<p id=”par-1_41″><em><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/law-and-order-svu/”>Law & Order SVU</a> </em>star Mariska Hargitay met <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/peter-hermann-mariska-hargitay-much-different-reactions.html/”>her husband Peter Hermann</a> on the set of the long-running procedural. But although Hargitay’s originally from California, she knew she’d cross paths with her husband in New York after adjusting to the city.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-mariska-hargitay-had-a-tough-time-living-in-new-york-at-first”>Mariska Hargitay had a tough time living in New York at first</h2>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-1″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/peter-hermann-mariska-hargitay-1.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=’Pete Hermann posing next to Mariska Hargitay at the “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” 25th Anniversary Celebration at Edge at Hudson Yards.’ class=”wp-image-3768660″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Mariska Hargitay and Peter Hermann | Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images</figcaption></figure>
<p id=”par-2_54″>Moving to New York would be a life-changing experience for Hargitay in more ways than one. Hargitay was born in Santa Monica, CA, and spent the majority of her life there before she was cast in <em>SVU</em>. The prestigious procedural required Hargtiay to move to the East Coast, where she noticed an immediate difference.</p>
<p id=”par-3_74″>“When I first moved here, I was homesick and overwhelmed,” she once said according to <a href=”https://societychronicles.com/glamour/mariska-hargitay-the-real-deal”>Society Chronicles</a>. “I was challenged by city, the 15-hour work days and I missed my family and my neighborhood in Los Angeles because I was friends with all my neighbors. The weather and light are so different here than in L.A. There every day is happy, sunny and beautiful. Here, it was so different. It makes you very aware.”</p>
<p id=”par-4_25″>But Hargitay’s dread didn’t last for long. She partially looked forward to fully moving to New York because she predicted her soulmate would be there.</p>
<p id=”par-5_35″>“I got this odd feeling; I thought, ‘I know I’m going to move to New York and will meet my husband there,” she said. “And, I did met my husband here, who is from Connecticut.”</p>
<p id=”par-6_63″>Hermann and Hargitay would meet in 2001. They’d later marry in August, 2004, and are still enjoying their marriage to this day. According to <a href=”https://people.com/celebrity/law-orders-mariska-hargitay-gets-married/”>People</a>, Hargitay would return to her home state of California to marry Hermann in Santa Barbara. However, Hargitay calls New York her home nowadays. Occasionally, <em>SVU </em>fans might catch <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/mariska-hargitay-looks-chic-gray-coat-filming-law-order-svu-nyc.html/”>her looking chic while filming</a> an episode of the show.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-peter-hermann-knew-he-wanted-to-marry-mariska-hargitay-when-she-turned-40″>Peter Hermann knew he wanted to marry Mariska Hargitay when she turned 40</h2>
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<p id=”par-7_30″>It didn’t take long for Hargitay to feel that she and Hermann were meant to be together. Hargitay recalled being so overwhemed by Hermann’s love that she even started crying.</p>
<p id=”par-8_23″> “We went to church together, and it was like getting hit with a lightning bolt,” she said in an interview with <a href=”https://people.com/tv/mariska-hargitay-husband-peter-hermann-first-date/”>People</a>.</p>
<p id=”par-9_33″><a></a> “I just started sobbing. Peter thought I was crying because I was so moved by the service,” Hargitay added “No, it was because I was just overwhelmed, realizing he was the one.”</p>
<p id=”par-10_26″>The feeling was mutual on Hermann’s part. Years after he proposed, Hermann was able to pinpoint the exact moment he knew he’d end up marrying Hargitay.</p>
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<p id=”par-11_91″>“<a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/how-old-is-law-order-svu-star-mariska-hargitay-and-what-is-her-ethnicity.html/”>It was Mariska’s birthday, 40th birthday</a>,” Hermann confided to <a href=”https://people.com/tv/peter-hermann-recalls-moment-he-knew-wanted-to-marry-mariska-hargitay/”>People</a>. “And I actually saw Mariska with all of the people that she loved around her. It was like seeing this person who was now in the soil, that she was just dying to be planted in it. Right? Which was this abundance of people and this abundance of love and I thought, ‘I want to be part of that soil.’ And that was the moment when I had not just parted the soil, but to be a lot of the soil.”</p>
<p id=”par-12_39″><a></a>“I think I got a look at what she is like when she is planted, when she is in the soil she’s designed to be planted in. And I wanted to be that soil. Something like that,” he continued.</p>
<p id=”par-13_28″>Hargitay added that there weren’t any pre-marital jitters before she and Hermann walked down the aisle. Both couldn’t have been any more certain about exchanging their wedding vows.</p>
<p id=”par-14_94″><a></a> “We got married and we knew that it was going to be good and I think we both knew, sort of, what we found. We sort of knew that we found the right one. I never thought it could be this good, and I never knew that I’d be reminded on the journey, that I’d marry the right one. That I waited and married the right one and it’s better than I thought it was. Because sometimes you take a snapshot and you go, ‘I can’t believe this is my life,’” she said.</p>