proved Her Friend Wrong When She Met Her Future Husband in ‘Law & Order’
Law & Order SVU changed Mariska Hargitay’s life in more ways than one. In addition to the show being her breakthrough role, it also unexpectedly helped her find her soulmate.
Mariska Hargitay was told she wouldn’t be able to find a partner on ‘Law & Order’
During Hargitay’s single years, the actor found it difficult finding the one. The long hours she had to work in Law & Order limited the amount of time she could go out on dates. A friend of Hargitay’s tried to convince her to have more of a life outside of work. Especially since it was unlikely Hargitay would find a potential suitor at her job.
“She threw a dinner party for me and she was like, ‘Mariska, you need to get out more’ … I could never go anywhere because 15 hours a day, 16 hours a day [on set] every day,” Hargitay once said on Live with Kelly and Ryan (via Femalefirst). “She said, ‘No prince handsome is going to walk in on the show and you’re going to marry him.'”
But ironically, that was exactly what ended up happening. Actor Peter Hermann would end up being cast in the show for a guest role. According to Hargitay, Hermann drew Hargitay’s attention from the very beginning. So much so that even Hargitay’s co-star Chris Meloni noticed a change.
“I was so nervous and a little bit giddy. It was funny because Meloni was there. He was watching me and he’d never seen me act like this – ever,” she added.
Hermann would later ask Hargitay out on a date. The pair decided to go to a church on their first night out, where Hargitay realized immediately that Hermann was the one. So much so that she was brought to tears by the realization.
“I just started sobbing. Peter thought I was crying because I was so moved by the service,” she said according to People. “No, it was because I was just overwhelmed, realizing he was the one.”
Mariska Hargitay shared what made her engagement with Peter Hermann different from prior proposals
The instant feeling that Hermann was the right choice made their engagement stand out from previous ones. This provided Hargitay with a confidence about getting married that she never had before.
“I had been engaged before, but what I felt for Peter I had never felt before — it was knowing that someone else put you first and that you put him first,” she said in a 2010 interview with Good Housekeeping. “A lot of people have doubts on their wedding day, but I was never so sure and happy. We were going into the unknown together and were taking care of each other the way you’re supposed to when you are married.”
It seems that her instincts were right. After a few relationship challenges, the two got married in 2004, and have since been together for 19 years. They share three children together, two of whom are adopted. She asserted what made their marriage so perfect was how they balanced out one another.
“I bring him out, he brings me in; he slows me down, I make him go faster,” she said. “Sometimes we want to do really different things, and that is hard to navigate. We have to sit down and figure out how to carve this time out for you and this for me, because we need both. That’s just the way we are, so let’s just make peace with it.”
Hargitay also took to heart some sage advice she received about celebrity marriages to maintain their connection. The actor was told to never leave each other for more than two weeks at a time.
“I don’t always know what he’s thinking, but we want the same things. We trust that the other person wants what we want and shares the same values. That’s our gift. Even if we don’t talk all day, we are connected,” she said.
