The actress, 32, says she’s buckling down to prepare for January when she’ll start filming racy scenes in the TV series extension of her 2010 Lifetime movie, The Client List.

Playing a mom who gets into prostitution to make ends meet, Hewitt tells PEOPLE, “I will be in lingerie a lot, so I’ll be working out. I will not be eating for the holidays.”

Hewitt, who enjoys making – and devouring – mashed potatoes during this time of year, says she’ll be doing Pilates while her family enjoys the food.

“This year will be loads of fun for me,” she said, laughing sarcastically.

But once the holiday temptations pass, Hewitt has a lot to look forward to in 2012. Not only does she start filming her sexy Lifetime series, but she also guest stars in an episode of Hot in Cleveland with Joe Jonas that airs on Jan. 25. The TV Land comedy’s season premiere is on Nov. 30 at 10 p.m.

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GIRL POWER: [Dress for Success] is such a wonderful cause. Anyone rehabilitating women and helping them feel powerful to go out in the work place, get a great job, feed their families and feel confident, beautiful and strong—I’m a big fan of that. Women taking over the world, as Beyoncé says, is a great thing.

MAKEOVER MAGIC: From the time you’re a little girl, it’s about dresses, hair and makeup. Being girly is the fun part of being a woman. When life unfortunately hands you situations that make you feel debilitated inside, if you can give the outside a little kick and glamour, it helps the whole package transform.

WHAT SHE’S STYIN’: I’m wearing Hervé Léger. They’re my fave. Particularly with what tonight’s about, their dresses are the kind that I put on and I never even have to think about it. I know I’m going to feel good and everything’s going to be in the right place. I’m going to have a great time in the night, and people talk about it and they think it’s beautiful. That makes me feel good. They sort of transformed me in that way.

BEAUTY FAVE: I really like the Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream. I love it—it’s great stuff.

BANDAGE DRESS BEAUTY: They’re comfy and warm, which is nice because it’s a little chilly in L.A. tonight.

HOLLYWOOD HELPS: It’s great when people spend time, especially in Hollywood, on something that’s worthy, cause-oriented and for good, not just about all the silly stuff that Hollywood’s about.

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“I’m getting ready to go back to work on a new show for Lifetime called Client List, based on a movie I did for them last year,” Jennifer told Wetpaint Entertainment in an exclusive interview.

“It’s about a Texas mom who falls on hard financial times like a lot of people are now in the world,” she explains.

“She is a massage therapist but finds herself at a spa that offers more than just massage… She has to take that job in order to feed her family.”

Hewitt said she loves playing a raunchy role after being the good girl for so long. Who wouldn’t?

“It’s fun to be the saucy one now. My character had good intentions and she’s from Texas like me. She is a girl next door beauty queen type.”

And the best part of playing a “massage” artist? The costumes, of course!

“I got to wear lots of lingerie, which I did worry about! It’s a lot of pressure to stay in shape and resist cupcakes.”

The Client List will air on Lifetime next March.

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The series will be different from the movie version in two central ways, Hewitt shared. Firstly, her character will now have red hair, news which pleased co-host Sharon Osbourne. Sam will also be taking on more of a business role in the prostitution operation to support her family.

Fear not though, despite Hewitt’s partial transition to madam-hood, she’ll still be wearing plenty of lingerie, and stay “hands-on” in the parlor’s activities. That’s her pun, not ours. ‘The Client List’ will premiere on Lifetime sometime in 2012.

Maybe! Ben Flajnik didn’t get the final rose on The Bachelorette, but he did score a date with Jennifer Love Hewitt! Wednesday on Ryan Seacrest’s radio show, the actress opened up about her “chance encounter” with the 28-year-old winemaker.

During the show’s August 1 finale, Hewitt, 32, tweeted that she needed to “book a flight to Sonoma,” which is where Flajnik lives and works. The actress explained her cyber-flirting to Seacrest, saying: “I was looking for something pop culture to tweet about… Things got blown out of proportion… I have nothing to say except I’m totally single!”

Seacrest’s cohost, Ellen K., asked the Can’t Hardly Wait Star: “Did you make out with [Ben]?”

Hewitt laughingly answered that “Rumors are rumors… We did meet, but totally by coincidence.”

An eyewitness told Us Weekly, however, that Flajnik initially stopped by Lion’s Pub in San Francisco with Giants player Cody Ross, but he made a beeline for Hewitt after spotting her across the room. “It seemed like a first date, but he wasn’t overly affectionate,” the source added.

