How Christopher Meloni and Ellen Burstyn's “Law & Order” Family Dynamic Extends Off Screen: 'You're My Mother'

"It's very easy. It's like slipping into a pair of old shoes. I slipped into being your mother," the 'SVU' and 'Organized Crime' actress told her TV son in a new conversation for 'Interview' magazine

Christopher Meloni found a second mother of sorts in his Law & Order costar Ellen Burstyn.

Meloni, 62, and Burstyn, 90, opened up about how their on-screen mother-son relationship has translated into the real world during a conversation for Interview Magazine.

The Exorcist: Believer star — who portrays Meloni's character Elliot Stabler's mother Bernadette on both Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and the actor's Organized Crime spinoff — recalled the touching moment she realized the actor was more than just her costar.

“You know what I was thinking about yesterday?” she asked during the conversation, which took place on July 12 ahead of the start of the SAG-AFTRA strike. “One day on set [of Organized Crime] you said, 'Why do you do this to me, Dimi?' It’s a line from The Exorcist. And I was so stunned because my son in real life says that line to me.”

She added, “When you said it, it was like I was in two realities at once.”

Related: Christopher Meloni Shares His Wife and Kids' Reaction to His Zaddy Title: 'It's All Fun'

It turns out the moment also meant a lot to Meloni, who shared how the interaction had given him new perspective on their relationship.

“Afterwards, I was like, ‘Since I’ve lost my mother a couple of years ago, you — in my life, in our work — you’re my mother,’” he said.

Burstyn shared, “It’s very easy. It’s like slipping into a pair of old shoes. I slipped into being your mother.”

Related: Mariska Hargitay Reveals Christopher Meloni's Mom Was the Reason' SVU' Changed Its Original Title

Back in March 2017, Meloni opened up about how his Snatched costars, Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn comforted him on set just a day after his mother, Cecile Meloni, died in 2016.

“We were shooting in Hawaii and I did a few of my scenes for a couple weeks there and then they said ‘We’re not going to need you for a while, so you go home.’” he recalled during an appearance on The Talk. “So I went back east and unfortunately my mother got ill and so she passed.”

He continued, “I actually had to leave her bedside, flew and by the time I landed, she had passed. So no one knew except for the producers and the director and they were all very sweet and kind.”

Related: Christopher Meloni Loves His Current Career High and Becoming a Zaddy at 61: 'The Lucky Streak Continues'

The next morning, Meloni recalled taking a boat up a river to film with Schumer and Hawn. When he broke the news of his mother’s death, the actor shared that Hawn pulled her into a “tight” embrace, while Schumer took a more light-hearted approach to cheer him up.

“And then Amy, she goes ‘Wait, what did you just say?’ I said, ‘Well, my mother passed.’ She goes, ‘Oh, that’s terrible. Hold on one second,’” he said with a laugh as he brought his cell phone to his face, copying Schumer’s gesture. 

“I knew she was joking. … How courageous that she — she invited, she needed to diffuse all of that obvious emotion that was filling up the boat,” said Meloni, who added, “And later — this was even cuter — later she goes, ‘You know I was kidding, right?’”

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Law & Order: Special Victims Unit can be streamed in full on Hulu, and the first three seasons of Law & Order: Organized Crime are available on the NBC app.

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