The couple tied the knot in 2004 after meeting on the set of ‘Law & Order: SVU’

Mariska Hargitay Recalls Her 'Knees Getting Weak' When Meeting Peter Hermann

Mariska Hargitay is reminiscing about her first meeting with husband Peter Hermann.

The Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star, 60, shared what she remembered most about her first encounter with her husband of nearly 20 years.

“My knees getting weak,” she told Entertainment Tonight. “It’s so amazing. It’s so amazing.”

<p>Mariska Hargitay/Instagram</p> From left: Peter Hermann and Mariska Hargitay

Mariska Hargitay/Instagram

From left: Peter Hermann and Mariska Hargitay
Related: Mariska Hargitay Gets Choked Up While Reflecting on Her Oldest Son Graduating High School: ‘Where Does the Time Go?’

Hargitay previously opened up to PEOPLE about how it was love at first sight with Hermann.

“As a little girl you’re told, ‘Oh, when it’s the right person, you’ll know. You’ll know,’” she shared in 2019. “But listen, I had been engaged previously, and I never knew.”

Hargitay and Hermann first met in 2002 when he guest starred on SVU. Shortly after filming wrapped, the actor asked her on a date — to attend church with him.

“We went to church together, and it was like getting hit with a lightning bolt,” she said of their immediate connection.

Related: Mariska Hargitay Reflects on Playing Olivia Benson on SVU at Gotham TV Awards: ‘An Unstoppable Lioness’

The actress remembered becoming so “overwhelmed” by her feelings of love that she broke down crying in the middle of the date.

“I just started sobbing. Peter thought I was crying because I was so moved by the service,” she recalled. “No, it was because I was just overwhelmed, realizing he was the one.”

After the date ended, Hargitay says she immediately told one of her closest friends about the unique experience, recalling, “I told her, ‘This is it. This is the man I’m going to marry.’”

The couple tied the knot in Santa Barbara in 2004 and are now parents to three children: August, 17, Amaya, 13, and Andrew, 12.

“I never knew I’d so often be reminded on this journey that I married the right one,” said Hargitay. “I waited and married the right one.”

<p>Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images</p> eter Hermann and Mariska Hargitay pose with their children, August Miklos Friedrich Hermann, Andrew Nicolas Hargitay Hermann and Amaya Josephine Hermann at the 2023 Stuttering Association For The Young (SAY) Benefit Gala at The Edison Ballroom on May 22, 2023 in New York City.

Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

eter Hermann and Mariska Hargitay pose with their children, August Miklos Friedrich Hermann, Andrew Nicolas Hargitay Hermann and Amaya Josephine Hermann at the 2023 Stuttering Association For The Young (SAY) Benefit Gala at The Edison Ballroom on May 22, 2023 in New York City.

Related: Mariska Hargitay Is ‘Planning’ a Law & Order Reunion with Christopher Meloni Despite Organized Crime‘s Move: ‘It’s Time’

In addition to celebrating the couple’s 20th wedding anniversary in August, Hargitay is also marking 25 years of SVU.

“It’s been incredible. It’s been 25 years and I haven’t been able to take it in until this year,” Hargitay told ET.  “I think [because of] the milestone of it all. I was walking into my wrap party with my 17-year-old son [and] I remember going, ‘We’re going to the wrap party of my TV show that has been on for 25 years.’ I don’t feel anywhere near done and that’s good.”

“I’m just so proud of the stories we’ve told and the lives we’ve affected and the way we’ve moved the needle toward healing,” she continued. “I am privileged and I know it and I’m grateful for it.”

Hargitay hopes that her character Olivia Benson’s legacy will be “strength, vulnerability, and never giving up no matter what.”

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