Olivia Benson

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Olivia Benson
Title Detective
Affiliation New York City Police Department
Division Special Victims Unit
Precinct 16th Precinct
Occupation Police officer
Current status Alive
First Appearance SVU: "Payback"
Played by Mariska Hargitay
Benson in 2008.

Olivia Benson is Elliot Stabler's partner and a detective in the Manhattan Special Victims Unit.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 2 Police Force 3 Personal Life

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Olivia Benson was born in 1967, the product of the rape of Serena Benson, who was at the time working in a cafeteria by a food salesman named Joseph Hollister. In Philadelphia (2007) and Florida (2007) Olivia finds out about the man who raped her, her mother, and others. He knew about his daughter and kept track of her. He once tried to call her but got Serena instead.

In the pilot episode Payback, Olivia and Serena seemed to care about each other a great deal. Serena was worried about Olivia working in the Special Victims Unit. Then in Taken (2000) Serena dies as the result of a fall down the subway stairs across from a bar. Olivia says Serena was a drunk. In Abuse (2000) Olivia becomes involved with a child who was neglected by her parents that way Olivia felt neglected by her mother. In Wanderlust (1999) Olivia said she was in love with an older man and that she "couldn't have loved him more." In Intoxicated (2005) Olivia tells Casey about an incident when she was 16. An older student of her mother asked her to marry him and when she told Serena that she was leaving, her mother who had been drinking flew into a rage and went after her with a broken bottle. Olivia kicked her mother into a wall and ran to Simone Bryce for help.

After arguing with ADA Sonya Paxton about alchoholism and seeing her drunk in court, she was moved to leave flowers at her mother's grave. (SVU: Hammered)

[edit] Police Force

Her partner is Detective Elliot Stabler though at times she is paired off with another member of SVU.

Her ability to empathize with victims is a tremendous asset, but there are times when it comes back to haunt her.

In the ninth season she went undercover in a woman prison to find a rapist and was almost raped herself until Fin, also undercover there as a guard of the facility, managed to save her just moments before the man, who was a fellow guard, abused her. Afterwards, Olivia developed a severe case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but has been receiving counseling for the assault and has been seen dealing with it more constructively. While speaking to a victim of a separate rape, the victim asked her if she was better having dealt with her rapist, and Olivia told her that she was better but that she wouldn't ever forget what happened.

[edit] Personal Life

Olivia has had atrocious luck when it has come to the area of dating and interpersonal relationships. One boyfriend, Marshal Andy Eckerson, seemed to have a death-wish. (SVU: "Missing") Another boyfriend, reporter Nick Ganzner, had rape fantasies that he wanted her to act out, and when she refused, he got revenge by leaking sensitive materials about an open case to the press. (SVU: "Contact") A third, ADA Jeffrey York, later turned out to be gay, and was murdered by his colleague, Andy Abbot. York had HIV at the time of his death, and thus Olivia had to be tested for the disease. (SVU: "Lowdown") More recently, Olivia dated another reporter, Kurt Moss, but this fell apart when a tablod writer at Moss' paper outed Lincoln Havers, a high-profile professional quarterback who happened to be a suspect in a murder that Benson was investigating. Naturally, Havers' attorney accused the NYPD of leaking Havers's sexuality to the press, and the NYPD in turn tried to scapegoat Benson for it. It was ultimately proven that Havers's agent was was the real leak, but Benson and Moss decided that it was too much of a risk for them to continue seeing each other. (SVU: "Closet") It has sometimes been assumed by others that Olivia is a lesbian, but this has never been conclusively proven. A more accurate assessment may be that Benson is married to her job, but this has never been conclusively proven either, nor is it known ever even to have been openly stated by any of the characters, least of all Benson herself.