Hargitay and Hermann have been happily married for 18 years and it all started with a little help from Chris Meloni.
Mariska Hargitay and Peter Hermann have a perfect marriage. Christopher Meloni, Hargitay's onscreen husband, and a longtime friend played an important part in keeping it that way. Hargitay and Hermann have been happily married for 18 years. They met in 2002 when Hermann gave a guest appearance alongside Hargitay in the series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. They soon started dating. Meloni always supported Hargitay in her relationship with Hermann.
One day Hargitay came to the set sobbing over her relationship. "After they'd been dating a long time, she came in one day and she was crushed," Meloni recalled. "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," Meloni told PEOPLE.
After dating for two years, Hargitay and Hermann got married. She witnessed major milestones in Meloni's life as well, like the birth of his first child. When Meloni and his wife Sherman Williams welcomed their daughter Sophia, she asked Hargitay to be her godmother. "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," Hargitay said.
Hargitay added that she "got to lean on" her relationship with Meloni and "it was like family." In an interview with E! News, the correspondent jokingly referred to Hargitay's marriage as a progressive one and called it a throuple. Hermann said, "We make it work, and sometimes Chris and I have some things to negotiate but we have got really good at communicating and there's a lot of give and take, and in the end, all three of us are really happy."
Hargitay and Meloni are very close and because of that, someone listed Margitay as Meloni's second wife on Wikipedia. "I mean, I don't think I'll be marrying him any time soon, but I am kind of like his second wife. Wife, therapist, bestie, sister, mother," she said, as reported by PEOPLE. However, it's unclear whether a fan made the change on the Wikipedia page. "I think the uber fans literally want our spouses to go away," said Hargitay.
Despite the fans wanting the two to be together, Hargitay and Hermann's marriage has been void of complications. They have three adorable children together. Since they took their vows they always knew it was "going to be good." They completed 18 years of their marriage in August 2022. "Eighteen years. Grateful. In love. Together," wrote Hargitay on Instagram.
She had earlier said, "He's so funny and so different than anyone I've ever met," she said. "We had such a sort of beautiful getting to know each other and learning how to see each other and beautiful courtship. And here we are, 17 years married, 19 years in and still learning about each other every day," according to PEOPLE.
References:
https://people.com/tv/how-christopher-meloni-knew-mariska-hargitay-would-marry-peter-hermann/
https://people.com/tv/mariska-hargitay-peter-hermann-relationship-timeline/
https://people.com/tv/mariska-hargitay-being-called-christopher-meloni-second-wife-feels-kind-of-right/
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | (L) Bryan Bedder; (R) Rob Kim
