Isabel Gillies Reacts to Online Hate Aimed at SVU Character Kathy Stabler: 'Take It Down a Notch'

Isabel Gillies has penned an open letter responding to the online criticism of her former Law & Order: Special Victims Unit character, Kathy Stabler.

Gillies, 51, played Kathy, the wife of Christopher Meloni's Elliot Stabler, for the first 12 seasons of the NBC procedural, up until Meloni's exit in 2011. Last year, she returned for one episode of SVU season 22.

NBC

During the episode, Kathy is killed, setting off a chain of events that played out during season 1 of Law & Order: Organized Crime, the franchise's latest spinoff starring Meloni, 60, as Stabler.

Though Gillies' character is deceased, her name came up in a crossover episode of SVU and Organized Crime last month, in which it was revealed that Kathy had tried to get Elliot to squash the romantic tension between him and former partner Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay).

The plotline angered some fans, prompting Gillies to write the letter in response.

"My feed, which is normally pretty sleepy, a retweeted article here, a few shoutouts about a recipe there, was a stream of eye-popping-bile posts, at me!" Gillies wrote regarding the backlash to Kathy after the episode. "My character, the deceased Kathy Stabler, was trending on Twitter."

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She continued, "Gliding over links and threads, memes and emojis, I started, well, crying. 'KATHY STABLER IS BURNING IN THE DEEPEST PART OF HELL.' Scroll, scroll…'YOU DESERVE TO BLOW UP!' Scroll, scroll…'Good morning to absolutely everyone except Kathy Stabler's ghost.' Scroll, scroll… 'This girl is the nastiest, skank b— I've ever met!' "

"Met? I'm sorry, have we met?" Gillies quipped.

She went on to share that she doesn't even watch Law & Order, and that the goings-on of the show's characters do not pertain to her.

"While I love Mariska and Chris, if their characters were falling for each other or not wasn't my concern," Gillies wrote. "Once they buried me, I continued on my life as Isabel Gillies, mom, wife, mahjong player."

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"After reading a lot - but not all - of the personal attacks, barbs, jabs and just plain ol' meanness, I caved and called my husband in tears. I'm only human, when you portray a character for 23 years (I'm including re-runs) it gets personal!" she added, noting that she eventually called Hargitay, who she said advised her not to take it personally.

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Reflecting on the online criticism that public figures like White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki and others regularly encounter, Gillies issued a call for everyone to "please all take it down a notch."

"No matter what our personal views are about TV love stories or climate change or the Senate parliamentarian, can we pause?" she asked. "There is the acronym T.H.I.N.K. Is it thoughtful? Is it honest? Is it interesting? Is it necessary? Is it kind?"

"I'm going to try to put everything I say or write through this little fail-safe. Goodness knows we've all been through the ringer. I often feel the urge to spew a nasty rant as much as the next person, but if a second-tier character on a primetime drama can be the victim of a ferocious online melt-down because of make-believe, it kills me to think what actual important civil servants must have to endure. It seems we're all screaming at each other all day, every day. Is it worth it? Can we stop?" she concluded. "Can we think?"