Hewitt told Seacrest the duo just happened to be at the same place at the same time.

If the actress is interested, she better make her move. An insider told Us that Flajnik “is the favorite with the women trying out for [The Bachelor] and the crew” and might be back on reality TV soon.

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Check out the video in our media archive!

GALLERY LINKS:
Jennifer Love Hewitt Fan > Television Shows > Talk Shows > The Talk – May 13, 2011

Hollywoodlife.com caught up with Jennifer at New York Fashion Week, where the runways are flooded with the thinnest of the thin and the pressure is always on to be looking your best.

She told us, “I think its important that we in Hollywood, and in the business, start paying homage to [real women] instead of picking on them. We’re picking on what real women look like and that’s not fair. They’re the women who buy the magazines and go see the movies. I do think that, just like everyone else, that drop dead gorgeous, size zero, super tall models are amazing looking, but the average woman does have a presence and I think she should celebrate that too.” We agree!

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Actress, 31, co-starring with Betty White in The Lost Valentine (CBS, Sunday at 9 ET/PT)

How did you get along with Betty White?
JLH: She’s the most phenomenal person I’ve ever met. Her energy is unreal, and she’s so beautiful, kind, and witty. I grew up watching The Golden Girls, and I was completely obsessed with her.

Why should people watch this movie?
JLH: Romance is one thing that doesn’t go out of style.

Speaking of romance–tell us about yours.
JLH: I met Alex [Beh] at a party. He was the funniest one there. I thought I was done dating for a while, but the heart makes decisions without the brain.

Is having a love life difficult in Hollywood?
JLH: It’s the same bad dates, the same heartbreaks.

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So yea, she’s made pretty short work of the last 31 days.

To celebrate the DVD release of her Golden Globe nominated movie, I caught up with JLH to talk about the reaction from fans, from Hollywood and from her family!

PopWrap: First off, congrats on The Golden Globe nomination.
Jennifer Love Hewitt: Thank you! It was awesome, but I was totally shocked. I never pictured it getting me a Best Actress nomination – all my love to The HFPA. That was just one of those princess days – it was really great and I felt like a million bucks. We had so much fun.

PW: I’d imagine that acknowledgment like that really reinforced how this was more than your average Lifetime Movie.
Jennifer: I think so. When you’re working on something for four years and feel like it’s a passion project, you obviously feel proud but have no idea what other people are going to think.

PW: What kind of responses have you gotten?
Jennifer: People really had a good response to it and that makes me so happy. It was a tough story to tell because we wanted to do it right, delicately and give people eye candy while telling a real journey. The tricky thing was that the audience can essentially support her choices or not, and we really needed to get the audience to fall in love with her and care about her journey. Which I think we did.

PW: You had also told me that a big part of this role was hopefully changing people’s opinion of you in Hollywood — has that happened?
Jennifer: I think that following “Ghost Whisperer” with “The Client List” and that episode of “SVU” really showed people another side of me. Everyone has been so gracious and awesome in saying, “oh wow, there is something else there.” And as an actor, that’s all you can hope for. I’ve been here for a long time and so I’ve had to fight the curse of the child actor, the teen actor, the becoming an woman thing and now I’m just a grown up person. It’s a delicate transition and I’m grateful that people have been so gracious in letting me do that.

PW: What’s the key to making those transitions?
Jennifer: I always tried to think of ways to do it where it wouldn’t seem false. Some actors think, “I want to be a grown-up, so I have to find the raunchiest part I can where I take all my clothes off for them to think I’m a grown-up.” That’s really not the case. Grown-up’s don’t have to shout from the rooftops, “I’m a grown-up!” What I’ve tried to do is embrace every age and play the appropriate roles for those times.

PW: Was there a particular age where you felt the parts gelled with who you were the best?
Jennifer: Definitely a teenager. I was on “Party of Five,” which was a great drama, I was always crying and frustrated and angry, so it was great catharsis. My mom never had a troublesome kid because by the end of the day, I had gotten all my anger out on camera, which worked out really well for everyone [laughs]. But I also feel that I’m sort of back to that now. 32 is a good age, I am definitely ready for a family. I’m feeling more comfortable in my humanity and femininity and getting to play these characters who feel that way too.

