It's a family affair on "Law & Order: SVU" when Ice-T's wife and reality co-star, Coco Austin, returns to the series Wednesday. Coco, who has been on the show twice before, will make her third appearance in the Jan. 11 episode. Although it's only a cameo, it's a memorable one. Wait until you see what she's wearing and whom she's kissing.
"I didn't have a say in what I was going to wear at all," Coco told The Huffington Post. "I was actually surprised when the wardrobe people called me up and said, 'You need to come in for a fitting.' I thought I was going to be in a rather cutesy outfit, but very regal and classy. When I walked in and on the hanger was this little bikini-style outfit that looked kind of like booty shorts, I was like, 'Wait, hold up! NBC is OK with this?'"
Coco appears as Venus, the goddess of love, in a play within the "Theatre Tricks" episode (10 p.m. EST on NBC). A theater company stages a living play, inspired by the real-life production "Sleep No More," in which the audience becomes part of the show. Coco shows up in one scene, and Ice-T said all eyes were on his wife and her very skimpy outfit.
"I think whenever Coco is on the set, every single crew member somehow makes it to the set," Ice-T told The Huffington Post. "Every light man, every prop person, every electrical, every cook somehow makes it to that set when Coco is going to shoot. We have more people on set when Coco shoots than any time in the history of 'Law & Order.'"
And because it's "SVU," there is a twist.
"What happens in the show is during one of these acts, a girl gets raped, but everyone in the room thinks it's part of the show," Ice-T said. "We investigate the rape and then come to find out there's a twist because the guy that raped her said he got an email from her on some website that said she wanted him to do it. Then we got to find out how this happened."
After Coco's third time, could another family member be headed to "SVU"?
"I know Spartacus wants to be on the show," Ice-T said of his dog. "But he knows they'd be hating on him," the actor added of the other stars' dogs. "Spartacus doesn't really care 'cause he has his own show. He has credits."
Coco said it's one of the most popular questions Spartacus receives on his Twitter account. "Honestly, I think Spartacus has enough fans that he could do it," she said. "Right now it's not in the near future, but I think if I applied pressure to my 'Law & Order' family, that may happen."
Cameras for the couple's E! reality show, "Ice Loves Coco," on which Spartacus co-stars, were there to capture Coco's latest "SVU" stint. "I started calling 'Ice Loves Coco' the '30 Rock' of 'Law & Order' because it's kind of giving people another look at the characters on 'Law & Order,'" Ice explained. "You get to see [Richard] Belzer this year. You get to see Kelli [Giddish] and Dann Florek."
Here's an exclusive sneak peek at Coco's steamy new "Law & Order: SVU" role.
