Sheila Porter

Sheila Porter is a recurring character from Season Nineteen of Law & Order: SVU. She is the mother of Ellie Porter and the biological grandmother of Olivia Benson's adopted son, Noah Porter. Sheila became the main villainess the episodes, "Intent" and "Gone Baby Gone."

She is played by Brooke Shields.

Sheila Porter first appeared in the end of the episode, "Contrapasso," doing so at Olivia's home and introducing herself as Ellie's mother and Noah's grandmother. This came to the surprise of Olivia, as she believed Ellie's mother to be deceased. In the episode, "Complicated," Sheila engaged in a custody battle with Olivia, challenging Olivia's parenting skills, but as shown in that episode and in "Unintended Consequences," the two women had worked things out and both of them served as parental figures to Noah, while also forming a friendship in the process.

In the episode, "Intent," Sheila turned heel and began her true game plan, orchestrating Noah's abduction. She colluded with her longtime gardener (and suggested lover) Juan Ortoli in her plan, which included manipulating Juan into believing that Olivia was neglecting and abusing Noah--stating that a bruise on his arm was proof (in actuality, the bruise came as a result of Olivia saving Noah from an oncoming car). The abduction was committed in the end of the episode, with Sheila acting worried and frantically searching for Noah. The following episode, "Gone Baby Gone," had Sheila working with Olivia to find Noah, while hiding her true role behind the abduction.

Sheila's reveal began when Dominick Carisi learned that Sheila had bought a car seat days before the abduction, which confirmed that she was the mastermind, Olivia and Fin Tutuola went to Sheila's home, only to discover her gone, and she had taken her photo of Ellie with her. The villainess drove with Noah in her car, and pretended to call Olivia when Noah asked for his mother. Carisi and Amanda Rollins caught up with Juan, who stated that their plan was to head to his cabin where they would be together as a family. However, when they arrived at the cabin, it was found to be empty, revealing this as another one of Sheila's lies. Sheila actually took Noah to her late sister's cabin in New Hampshire, which Olivia found out about while searching for deeper info on Sheila.

Olivia arrived at the cabin looking for Noah, but at that moment, the evil Sheila attacked Olivia from behind with a fireplace poker, and took Olivia's gun and pointed it at her. She later verbally attacked Olivia's efforts as a parent, saying that blood is the only thing that makes a family and that she would be an unfit mother due to her job and New York's environment. She even callously stated that she could "sign a piece of paper" and adopt another child, and it was at that moment that Noah appeared and saw both women, forcing Sheila to put down her gun. Olivia then rushed Noah out of the cabin, leaving Sheila to break down. Sheila was later handcuffed and arrested for Noah's abduction.