PW: What’s next? Another book? You had mentioned Broadway perhaps.
Jennifer: All of those things. I want to find the right [Broadway] show, and I have a few book ideas in the works. I can’t decide if I want to do another romance oriented thing or something about women my age, which is such an interesting time. I don’t know what kind of book it’ll be, but it’s coming.

PW: And what about those Knockers Up t-shirts you promised me?
Jennifer: I know! I’m working on it, I swear. [laughs] I’m going to dedicate a few days to my Knockers Up t-shirt business.

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The die hard fan revealed she has yet to meet Twilight hero Robert Pattinson after he snubbed her at a photo signing, and now TV bosses have stepped in to make her wish come true.

Appearing on Access Hollywood Live on Tuesday (01Feb11), the actress told host Billy Bush, “I actually waited in line to take a picture of him (Pattinson) after the very first premiere for, like, an hour and 15 minutes and, as I got up to take my picture, they were like, ‘Robert, are you tired?’ He’s like, ‘Yes’, and he left.”

But then Bush offered her the job of a lifetime, asking Hewitt if she’d be interested in reporting on the red carpet at the next Twilight premiere.

Thrilled Hewitt screamed and said, “Are you kidding? Really…? Oh my God… This is amazing… I’m gonna get (vampire) teeth… I’m gonna get him (Pattinson) to sit on my lap.”

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In the drama, Betty plays Caroline, a World War II widow, who lost her husband when his plane was shot down over the Pacific and he is reported MIA. Caroline has never had any final notification that her husband is dead, so each Valentine’s Day, she returns to Union Station — the last place she saw him — to salute his memory on what is also their wedding anniversary.

“People ask me, ‘What would you like to do that you haven’t done, and in my mind it’s always a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie,” Betty tells ET.

This particular film was of interest to her because of the lost-love angle. Betty was married to Allen Ludden from 1963 until his death in 1981, and she has never remarried. So she understands her character.

“If you’ve had a big love in your life like I had with my beloved Allen Ludden … Oh, he’s right here,” she says, indicating her heart.

Jennifer plays Susan, a TV reporter reluctantly assigned to do a human interest story on Caroline, but things change and she gets into the assignment, trying to discover what really happened to the downed Navy pilot and possibly making a love connection of her own with Caroline’s grandson.

“She ultimately helps Betty get her final goodbye and complete her love story,” the former “Ghost Whisperer” star tells ET.

The two women hit it off instantly, according to Betty, who says, “We were old friends the minute we were introduced. We’ve been teasing each other a lot, but she’s a joy to work with.”

And Jennifer comments, “Betty White, Valentine’s Day, love story … you don’t really need anything else. For me she’s always been the IT girl. I grew up watching ‘The Golden Girls’ with my grandmother and we loved that show.”

The 241st Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation, “The Lost Valentine,” airs Sunday, Jan. 30 at 9 p.m. on CBS.

Love, currently dating director Alex Beh, told Ellen DeGeneres she already picked out three Tiffany engagement rings and said, “I feel like I’m doing the guy a favor.” She told Mario that she doesn’t want to end up like some of her girlfriends who were unsatisfied with their engagement rings.

Even though Jen and Alex have only dated for six months, she has already advised her man, “If you pick one of these three [rings], I’m going to be happy.”

She spoke to E! about how Beh won her over — and it was pretty simple.

“He was just really funny. It wasn’t anything in particular that he said. He was just really funny,” Hewitt said.

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“I’m super excited [and] very nervous, oddly enough,” Hewitt told PEOPLE at a W magazine party celebrating the Golden Globes Friday night. “I don’t get nervous, but I feel nervous. I’m really excited.”

Hewitt, who attended the party with her actor boyfriend Alex Beh, earned her first Globe nomination – best performance by an actress in a mini-series or a motion picture made for television – for her portrayal of a Texas physical therapist-turned prostitute in The Client List.

One thing the actress can feel relaxed about is her Golden Globes gown.

“I tried on like 20 dresses, and it was the one that each of the three times I went back, I put it on and it was the dress I stood up the straightest in,” she says. “I felt like, ‘Yeah, this is me, and this is my dress!’ ”

And Beh is a fan as well, according to Hewitt: “He saw a picture and he loves it,” she said.

The Ghost Whisperer star and her new man are “good” and “feeling good about where we are,” she says, shooting down the idea that they’re feeling pressure to take the next step in their relationship.

As for what makes them work as a couple, “friendship … is the best part,” Hewitt says. “We are good friends, and we have really good communication, oddly enough, because I’m not good at communicating in relationships [but] he’s teaching me.”

