Keke Palmer Was “Speechless” When She Met Mariska Hargitay on the Set of ‘SVU’: “I Forgot How to Act”

Keke Palmer recalled being starstruck by Mariska Hargitay when she guest-starred on an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2005.

During her BuzzFeed Puppy Interview to promote her new book, Master of Me, the actress looked back on the time Olivia Benson left her speechless.

“I grew up watching her show and living for her show all my life as a kid, and I got the opportunity to work with her when I was 12 years old,” Palmer said. “She saved me from [Hurricane] Katrina in the storyline. I was in the hospital, my last breath in character. This is the first moment I meet her. She walks through that door, and I became speechless, y’all. I forgot how to act. I thought I really was from Katrina and was on my last breath.”

She continued, “I could not believe that the woman that had saved all these young girls and these young boys was here to save me. I was in deep shock for most of the scene. I told my mom, ‘I can’t breathe, I can’t think, I can’t talk. This is Olivia Benson,’ and Sharon [Palmer, my mom,] was like, ‘You gotta get through.’ So I got through the scene.”

Palmer explained that after they were done filming and having lunch, Hargitay invited her and the actress who played her little sister in the episode to hang out in her trailer, where she had boxes of goodies.

“She had all these fancy bath products and just all this beautiful stuff that girls love, and she gave it all to us both,” she remembered. “We walked out of her room with all these baskets of things, and it was just like the sweetest memory ever.”

Years later, the Nope star shared that she reached out to Hargitay via direct message and told her she still loved her and had such great members from when she met her, even if the SVU star doesn’t remember her anymore.

“She’s like, ‘Keke, of course I remember you. I love you so much. I’m so proud of everything you’ve been doing,’ and it was just a good little moment but, you know, Olivia Benson, she’s always going to get it.”

Palmer guest-starred in SVU season seven, episode 10, “Storm.” It followed Tasha (Palmer) and her younger sisters who were abducted from a Hurricane Katrina-ravaged New Orleans and brought to New York City. Two of the girls were able to escape before one was re-abducted, but Tasha is able to help then-Detectives Benson and Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) find her kidnapper and the missing sister.