The SVU actress’ husband knows how to put together a grand gesture.

Everyone deserves a partner as supportive as Peter Hermann. The actor, who will celebrate his 20th anniversary with Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star Mariska Hargitay in August 2024, helped her celebrate a milestone achievement in the most extra way possible, and it reveals so much about their life at home.

What Peter Hermann painted on his and Mariska Hargitay’s wall

Hermann, who met Hargitay on the SVU set when he made his first appearance as attorney Trevor Langan, celebrated the series’ 500th episode by painting “500” on their living room wall.

Hargitay revealed the special gesture to Variety. “It’s so muscular, powerful and strong,” said Hargitay, looking at a picture of Hermann’s handiwork. “It’s beautiful.”

When the 500th episode aired in October 2021, he also took to social media to congratulate his wife publicly. He posted a sweet picture of himself with Hargitay and wrote, “@Mariska You’re at 500 episodes tonight. You astonish me. We met in episode 54. Best 447 episodes of my life. Congratulations, you beautiful life force. I love you. #SVU.”

Mariska Hargitay and Peter Hermann’s meet cute and love story
After meeting on set during Season 3 of SVU, Hermann asked his future wife to accompany him to church. “It was like getting hit with a lightning bolt,” Hargitay recalled to People in 2019. “I just started sobbing. Peter thought I was crying because I was so moved by the service. No, it was because I was just overwhelmed, realizing he was the one.”

Hargitay’s co-star Christopher Meloni, who plays Det. Elliot Stabler in the L&O franchise, remembers that sparks flew the moment the now-parents-of-three met.

“This is the Peter story, from my perspective,” Meloni told People in 2021. “He’s on the show as a guest actor, and I’m looking at her, looking at him, and I’m seeing how she’s acting, right? I know her, and I’m like, ‘Oh boy. Here we go.’ And she’s just, ‘Tee-hee, tee-hee, I don’t even care about him or anything like that.'”

“I just thought, ‘Oh my God, it’s like I’m back in high school, or even grade school,'” he recalled. “Sure enough, they start dating.”

Even when they almost broke up, Meloni recalled, “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.” He did.