The crying game:
SVU star Kelli Giddish (left) tells Kerry Harvey how motherhood has caused her tears to flow on the set of the hit crime drama.
Why tears flow for SVU star.
Kelli Giddish loves her job despite the fact it often makes her cry – a lot.
The 37 year old admits that more than six years playing NYPD Detective Amanda Rollins in long-running drama SVU has yet to harden her.
In fact, if anything, since the birth of her son Ludo in 2015 she is shedding more tears than ever.
“It hits a little closer to home when bad things happen to children,” she says of the show’s storylines that are often based on real-life crimes against women and children.
“There’s one episode we’ve just finished filming that very much deals with a child and I couldn’t keep it together the entire episode.
“It’s certainly concerning, but I do a very good job of not bring my stuff home very much.”
It seems that an ability to compartmentalise is handy.
“I can’t really do two things at once, “Giddish says, laughing.
“If I’m at work, I’m really, really all-consumed by work. If I’m at home, I don’t really think of work that much.”
It is probably a useful skill to have, given some of the disturbing crimes portrayed in this 19th season of the drama.
Upcoming episodes include one about teen suicide, inspired by the controversial drama Reasons Why, and another is based on the Harvey Weinstein Hollywood sex scandal.
A third has its origins in the battle for the life of the British baby Charlie Gard, who was born with a rare genetic
disorder that causes progressive brain damage and muscle failure.
Giddish says she often watches or reads news stories and wonders how long it will be before they end up in a script.
“I’ve just been reading about the discovery of 13 children being kept prisoner by their parents and everyone is saying how long is it going to take for the writers to take that idea and turn it into a script,” she says. “But you know what, at least we’re talking about it.
“It means we’re exposing as many people to storylines like that as we can because it’s no use keeping it in the dark. It doesn’t do anybody any good if nobody ever talks about things like that.”
Since Giddish signed on to play Rollins in 2011, her character has been through the mill. As well as struggling to deal with a drug addict sister, she has been shot, suffered domestic violence, was wrongly charged with murder, and developed a gambling addiction. On top of that, she fell pregnant to her one-time boss and is now the single mother of toddler daughter Jesse.
The actress was delighted when the show’s writers decided to write her real-life pregnancy into the series. They even cast her newborn son, Ludo, to play Rollins’ baby daughter Jesse.
“One of the wonders of this job is feeling like a family because we are around each other so much.
“I’ve never felt more supported in my life as when I was pregnant and working on this show.
“I had my kid and they gave me all the time I needed but, of course, I love to work so I was going, ‘Excuse me, I’m waiting to come back to work’.
“They let me set the pace and that’s not something that ever happens in TV.
“Actually, my husband got very ill when I had a six-month-old baby.
“He was in the hospital for two months, completely paralysed, and they once again rallied around me. The job, the people I work with and for, I can’t say enough good things about.”
Which is why she is pleased there is a change in the on-screen relationship between Rollins and her boss, Detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), this season.
The two women have been at odds for years, but that all changes as Benson’s life takes a turn for the worse.
“It’s just nice to come into that office and know that we’re not going to fight and kind of support each other, as I think these two characters would in real life,” Giddish says.
“I love it so much. Mariska and I have become closer and closer as the years have gone by and because I’ve gone through a lot and she’s gone through a lot – it’s life and we’ve been here for each other – and it affects the writing of our characters. I think the bond and the closeness are not put upon our characters. I think it’s very much honest.”
“Mariska (Mariska Hargitay, above) and I have become closer and closer as the years have gone by ... I’ve gone through a lot and she’s gone through a lot.” – Kelli Giddish