Actress Jennifer Love Hewitt is guest starring on an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, airing on September 29th, in which she plays a rape victim named Vicki, who is brought into the hospital claiming that she has been attacked multiple times by the same man. Detectives Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) are determined to help her stand up to her attacker, but she is in such terror that she denies she has been raped at all and refuses to submit to a rape kit. The investigation soon leads to Los Angeles, where Benson meets Detective Rex Winters (Skeet Ulrich), which will launch the latest installment of the franchise, Law & Order: Los Angeles.

In an interview to promote her guest starring role in the long-running series, and to bring the issue of the backlog of rape kits that still need testing to light, Jennifer Love Hewitt spoke about her desire to take on this highly emotional role, preparing for a character like this and the challenges of the physical transformation she went through for it.

Question: What was it about this particular episode that made you want to do this show now, at this point in your career?

Jennifer: This episode was so dear to Mariska’s heart because the Joyful Heart Foundation is her foundation, and I was really able to learn a lot from her about the rape backlog issue. I think I will speak for a lot of people when I say that the assumption is that rape is the crime. What I learned from doing the episode is that there’s actually a bigger crime that takes place afterwards, which is when these women are put through these horrible rape kit examinations. After having been raped and violated so horribly in their lives, they’re put through these tests, and then nothing ever becomes of them. The rape kit test is then put on a shelf, and they live in fear for years of their lives, having no idea if this person has been caught, if he’s out there and if he’s watching them.

It’s the deterioration of life, and lack thereof, that happens for these women that truly is the crime that happens after the initial rape. That is what this episode is about and what the episode is supposed to teach people. So, I would say to women who unfortunately find themselves in these circumstances that, if you are going to get a rape kit examination, because we are in a society of people who do not seem to be able to understand the importance of testing those kits, that right now, it is up to those women to check in and see if their kit has been tested and to stay on top of it, even though it brings up awful memories and it’s not something that they want to deal with.

As an actress, how important this role for you?

Jennifer: I think it was extremely important. Initially, when I read the script and I heard about the episode, it was very exciting, as an actress. When I got there and I met Mariska, and I met the women from her Foundation, and I was a part of this cast and crew who work so incredibly hard, but who, after 12 years, care so much about the quality and the value of the things that they’re saying and doing, it really transcended acting for me.

It became a soulful journey through something that I could never have imagined. Helen Shaver, who directed the episode, Mariska and the women from the Joyful Heart Foundation, really created like this sisterhood of heart for me to be surrounded by, in playing this part. After the first or second day, I thought, “Wow, this is not even acting. There are no words for it.” It was just this deep, painful, beautiful, extraordinary journey that I got lucky enough to be blessed with from the universe and the kind people at SVU. It was extraordinary. I’ve been acting 22 years, and I’m only 31, but that’s a really long time to be doing something. And, doing this made me fall in love with my job, all over again. I don’t think I will ever act the same way. It was like something in my heart and my soul just connected on a different level. I feel very thankful for the opportunity that I was given. It really was so fun and just eye-opening for me.

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When Jennifer Love Hewitt starred on “Ghost Whisperer,” we saw the young star battling some major supernatural forces, but with nary a hair out of place. Imagine the shock when pictures from the set of “Law & Order: SVU” came online, showing Jennifer Love Hewitt looking battered, bruised and without a stitch of make-up. “It was shocking for me also,” Hewitt says laughing.

“I’m used to 2 hours in the hair and make-up chair and I was done in 10 minutes,” Hewitt continued. “I was panicking. I was like ‘Oh my Gosh, how on Earth am I gonna do this?’”

In the episode, airing Tuesday, September 28th, Hewitt stars as Vicki, a rape victim who has been attacked multiple times and is too scared to submit to a rape kit. Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Chris Meloni) are on the case, helping her character stand up to her attacker and finally get justice.

The episode of “Law & Order: SUV,” like most episodes, takes inspiration from real-life news stories, this time focusing on the police precincts and evidence labs failing to have their rape kits tested. The episode is also next the foray for Hewitt into heavier subject matter, following her portrayal of the real-life mom turned madam in Lifetime’s “The Client List.”

But where she’s used to looking Maxim-cover ready, her guest stint on “Law & Order: SVU” forced her to approach her acting, and the mirror, a little bit differently.

“I feel like the universe just gives you these weird gifts that you’re not expecting and this was one of them,” Hewitt said. “I feel like I hung my hat on having all the hairs in place and the eyelashes and the lipstick and the clothes and all that stuff. I definitely feel like there was probably a part of me that relies on that more than I would like to admit and more than I was comfortable with.”

“I learned a lot of things just about acting and women in the world from doing this one episode, but I really personally learned such a vanity lesson which was really important for me,” Hewitt continued. “It was a personal lesson that I didn’t know I was ready to learn but I’m really glad that I did. It was just awesome.”

