Mariska Hargitay On Being

For the first 12 seasons of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni were the face of the popular crime drama as detectives Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler.

So when Meloni abruptly left the show in 2011 after contract negotiations fell apart, Hargitay says she was "devastated."

"I was just so sad, because we started this thing and built it together," she tells PEOPLE in this week's cover story. "And we went through so many milestones and spent so much time together and understood so many things that nobody else could understand."

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Mariska Hargitay Opens Up On Being ‘Devastated’ When Chris Meloni 'Left Law & Order: SVU' | PEOPLE
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