Chris Meloni Predicted Mariska Hargitay Would Marry Peter Hermann Even After They Broke up

Law & Order SVU star Mariska Hargitay felt it was love at first sight when she met Peter Hermann . But her SVU co-star Chris Meloni also saw sparks between the two — so much so that he knew they would end up together even when they didn’t.

Chris Meloni felt like he was in high school watching Mariska Hargitay’s romance with Peter Hermann

It was obvious to Meloni that Hargitay and Hermann would become an item . Hermann made an appearance in the season 3 SVU episode “Monogamy.” The title of the episode might’ve been heavy foreshadowing for Hargitay and Hermann at the time, who seemed to fall for each other pretty quickly. Meloni, who watched the pair interact from afar, knew he was watching a relationship in the making despite Hargitay’s denial.

“This is the Peter story, from my perspective,” Meloni recalled in an interview with People . “He’s on the show as a guest actor, and I’m looking at her, looking at him, and I’m seeing how she’s acting, right? I know her, and I’m like, ‘Oh boy. Here we go.’ And she’s just, ‘Tee-hee, tee-hee. I don’t even care about him or anything like that.'”

Hargitay’s and Herman’s flirtatious relationship even reminded Meloni of high school.

“I just thought, ‘Oh my God, it’s like I’m back in high school, or even grade school,'” he said. “Sure enough, they start dating.”

What Chris Meloni thought when Mariska Hargitay and Peter Hermann broke up

Even when things weren’t looking optimistic for Hargitay and Hermann, Meloni still believed the couple was end game. Before the two married, Hargitay and Hermann ran into some trouble in their relationship. Hermann discovered their views on the world weren’t as compatible as he thought.

“You end up opening your heart fairly wide when you marry someone, so I was proceeding with great care, sort of inching my way forward,” Hermann once said in Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue’s book What Makes a Marriage Last.

Things came to a head when Hermann left Hargitay’s Thanksgiving dinner early.

“I had all these people over — it was beautiful and a very big deal — and he was the first to leave,” Hargitay remembered. “I thought, ‘Wait, what? Are you in, or are you out? I’m in, but I’m only in if we’re both in. I was in love and ready to really move forward.’”

Meloni would see Hargitay after her heartbreaking split from Hermann . But even though she might’ve thought things were over between them, Meloni knew their breakup wouldn’t last. However, it was a thought that he kept to himself.

“After they’d been dating a long time, she came in one day, and she was crushed,” Meloni said. “She goes, ‘Peter and I had a really deep, long conversation. We cried, and I just don’t think it’s going to work.’ And she’s sobbing, and the whole time, the [thought] bubble in my head was just: ‘You’ll be married within five months.’ That’s all I was thinking. I knew. I knew.”

Chris Meloni’s marriage to Sherman Williams made Mariska Hargitay feel even safer with him

Chris Meloni Was Very Guarded Towards This ‘Law & Order SVU’ Showrunner Before He Left

Meloni was also in a stable and healthy marriage with Sherman Williams , sharing three kids. In 2001, Hargitay became the godmother of one of the actor’s children. For Hargitay, seeing Meloni’s family life up close was both inspirational and encouraging.

“The birth of his first child and being privy to his amazing, solid relationship with his wife, before I had that for myself — I think that Chris and Sherman played a really big role for me, to see this really stable couple that loved each other,” she said.

Hargitay even felt the experience improved her own friendship with her SVU co-star. She ended up with a higher opinion of Meloni than what she already had.

“And it made me feel even safer with him, as opposed to: ‘Great guy but single.’ Or ‘Great guy except for his romantic life.’ Instead, he’s this man who is as solid as a rock, and who is that rock in his relationship,” she adds. “And I got to lean on it when I needed to. It was like family,” she said.