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Jennifer Love Hewitt will be making a guest appearance on the next new episode of Law & Order: Special Victims’ Unit on September 29. Also, Mariska Hargitay will be meeting up with Skeet Ulrich, the newest cop in the Law & Order francise (Law & Order: Los Angeles) to kick start the new spin-off, which is set to premiere on October 4.

NBC has released a lot of sneak peeks for the upcoming new SVU episode, which you can view below.

OLIVIA BENSON (MARISKA HARGITAY) AND ELLIOT STABLER (CHRISTOPHER MELONI) HELP A REPEAT RAPE VICTIM (GUEST STAR JENNIFER LOVE HEWITT) STAND UP TO HER ATTACKER

A rape victim, Vicki (Hewitt), is brought into the hospital initially claiming she has been attacked multiple times by the same man. Detectives Benson (Hargitay) and Stabler (Meloni) are determined to help her, but she lives in such terror that she then denies she has been raped at all and refuses to submit to a rape kit.

As Benson looks for a way to help, she is horrified to learn that there are police precincts and evidence labs across the country that never test their rape kits at all. The investigation soon leads her to Los Angeles where she meets Detective Rex Winters (guest star Skeet Ulrich), who has information that could finally help Vicki get justice. Also starring: Ice-T (Detective Odafin Tutuola), Richard Belzer (Detective John Munch), B.D. Wong (Dr. George Huang) and Tamara Tunie (Dr. Melinda Warner).

There are a bunch of clips from the show inside the post – click on the link below to view them!

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On Wednesday, September 29, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” will air an episode entitled “Behave,” which will tackle the touch subject of getting a rape victim to accept help while also dealing with the often embarrassing and traumatizing situation of having a rape kit performed.

Joining series stars Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay in the episode is Jennifer Love Hewitt, who recently took time out of her schedule to talk with reporters about her guest-starring role in the episode as Vicki. I also had the opportunity to talk with executive producer Neal Baer and Sarah Tofte from Mariska Hargitay’s Joyful Heart Foundation.

Jennifer, what made you want to take on this sort of challenging role?

Jennifer: I think you kind of said it — it was different and challenging for me from anything that I’ve done in my career. I think it started with everyone at [the show’s] belief that I could pull it off and it made me really happy and excited. So I went from there — I decided to jump in heart-first

Neal, by the same token what made Jennifer’s work stand out for this role?

Neal: The depth of her feeling — we needed an actor who could really go deep. I’ve been watching her since she was a kid, and I knew she had this realm of emotion and depth that would make her perfect for the part. We never went for anyone else. One of our producers looked it the episode and said ‘this is one of the top five we’ve done over twelve years.’

This question is for everyone: after doing this episode, what advice would you have for women struggling with this rape kit situation?

Jennifer: For me, the thing I learned the most is that this episode is so dear to Mariska’s heart is because of her foundation. I was able to learn a lot about the rape backlog issue. I speak for a little people when I say that I think the assumption is that rape is the crime, but I learned during the episode that there is a greater crime that happens after the rape, when these women have horrible rape kit examinations after getting raped … putting through these test where nothing becomes of them. They sit on a shelf for years, and all this time the women live in fear not knowing if this person is caught and if he’s out there or watching them. It’s the deterioration of life and lack thereof that is the crime after the rape.

That is the episode we want to get out of this episode for people who find themselves in this situation is that if you’re going to get a rape kit examination, we are in a society who does not seem to understand the importance of checking these kits, is that these women have to check in on these kits — even if it brings back awful memories that these women do not want to deal with.

Neal: I echo what Jennifer is saying. Three things:

1. If you are a victim, you can and should come forward because there are people in law enforcement there to help. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.

2. If you’re fortunate to never have gone through this, there is still ways to take action, whether it is contacting your chief of police or city council.

3. Demanding that this backlog of rape kits is tested, and making sure the DNA isn’t degenerating.

Sarah: You have to follow up to the police. It puts a record there, and it gives a survivor a chance for justice.

At the same time, what makes the rape kits so difficult is that it is a 4-6 hour process, and it is the least we can do is test these kids and hope that the information found in those kids will help find some justice.

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I have just added 4 production stills of Jennifer Love Hewitt from her upcoming appearance on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” into our gallery! Her appearance is airing next week, September 29th at at 9pm on NBC!

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Jennifer Love Hewitt Fan > Television Series > Law and Order: SVU > Production Stills – 12.02 Behave

The “Behave” episode of LAW & ORDER: SVU, airing Wednesday, September 29 at 9pm/8 central focuses on the severe backlog of untested rape kits in many cities and towns in our country. Jennifer Love Hewitt guest stars as a woman afraid to leave her home after being repeatedly raped by the same man and viewers will see some of her struggle.

