The members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit allegedly haven’t always gotten along.
Diane Neal, who starred on Law & Order: SVU from 2003 to 2012 allegedly called the show’s star, Mariska Hargitay, a “total bitch” and said the rest of her costars were “awful people,” according to court documents obtained by Page Six. The Power star, 44, also reportedly said that the only person on set she got along with was Ice T.
The report claims that Neal shared this to her former campaign manager Rachael Himsel and Himsel wrote them in an email to an unnamed source. Said email is now part of Neal’s ex-boyfriend JB Benn’s lawsuit against her. In the suit, he also claims the actress threatened to kill him and his dog. She denies the claims.
Additionally, in a statement to Page Six, the NCIS alum denied bashing her costars.
“There is no truth to this at all. Most of the people I’ve worked with are amazing, I love almost everyone I’ve ever worked with,” she said. “Mariska and I were not the closest, but that doesn’t mean we have any animosity towards each other, we’re still very supportive of each other. She’s a great mom, she’s great as Benson, she’s doing great charity work. I have never talked about the cast members like this, it’s salacious and untrue.”
Benn’s lawsuit is a response to Neal’s, which she filed two years ago. Last week, new details of the lawsuit were revealed as the actress alleged that he sexually and physically abused her, stole money from her and harmed her pets. Benn, 44, denies any wrongdoing.
In her lawsuit, Neal claims she broke up with Benn in March 2018 and days later, she awoke to him sexually assaulting her and recording it on his cellphone. According to The Daily Beast, he called the claim “completely false and outrageously interposed as a tactic to cloud the fact that, on the merits, [Neal] has no entitlement to the relief she seeks” before saying his ex “will say whatever she believes is necessary to gain sympathy and to support her ongoing vendetta against me.
NBC did not respond to Us Weekly‘s request for comment.
