Making it work. Peter Hermann just reacted to Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni‘s relationship as co-stars for years on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit—and honestly, we couldn’t have expected a better response.

Hargitay’s husband, 53, jokingly referred to their trio as one of the most “progressive” marriages in Hollywood during the Thursday, May 6, episode of E! News Daily Pop. Hermann went on to reveal what he thinks of his wife’s longtime Law & Order: SVU co-star. “Sometimes Chris and I have some things to negotiate, but we’ve gotten really good at communicating with each other,” the Younger actor teased. “There’s a lot of give and take. In the end, all three of us are really happy.”

Meloni, who played Detective Elliot Stabler for 12 seasons on SVU, developed a strong friendship with Hargitay after playing opposite her role of Detective Olivia Benson on the series for so many years. As of 2021, the pair are back in the spotlight after Meloni reprised his role in his own spin-off, Law & Order: Organized Crime. Now it looks like their friendship isn’t going anywhere—nor does Hermann want it to. The Blue Bloods actor is happy to include Meloni in their lives. “I took that picture on a date we were all on,” he said of a photo featuring his wife and her TV partner together again. “We make it work.”

When it comes to Hargitay and Hermann’s relationship, though, it’s no competition. The pair met for the first time on the set of Law & Order: SVU when Hermann filmed a guest appearance on the NBC series in 2001. In a 2015 interview with InStyle, Hargitay revealed he asked her out right away. The pair’s first date took place at a church. “I just about passed out when I saw him there,” Hargitay told InStyle at the time. “I thought, that’s my husband.” And indeed, the pair got married three years later in August 2004. The couple now share three children: son August, 14, daughter Amaya, 10, and son Andrew, 9.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on NBC. Here’s how to watch it for free.

True Stories of Law & Order

Image: Courtesy of Berkley.

For more about Law & Order, check out True Stories of Law & Order: The Real Crimes Behind the Best Episodes of the Hit TV Show by Kevin Dwyer and Juré Fiorillo. The book covers 25 cases from Law & Order and its spinoffs’ most popular episodes, from how a woman’s repressed memory led to solving a 30-year-old cold case to the high-profile investigation of millionaire Robert Durst. Like Law & Order fans know, the crime is just the start and the real information can come from the trial and controversial verdicts. If you love Law & Order, you’ll be obsessed with these “true crimes that are often stranger and more chilling than fiction.”

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