Jennifer Love Hewitt, SVU executive producer Neal Baer, and Sarah Tofte of the Joyful Heart Foundation recently talked to the press about the episode, the real-life rape kit back-log issue, and what the Joyful Heart Foundation is doing, as well as what we can do, to help address the backlog.

On how the “Behave” episode came about

Neal said that he was at a gala Mariska Hargitay was throwing for her Joyful Heart Foundation and he talked to a woman who stayed locked up in her house because a rapist had stolen her driver’s license. He began writing the story on a napkin and told Mariska he finally had a way to tell the rape kit backlog story.

On how Jennifer was cast

Jennifer said the role seemed very different and challenging and she was honored that the SVU team thought she could pull it off. She explained that they sent the script, she loved it and she jumped in heart first.

For his part, Neal said that they needed an actor with real depth of feeling and they knew Jennifer acted from her heart and had a “well of emotion.” They never really considered anyone else.

On what the role means to Jennifer

Jennifer called her time on SVU a “deep, painful, extraordinary journey” that transcended acting for her. When she first heard about the role, she thought it was exciting, but when she got there and met Mariska and the strong, beautiful women from the Joyful Heart Foundation, she found a “sisterhood of the heart” and the role ended up being a “soulful journey” she couldn’t have imagined. It was also both fun and eye-opening for her.

According to Jennifer, this role made her fall in love with acting again and that she doesn’t think she will act the same way again. She also said it has made her look differently at the kinds of roles she wants to take. She said in the past she has been having fun, but those eight days at SVU felt like she really started acting.

On how Jennifer prepared for the role

Jennifer claimed she didn’t really do any preparation because she couldn’t really imagine what the character has gone through and she was afraid to wrap her mind around it. She gratefully said the cast and crew, especially Mariska, really pushed her, telling her that she had done good work before, but for this she needed to go much deeper. She said she looked at it as she had one job: to give it everything she had, so she did.

On Jennifer’s “vanity lesson”

For this role, Jennifer is stripped down, make-up wise, and Jennifer admitted that–and the headlines about her on-set pictures– made her realize that she has probably relied too much on perfect hair and makeup in other roles–more than she wanted to admit or is comfortable with. While she is used to spending two hours in the makeup chair, for this role, she was out in ten minutes, which scared her a little.

Jennifer said she learned that “Hair and makeup are great, but the lack of them is better.”

On the crossover with Law & Order: LA

Olivia travels to Detroit, Chicago, and Los Angeles in the course of her investigation into rape kits in this episode and Neal said that there was an LA character in the script before LOLA was finalized, so when LOLA did come online, it only made sense to use Detective Rex Winters (Skeet Ulrich) as that character.

On message television

When asked how he balanced the entertainment part of this episode with the message part, Neal answered that he has never looked at what he does as either entertainment or education. He doesn’t want to be in either mindset and instead sees himself as telling stories.

According to Neal, this is a raw, compelling story about a woman who was horribly violated and is now living in terror. He said there is also a sense of hope and justice and an understanding of what we can do to help on this issue and he pointed out that this may be one of the top five shows they’ve done in the entire series.

Jennifer said that she thinks people in the entertainment industry are in a beautiful position to visually show an issue like this and also hopefully make people feel it. She thinks there is a duty to tell these stories.

On advice to women afraid to get rape kit examination

Neal, Jennifer, and Sarah all agree that victims should not let the backlog issue deter them from getting a rape kit examination, though Sarah added that since women have to submit to a 4-6 hour examination, the least we could do is test the kits.

Jennifer said that rape victims should also (and unfortunately) take the initiative and check up on the status of their kits, even though it could bring up painful memories.

On the Joyful Heart Foundation’s action on the rape kit backlog

Sarah explained that on the morning of September 29, Joyful Heart is launching a new website: endthebacklog. org, which will be a comprehensive and full service resource about the backlog issue. People can educate themselves and get data on the cities with backlogs. There will be a platform to work with law enforcement and survivors can share their stories and get information on how to check the status of their kits.

Mariska and Joyful Heart will also continue their outreach and education efforts

On what we can do to help

There are many cases across the country where a victim is raped by someone who would have been caught had another victims rape kit been tested. Some cities,– New York, for example–are starting to cut down on their backlog, but there is much work to be done and Neal said that those of us who are fortunate enough to have not been affected by this issue can still take action by contacting our police chiefs and city councils and telling them we want the backlog opened up and all rape kits tested.

The twelfth season of Law & Order: SVU premieres on Wednesday, September 22 at 9pm with the “Behave” episode airing on September 29. You can find all our Law & Order: SVU coverage here.

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I have just added another 19 HQ photos of Jennifer Love Hewitt from the set of “Law & Order: SVU” on August 10th.