The 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards, hosted by Ricky Gervais, will air live Jan. 16 on NBC at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.

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“We’re going to go to coffee in the morning — that’s going to be exciting,” Hewitt told UsMagazine.com at the Art of Elysium Heaven Gala in L.A. Saturday. “We usually go to Coffee Bean so we’ll chill out there.”

Once she arrives back home, “I’m going to read magazines in the morning and just relax,” she said. “I actually have Us Weekly for tomorrow. I haven’t read the magazines this week, so I have them laid out for tomorrow.”

As she flips through this week’s issue — and learns all about how Taylor Swift got burned by ex Jake Gyllenhaal — her hair and makeup team is “going to show up and work their magic.”

And the 31-year-old actress — who earned her first Golden Globe nomination ever for her role in The Client List — tells Us she has high hopes for the night.

“I will be wearing earrings my mom gave me as a good luck charm, and I have a human good luck charm over here with me,” she said before pointing to current squeeze Alex Beh. “So that’s going to be good!”

“I’m nervous, but in a really good way. I’m nervous and excited,” she added. “I don’t want to miss a moment!”

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Last year, the former “Ghost Whisperer” star became an author with the relationship memoir “The Day I Shot Cupid,” and she made headlines again for having a new beau … actor-director Alex Beh. Hewitt’s next television project reaffirms her ties to love: She stars with Betty White in the “Hallmark Hall of Fame” drama “The Lost Valentine” Sunday, Jan. 30, on CBS.

“I definitely tend to gravitate toward things that have romance in them,” Hewitt confirms to Zap2it. “I had a lot of fun writing the book, and I really would like to write another one at some point, though I’m not sure when I’ll be able to do that. I learned some things from people who read the book, and I learned some things about myself on the book tour. I feel I have some things to say about that.”

However, Hewitt has nothing to say — not yet, at least — about Valentine’s Day 2011. “It’s one of my favorite holidays,” she allows, “but I don’t know what our plans are going to be.”

While she has come to terms with the end of “Ghost Whisperer,” Hewitt admits that took some time. Now a nominee for a Golden Globe Award for the Lifetime movie “The Client List,” she bought into rumors that ABC might pick up her weekly drama when CBS canceled it last spring after five seasons.

“For me, it was a total shock,” she says of realizing the series wouldn’t continue. “I thought our next season probably would be the last, just because the show had been on for a really long time. It’s hard to come up with new things that will keep people intrigued, but I never thought in a million years that was going to have been our last season.

“I was bummed for Melinda,” Hewitt adds about her spectre-seeing “Ghost Whisperer” character, “because I didn’t feel the series ended the way that she deserved for it to. We left the audience sort of hanging, and I hate that.

“When you’ve taken people on a journey for so long, the least you can do is give them a goodbye. For a show that was about unfinished business, we didn’t get to finish.”

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Jennifer Love Hewitt, Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie, The Client List: “I am so thrilled and grateful for this nomination. When I first read the story that inspired the movie, I knew it was powerful material, and I’m so happy I had the chance to bring it to life.”

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When our PopStop TV team caught up with the Ghost Whisperer star at the opening of ‘West Side Story’ in LA, we asked her the question that’s on everyone’s mind – do we hear wedding bells in the near future?

“What? Wedding bells?” Jennifer asked, “he’s got wedding bells in his jacket!” She then playfully points to Beh’s brown suit jacket. “Ya, that must be it. He’s got a lot in there so you must have heard him walking in.”

Ever thought about kids? How many?

“A lot! I’m feeling a little octomom-ish!” Jennifer joked. “Actually, probably just two, I would be happy with that.”

Will the holidays be a little like what you guys did in David Barne’s Christmas music video?

“Kinda, just without the camera rolling,” Jennifer said. “We want to stay at home and spend as much time together as possible.”

So, Alex, what do you want from Jennifer for Christmas?

“I want her beautiful eyes looking deeply into my soul,” Alex reveals.

Aw, they sound absolutely adorable together! We wish them the best of luck and a very merry Christmas.

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“I didn’t know he made a great turkey until right now,” the actress, 31, told PEOPLE at the Rock the Kasbah gala in L.A. “We’re learning every day.”

From John Mayer to her Ghost Whisperer costar Jamie Kennedy, Hewitt has had enough dating experience to fill a book – and that’s just what she did in her advice tome, The Day I Shot Cupid, published in March. And it’s a book the actor, 28, has studied, saying he “enjoyed it” and that it was “a great time.”

