Jennifer Love Hewitt in harrowing rape-victim role

London, (ANI): Known for her girl-next-door persona, Jennifer Love Hewitt seems to have lived up to the role of rape victim in the US police drama 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'.

The former Ghost Whisperer star plays a battered and bruised woman, Vicki Sayers, who has been brutally raped by the same man over a period of fifteen years. Hewitt admitted that she found the show's gritty subject matter a challenge and was worried that she wasn't up to the job.

"My initial thing was: Can I pull this off? I don't know. I don't know if I'm quite the actress to tackle this one," the Daily Mail quoted her as saying. She has said that working on such brutal subject matter was emotional and put her 'through extreme turmoil'.

Filming the scenes in August, Hewitt built up a good rapport with co-star Mariska Hargitay, who has played Detective Benson in the show for 12 years. Talking about Love Hewitt's guest role she said: "She absolutely fulfilled our wildest dreams. As a professional, as an actor, as a compassionate, empathetic soul."

"I think she blew me away pretty much on every level," she added.