Christopher Meloni Opens Up About the Contract Negotiations That Led to His 'Law & Order: SVU' Exit

Christopher Meloniis opening up about his exit fromLaw & Order: Special Victims Unitin 2011.

Meloni, 60, played Detective Elliot Stabler oppositeMariska Hargitay’s Olivia Benson on the series, up until issues with his contract negotiation led to his abrupt departure after season 12.

In a recent interview withMen’s Health, the actor said the show was not willing to give him the amount of money he was seeking to renew his contract. Meloni said he tried to negotiate the number of episodes he was in, but it ended up not working out.

Meloni then recalled responding, “I don’t want to f— around with you guys. This is what I want. If you can’t do it, that’s fine. Let’s figure out my exit.”

Mariska Hargitay and Chris Meloni on SVU.Chris Haston/NBC/Getty

Hargitay, 57, previouslytold PEOPLEabout what it was like when Meloni first leftSVU, noting that she was “devastated” at the time.

“I was just so sad, because we started this thing and built it together,” she said in February. “And we went through so many milestones and spent so much time together and understood so many things that nobody else could understand.”

Meloni, however, saw things differently. “She was left in the familiarity of what we were. And I’m sure there were echoes, constant reminders, everywhere. But for me, it was about how things fell out — and the word I’ll use is that it was inelegant,” he said.

“At the end of the day, how it was handled was, ‘Okay, see you later.’ So I went, ‘That’s fine. We’re all big boys and girls here. See you later.’ And I was off on new adventures and doing what I wanted to do. Telling the stories I wanted to tell,” he added.

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The star has since reprised his role as Stabler for theLaw & Orderspinoff,Organized Crime.The series premiered earlier this year and has been renewed for asecond season.

“It felt good to have to make that decision — which was a big yes-or-no decision — with a sense of clarity and a sense of certain things being correct,” Meloni toldMen’s Healthof his return.

Dylan McDermott with Christopher Meloni on Organized Crime.Virginia Sherwood/NBC

Elsewhere in the interview, he opened up about feeling bouts of anxiety when he first rose to fame onSVU.

“When my career started to happen, I could feel it,” he said. “But I didn’t want to trust it, because I had struggled for so long — or at least it felt like I’d struggled for so long — and I didn’t want it to go away. I don’t know how many people get this opportunity to dream a dream and have it come to fruition. Because everyone does the first part, but to have it come to fruition then starts a whole other journey of Now what? And What is this? And How do you manage?”

Now that he has his new show, though, Meloni said he’s not as anxious.

Meloni continued, “There are bigger things, more important things. I know how important this is to me, but I have a clearer vision of life. I know a little more about love. I know a little more about real pain. I know about joy. I know better management skills. As you go through life, you get a clearer understanding of things, of your holes and of your gifts.”

source: people.com