The couple cozied up hand-in-hand on the red carpet, Beh’s arm around her waist. But it’s not just the glammed-up Hewitt he’s attracted to, he says.

“Any look that she has,” he tells PEOPLE of his favorite Hewitt ensemble. “Any time she looks at me.”

Hewitt is also heeding the advice she dished out in her book in her relationship with Beh, whom she described as an “old-fashioned” gentleman.

As she says, “I do feel like me kind of writing it helped me sort of get to where I needed to be in order to know that he was there.”

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“I’m falling in love with my body,” Jennifer admits about her new shape.

This acceptance wasn’t easy to come by, though. In 2007, after a few unflattering pictures of Jennifer in a swimsuit appeared on the Internet and sparked a hurtful debate over the actress’ weight, Jennifer quickly began to lose her self-esteem.

“I questioned everything I put in my mouth after [that],” Jennifer reveals. “It challenged my confidence.”

She began wearing baggy clothes in an attempt to shroud the figure she once flaunted. While she defended her weight to the media, in reality “I had to get over the fact that I was bummed out people thought I was fat,” Jennifer says.

After watching the dramatic transformations on The Biggest Loser, Jennifer became inspired in 2008 and hired a personal trainer. Then the real work began.

After not exercising for a year, it took a while for Jennifer’s body to adjust to the vigorous workouts. The first few times she got sick and “A couple times I stopped in the middle and burst into tears because I felt like I couldn’t do it. I was torn to shreds physically, mentally and emotionally,” Jennifer recalls.

But all that pain paid off. Now, J. Love is loving her new body and is working hard to maintain it through a healthy lifestyle of intense workouts and a smart diet.

Jennifer sticks to an hour-and-a-half-a-day workout schedule which includes “cardio, cardio, cardio” as well as weight lifting, spin classes and eating healthy foods six days a week. “Then I have one cheat day,” Jennifer admits.

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In an interview to promote her guest starring role in the long-running series, and to bring the issue of the backlog of rape kits that still need testing to light, Jennifer Love Hewitt spoke about her desire to take on this highly emotional role, preparing for a character like this and the challenges of the physical transformation she went through for it.

Question: What was it about this particular episode that made you want to do this show now, at this point in your career?

Jennifer: This episode was so dear to Mariska’s heart because the Joyful Heart Foundation is her foundation, and I was really able to learn a lot from her about the rape backlog issue. I think I will speak for a lot of people when I say that the assumption is that rape is the crime. What I learned from doing the episode is that there’s actually a bigger crime that takes place afterwards, which is when these women are put through these horrible rape kit examinations. After having been raped and violated so horribly in their lives, they’re put through these tests, and then nothing ever becomes of them. The rape kit test is then put on a shelf, and they live in fear for years of their lives, having no idea if this person has been caught, if he’s out there and if he’s watching them.

It’s the deterioration of life, and lack thereof, that happens for these women that truly is the crime that happens after the initial rape. That is what this episode is about and what the episode is supposed to teach people. So, I would say to women who unfortunately find themselves in these circumstances that, if you are going to get a rape kit examination, because we are in a society of people who do not seem to be able to understand the importance of testing those kits, that right now, it is up to those women to check in and see if their kit has been tested and to stay on top of it, even though it brings up awful memories and it’s not something that they want to deal with.

As an actress, how important this role for you?

Jennifer: I think it was extremely important. Initially, when I read the script and I heard about the episode, it was very exciting, as an actress. When I got there and I met Mariska, and I met the women from her Foundation, and I was a part of this cast and crew who work so incredibly hard, but who, after 12 years, care so much about the quality and the value of the things that they’re saying and doing, it really transcended acting for me.

It became a soulful journey through something that I could never have imagined. Helen Shaver, who directed the episode, Mariska and the women from the Joyful Heart Foundation, really created like this sisterhood of heart for me to be surrounded by, in playing this part. After the first or second day, I thought, “Wow, this is not even acting. There are no words for it.” It was just this deep, painful, beautiful, extraordinary journey that I got lucky enough to be blessed with from the universe and the kind people at SVU. It was extraordinary. I’ve been acting 22 years, and I’m only 31, but that’s a really long time to be doing something. And, doing this made me fall in love with my job, all over again. I don’t think I will ever act the same way. It was like something in my heart and my soul just connected on a different level. I feel very thankful for the opportunity that I was given. It really was so fun and just eye-opening for me.

