Many celebrity marriages come and go in the blink of an eye, but others are forever. Mariska Hargitay is lucky enough to be in one of the rare, lasting relationships in showbiz.

The Law and Order: Special Victims Unit star and her husband, actor Peter Hermann, have enjoyed 18 beautiful years together. They met when he guest-starred on the show in 2002, and they hit it off immediately. They have three children⁠ — 16-year-old August, 11-year-old Amaya, and 10-year-old Andrew. Now the couple is opening up about how they make things work.

“I never thought I would have this much laughter in my life,” Peter, who starred in Younger, told People in 2019.  “Not just actual laughter, but also the way that Mariska is just the embodiment of laughter — of joy.”

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Mariska doesn’t claim they’re a perfect fit, either. She acknowledges that they fight, but also that seeing some of the darker sides of life has helped her find silver linings more easily.

Peter believes that laughter is their true north.

“[Laughter is] the way we find our way back to each other,” he said. “It’s this fantastically, wonderfully ridiculous way that we can swing back and forth any number of times in any given day. But fundamentally we know we have the same destination. We know where we’re headed, and it’s good. And we know we’ll get there together.”