“Law & Order: SVU” legend Christopher Meloni has shed new light on his incredibly close bond with his co-star, Mariska Hargitay, revealing that he spent time recently “staying” in her home.
Meloni, 64, and Hargitay, 61, have been friends for more than 20 years, having met back in 1999, when they were both cast in leading roles in the “Law & Order” spinoff—an on-air relationship that has sparked many a romance rumor over the years.
However, Meloni, who plays Detective Elliot Stabler, and Hargitay, who plays Captain Olivia Benson, have always insisted that their off-screen relationship is that of two very close friends, a bond that they both recently opened up about during an appearance on Amy Poehler‘s podcast, “Good Hang.”
Ahead of Hargitay’s appearance on the hit podcast, Meloni appeared via video call to chat to Poehler, 54, about his co-star, revealing that he was actually staying in her home at the time.
“Do you know what the irony is? I’m staying at Mariska’s place,” he admitted when Poehler asked where he was calling from.
Meloni then went on to joke about the top secret status of the property, saying: “I can’t show it to you because I haven’t been authorized. It’s super secret. It’s like a lair.
“You remember the … Batmobile? It [has] a fence that goes down and you go into a cave and the fence goes up. That I mean, it’s really, it’s crazy. Oh, you have to like put your hand on a sensor and it only and it reads your fingerprints,” he teased.
Poehler then chimed in and teased, “You know, this is all so satisfying for listeners that you’re staying at Mariska’s house.”
It is unclear why or for how long Meloni has been staying with his co-star—or which property he is currently staying in.
Hargitay has two dwellings: a large apartment in New York City and a property in the Hamptons, which she and her husband, Peter Hermann, purchased in 2010 for $7.34 million.
Meanwhile, Meloni’s main residence is a two-level apartment that was formerly a townhouse and boasts wraparound terraces with sweeping views of Manhattan’s skyline.
He resides in the property, which is located in the West Village, with his wife, Sherman Williams.
Meloni recently opened the doors to his home for a photo shoot with Architectural Digest, explaining to the outlet that both he and his wife were determined to find a home with one very key amenity: a good view.
Records indicate that he and his wife purchased multiple units inside the townhouse, which they then turned into one massive abode that spreads across two levels.
He and Williams carried out a lengthy renovation of the two-story dwelling after purchasing it, a process that he admitted was made much more complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with the fact that they actually moved into the home before work was completed.
“We kind of forced things along by living here. No one likes people looking over their shoulder while they’re working—it was awkward—but I think it helped,” he joked.
Still, that awkwardness appears to have paid off, with Meloni telling the publication that he believes the dwelling will be the last home they ever live in.
“We’re very happy here. I’m satisfied this is the last home we’ll ever move to,” he said.
Should he ever need a break from the city, however, it appears he is more than welcome at Hargitay’s
Hargitay, meanwhile, previously resided in a spacious townhouse on the Upper West Side, which she sold for $8.75 million in 2019, having initially put it on the market for $10.75 million the previous year.
The actress and her husband took a significant loss on the dwelling, which they had purchased for $10.7 million in 2012.
Hargitay has previously opened up about the significance of her move from Los Angeles to New York, confessing that it was first foreshadowed by a psychic.
Hargitay, who is the daughter of Hollywood legend Jayne Mansfield, opened up about her eerie psychic encounter during an appearance on Alex Cooper‘s “Call Her Daddy” podcast, admitting that the early days of her acting career proved to be far more difficult than many might have thought.
“My 20s were really hard,” she shared. “I did a couple of guest star things, but then, it dried up for me.”
At the time, Hargitay had been pursuing a comedy career—but after those roles became harder to secure, a friend in New York suggested that she visit a psychic to gain some clarity on what her future might hold.
“I used to go to New York twice a year. I was 34, and I come to New York and a friend of mine said, ‘Oh, my gosh, Mariska, you have to go to this psychic on Long Island,'” she recalled. “I didn’t even know where Long Island was!”
Hargitay confessed that she was initially skeptical about the meeting—not least because she was used to being stereotyped by her mother’s fame.
“So I drive out to this guy’s house and he gives me a psychic reading. And because my mom was famous, I was always like, ‘You are probably just going to Google me and then come up with some bulls—,'” she said.
“So I sit down with this guy and we’re talking, we’re talking, we’re talking. He says some things.”
According to Hargitay, the psychic then turned to her and said: “You see that face? You’re going to be famous for that face—that serious face.”
The actress said she quickly pushed back, telling the psychic that she didn’t think that could possibly be true, because she had every intention of becoming a comedian.
Still, he would not be deterred, telling her: “I don’t give a rat’s ass what you think. You’re going to be famous for that face.”
The psychic then dropped another bombshell on the budding actress, telling her that she was going to end up moving to New York.
“And I said, ‘Uh, no,'” she confessed. “I live in L.A., this is my town, I have my roommates, I have my house, what am I going to do with my house? Six months later, I got ‘SVU.'”
Hargitay made her debut as Detective Benson in the hit series in 1992—and has played the role ever since, remaining a constant in a cast of regularly changing stars, alongside her longest-running TV sidekick, Ice-T.
