As a squad room legend on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Organized Crime, Chris Meloni is in no shortage of dedicated fans, but he’ll always hold a special place in his heart for one of his biggest cheerleaders: his late mother, Cecile.

As Meloni celebrated becoming one of People‘s 2025 Sexiest Men Alive, the Law & Order icon chatted about which of his loved ones were fans of the franchise, revealing that his mother was a ride-or-die fan of SVU, devoutly tuning in during Meloni’s 12-year run alongside his partner Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay).

“When my mother was alive, she cherished [SVU] because I think, A) her boy had made it, and B) he was playing a hero,” Meloni told the magazine, adding that his villainous role on the smash prison drama Oz was far less up his mother’s alley.

Meloni’s award-winning portrayal as the chilling serial killer Chris Keller is a goosebump-inducing jump from his criminal-busting role on SVU, so it’s safe to say Cecile Meloni preferred watching her son save the day. “The other show I did, when I started to get a little hot, it was, ‘Mom, I’m going to play an omni-sexual serial killer on a prison drama.’ So, she didn’t see any episode [of Oz].”

“Her watching SVU was a big deal to me,” Meloni concluded, no doubt thinking of his mom fondly.

Chris Meloni’s mom helped him realize his wife was “the one”

Two years following his mother’s 2016 passing, Meloni opened up about the special role Cecile played in his happily-ever-after with his wife, Sherman Williams. Upon showing some love for his multi-decade union with his wife, Meloni revealed that it was his mother’s first impression of his Williams that led him to know she was “the one.”

“I didn’t, my mother did,” Meloni humorously recalled in the 2018 interview with Harry Connick, Jr. “She had never done this before. This was her favorite story. The first time she met my wife, then girlfriend, she goes — I’ll never forget it — ‘She was at the top of the stairs, and as soon as I saw her, I was like, “Oh my god, Chris is gonna marry this one.”‘

“So sweet,” Meloni mused with a smile that screamed that he understood that his mother knew best.

Chris Meloni reveals his TV mom Ellen Burstyn has “filled a void”

Despite losing his mother years before the 2021 premiere of Law & Order: Organized Crime, Meloni has opened up about the “deep bond” he’s developed with his TV mom, Ellen Burstyn, who has played Bernadette Stabler during Meloni’s tenure on SVU and Law & Order: Organized Crime.

“She has been my mom for 25 years now,” Meloni revealed during an April 2025 appearance on TODAY. “I actually confide in her. She’s grown to be — my mother passed a couple years back — and she’s kind of filled a void that I didn’t recognize at first… It’s very meaningful to me, but she and I have a very deep bond.”

Meloni echoed this sentiment during a February 2025 interview with Entertainment Weekly, revealing that he was “surprised” to see how important the pair has become to each other after over more than two decades of Law & Order thrills.

“On a personal note, when I act with Ellen, there is such a deep affection, I think on both our parts,” Meloni said. “I’ve expressed to her what she means to me, and it has kind of surprised me how much she has meant to me on a personal level, because that doesn’t happen too often. So whatever you see is deep, true affection.”