How difficult was it to overcome the challenges of this role?

Jennifer: Well, I think it really started with everyone’s belief that I could pull it off. I was so happy and I felt really honored that they thought I could tackle a subject matter and a character like this. It just went from there. They sent the script, I loved it and I just decided to jump in, heart first.

How did you prepare? What did you draw upon to get into this character?

Jennifer: There really was no preparation. I was afraid to wrap my head around it, to be bluntly honest with you. It was a scary place to go. I’m not usually an actor that does that. I usually play characters who are nice, sweet, fun women. I had to do different things on Ghost Whisperer, with talking to the dead and stuff like that, but this was different. I don’t think I ever could have been prepared for this. It was definitely scary. Before I got there, I thought that I was going to be able to have a lot more control over my emotions while doing it than I did. I credit the cast and the crew, and Mariska and Helen specifically, because they really pushed me. They said, “Great, so everything that people know you for, and everything that you usually give is awesome, but it’s not going to work here. You’re going to have to go deeper.”

I think I learned a really important lesson, as an actress, that hair and make-up is great, but the lack of it is better. It really does something for you, when you have to look at yourself covered in blood. I caught glimpses of myself and I was like, “Gosh, I don’t know who that actress is at all. I don’t know who this person is. Being able to have the gift that (executive producer) Neal Baer and everyone gave me of being able to not just strip down emotionally, but strip completely down – look-wise, wardrobe-wise, hair-wise, make-up-wise and all of that stuff – and be something that I’ve never been before, really allowed me, emotionally, physically and mentally, to go to a different place. So, there was no preparation. I wouldn’t have known how to do that. It just happened. We just got there the first day and I went, “Okay, I have one job to do and that is to give everything I’ve got. And, out of that, hopefully people will know how important the issue is, and they will feel the depth of what I think this girl feels and goes through, and hopefully it’ll work.” Ultimately, I think it did.

What was the physical transformation for this like to go through?

Jennifer: It was shocking. When we were in our third day some of those photos came out and everybody was like, “It’s a startling transformation,” and I was like, “Oh gosh, now I really feel bad about myself.” I’ve learned a lot of things about acting, about this job and about just women in the world, from doing this one episode with these great people. But, personally, I learned such a vanity lesson, which was really important for me.

The universe sometimes gives you these weird gifts that you’re not expecting, and this was one of them. I definitely hung my hat on having all the hairs in place, and the eyelashes, the lipstick and the clothes. I think that there was a part of me that relied on that more than I would like to admit, and more than I was comfortable with. When I was really forced on this to strip down, I went in the hair and make-up chair and, even though I’m used to two hours of hair and make-up, I was done in 10 minutes and I was panicking. I was like, “Oh, my gosh, how on earth am I going to do this?” But, this part couldn’t have been done without it. They gave me the greatest gift because I learned a personal lesson that I didn’t know I was ready to learn, but I’m really glad that I did. It was so great. It was just awesome.

Did the women of the Joyful Heart Foundation give you insight on how to play this role?

Jennifer: They were on the set to watch after what is closest to their heart. They did act as a huge support system for me, personally. Having them there was tremendous and really reminded everybody to be in the right mind-set of what we were doing and what story we were telling. For me, they were also just angels. They helped with any information that I might need, or that anybody might need, about what this episode was about and how important it was, and all of that.

Were there any lasting effects for you that came from doing this? Do you think that you might want to continue working with this cause in the future, now that you’ve had this experience?

Jennifer: Oh, I would do anything for this cause in the future, absolutely. As a woman, it was very difficult. Quite honestly, when we shot the rape kit scene, that was a 15-hour day, and it was that scene all day. I started the morning in that emotional place, and I ended the day in that emotional place. By the time it was done, I really felt like I had been a victim of this crime and I had been put through a roller coaster that you can’t imagine. They really were taking pictures of me all day, there really were people on me and in my face, and I really was telling this horrible story. I thought to myself, “Gosh, I am in the glorified version of what these women have to go through, who are so incredibly violated and taken advantage of in these sheer, horrific moments of life that should not happen to anyone.”

I couldn’t imagine having to feel it for real. It was unbearable. As a person, that just taught me so much. This cause is beyond important. It’s so important, and it’s so real and scary that it’s happening. On an actress level, I learned that I have been having a lot of fun and doing really good things in my career, but I hope that the world and the universe will give me more of these moments to play with and to revel in. When you get to do something like this, that’s where it all starts. I felt like I started acting, my eight days on the show. Now, I would like to continue so.

With this and your recent TV movie, The Client List, you seem to be doing more work with life lessons attached. Is that something that you’re looking to do more of?

Jennifer: Well, sure. I think I just became a grown-up in life. Sometimes I feel I’m supposed to be older than I am, and then I have these moments where I go, “Oh, but wait a minute, I really am just now supposed to be a grown-up. I’ve just been doing this a really long time.” I think that because I’ve just become a grown-up, inside I have just gone, “Okay, now I’m actually ready to do it.” I really want to do things that not only nurture my craft, but nurture me as a human being. The ultimate dream in life is to be able to do what you love and learn something from it. To be able to do something that you love in the business, and then have it actually affect human life, that’s what I feel like I’m getting to do now, which is extraordinary.

You have always been a role model for a lot of young women. Did you ever expect for that to happen?

Jennifer: You know, I never really thought about being a role model. I started really young, so at 10 years old, I was still very much the person who needed role models. I wasn’t really prepared to be one, but it’s always something that I’ve taken very seriously. It’s something that I really honor and have respect for, and I try to be a good role model now that I am one.

Do you think your character on the show is going to be a role model as well?

Jennifer: I definitely think that my character in this episode is about as admirable as they come, with her strength and her courage. Olivia Benson provides a safety net for my character, Vicki, to face this horrible thing that’s been haunting her for so long in her life. I think it will provide a great role model for women watching, and for young girls who may have experienced this and are afraid to come forward and say that this happened to them, or are afraid to have a rape kit examination, or are afraid to check on their kit afterwards. I think Vicki will be a great role model for that because she’s somebody who has been tortured for a very, very long time, and feels very helpless, hopeless, scared and not strong, in the very beginning of the episode. And then, as it goes on, she finds that she has more inner strength left than she had possibly imagined.

What are your thoughts on why there is not as much education on TV as there should be?

Jennifer: It’s a fine line that you have to walk between entertaining and teaching. I do think that even with entertainment and telling stories, people in the entertainment industry have such a beautiful position in the world to speak about things that they’re passionate about, in a way that can grab people more than just sitting and telling someone about something because you can show it visually. What this episode does is make people aware of something. We are speaking about relevant matters in the world. It visually shows you the effects of what this issue can do to someone, and hopefully it’s not just showing people, but making them feel it.

That’s the brilliant thing about the business that we’re all really lucky to be a part of. It’s a gift that we have that we get to be able to tell these stories, and it’s a duty to tell them. I do think that it is important that, in a business that is about so many other things, to every once in a while make sure that you’re saying something really important, and I think Law & Order did that in this episode. That’s just what this show is. It’s brilliant at making things important in the visual and emotional way that you just don’t get in another business, which I think is really fun and cool.

Jennifer Love Hewitt’s episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit airs on September 29th

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“I’m used to 2 hours in the hair and make-up chair and I was done in 10 minutes,” Hewitt continued. “I was panicking. I was like ‘Oh my Gosh, how on Earth am I gonna do this?’”

In the episode, airing Tuesday, September 28th, Hewitt stars as Vicki, a rape victim who has been attacked multiple times and is too scared to submit to a rape kit. Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Chris Meloni) are on the case, helping her character stand up to her attacker and finally get justice.

The episode of “Law & Order: SUV,” like most episodes, takes inspiration from real-life news stories, this time focusing on the police precincts and evidence labs failing to have their rape kits tested. The episode is also next the foray for Hewitt into heavier subject matter, following her portrayal of the real-life mom turned madam in Lifetime’s “The Client List.”

But where she’s used to looking Maxim-cover ready, her guest stint on “Law & Order: SVU” forced her to approach her acting, and the mirror, a little bit differently.

“I feel like the universe just gives you these weird gifts that you’re not expecting and this was one of them,” Hewitt said. “I feel like I hung my hat on having all the hairs in place and the eyelashes and the lipstick and the clothes and all that stuff. I definitely feel like there was probably a part of me that relies on that more than I would like to admit and more than I was comfortable with.”

“I learned a lot of things just about acting and women in the world from doing this one episode, but I really personally learned such a vanity lesson which was really important for me,” Hewitt continued. “It was a personal lesson that I didn’t know I was ready to learn but I’m really glad that I did. It was just awesome.”

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