Judith Sheindlin

Judith Susan Sheindlin (''née'' Blum; born October 21, 1942), known professionally as Judge Judy, is an American court show arbitrator, media personality, television producer, author, women's advancement philanthropist and former prosecutor and Manhattan family court judge.

For 25 seasons from September 16, 1996, to July 23, 2021, Sheindlin presided over her own eponymous top Nielsen-rated court show, ''Judge Judy''. Through starring on ''Judge Judy'', Sheindlin became the longest-serving television arbitrator in courtroom-themed programming history, a distinction that earned her a place in the ''Guinness World Records'' in 2015. She has additionally received a Lifetime Achievement Emmy in 2019 for her work.

On November 1, 2021, Sheindlin launched a spin-off streaming series, '' Judy Justice'', on what was known as "IMDb TV" during its first season (renamed Amazon Freevee afterwards), another arbitration-based reality court show featuring her handling of legal disputes. With Sheindlin having won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Legal/Courtroom Program in 2022 for the first season of ''Judy Justice'', she is now the only television arbitrator to have won the award for more than one court show, 3 for ''Judge Judy'' and 1 for ''Judy Justice.''

Sheindlin is also known for her offscreen television work, producing and creating reality legal shows featuring judges of whom she has personally cast in arbitrating roles. These shows include '' Hot Bench'' (second highest rated of all court shows, behind only ''Judge Judy'' reruns), the upcoming ''Tribunal'' (to feature Bailiff Byrd), as well as more in the works.

Early life

Sheindlin was born Judith Susan Blum in Brooklyn to German-Jewish and Russian-Jewish parents. She described her dentist father Murray as "the greatest thing since sliced bread". Her mother, Ethel, worked as an office manager. Judith described her as "a meat and potatoes kind of gal."

Sheindlin graduated from James Madison High School in Brooklyn, and American University in Washington, D.C., where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in government. She finished her law school education at New York Law School, where she earned her Juris Doctor degree in 1965.

Legal career

Sheindlin passed the New York state bar examination in 1965, the same year as her graduation, and was hired as a corporate lawyer for a cosmetics firm. Within two years, she became dissatisfied with her job and left to raise her children Jamie and Adam. In 1972, she became a prosecutor in the New York family court system after hearing about the job from a friend. In her role as a lawyer, Sheindlin prosecuted child abuse cases, domestic violence and juvenile crime.

By 1982, Sheindlin's "no-nonsense" attitude inspired New York mayor Ed Koch to appoint her as a criminal court judge. Four years later, she was promoted to supervising judge in the family court's Manhattan division. She earned a reputation as a "tough" judge (though she has disagreed with the labels "tough" and "harsh").

Entertainment career

In February 1993, Sheindlin's reputation made her the subject of a ''Los Angeles Times'' article, written by Josh Getlin (inspired by his wife Heidi, both of whom Sheindlin credits with her rise to fame) profiling her as a woman determined to make the court system work for the common good. She subsequently was featured in a segment on CBS's ''60 Minutes'' that brought her national recognition. This led to her first book, ''Don't Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It's Raining'', published in 1996. She retired as a family court judge that same year after having heard more than 20,000 cases.

''Judge Judy''

A little over a year after the ''60 Minutes'' special, Sheindlin accepted an offer made to her in 1995 to preside in a new reality courtroom series, featuring "real cases with real rulings." Her syndicated court show, ''Judge Judy'', debuted on September 16, 1996, and ran for 25 seasons until July 23, 2021. In starring on the show, she was accompanied by her court guard on each episode, Bailiff Byrd, referred to on the program simply as "Byrd", or sometimes "Officer Byrd". Byrd stood by Sheindlin for all of the show's 25 years, thus making him longest serving bailiff in courtroom programming history, alongside her title as the longest-serving judge/arbitrator in courtroom programming history. Their work relationship predates the program as Byrd was her bailiff in the Manhattan family court system as well.

Through its 25-season run, ''Judge Judy'' remained the number 1 Nielsen-rated show among all court show programming and regularly drew approximately 9 to 10 million viewers daily. At various points throughout its run, viewership for ''Judge Judy'' surpassed frequent daytime ratings leader, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show''. From 2009 to its series finale in 2021, ''Judge Judy'' was the highest rated show in all of daytime television programming and first-run syndication. During the show's active run, Author Brendan I. Koerner commented on the popularity of ''Judge Judy'':

Court-show viewers don't seem to want moral conundrums or technical wrinkles. They love Sheindlin's show because she offers them a fantasy of how they'd like the justice system to operate—swiftly, and without procedural mishaps or uppity lawyers. They get to see wrongdoers publicly humiliated by a strong authority figure. There is no uncertainty after Sheindlin renders her verdict and bounds off the bench, and there certainly are no lengthy appeals.

A 2013 ''Reader's Digest'' poll revealed that Americans trusted Judge Judy more than all nine justices of the United States Supreme Court.

In 2003, VH1 named Sheindlin one of the "200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons." References to Sheindlin have appeared in many television programs, including ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!''; ''The Simpsons''; ''Will & Grace''; ''America's Next Top Model''; ''The Weakest Link''; ''The Practice''; the ''Academy Awards'';''"Betty White's 2nd Annual 90th Birthday"'' celebration; ''RuPaul's Drag Race'', ''Saturday Night Live'' and ''The Amanda Show''.

The ''Judge Judy'' courtroom series earned Sheindlin numerous awards and honors, including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in February 2006; induction into ''Broadcasting & Cable''s Hall of Fame in October 2012; an award from the vice presidency of the UCD Law Society in April 2013; the Gracie Allen Tribute Award from the Alliance for Women in Media; and the Mary Pickford Award by the Hollywood Chamber Community Foundation at the 2014 Heroes of Hollywood.

On June 14, 2013, ''Judge Judy'' won its first Daytime Emmy Award, having received its 15th nomination. The program won again in 2016 and 2017. In an interview with ''Entertainment Tonight'' (ET) on May 3, 2013, Sheindlin was asked about her failure to win after 14 nominations and said:

On September 14, 2015, ''Guinness World Records'' recognized Sheindlin as the longest-serving judge or arbiter in courtroom-themed programming history and as having the longest-running program of the continuous series run court shows.

Sheindlin has drawn considerable attention and made significant headlines over her substantial salary from the program. In early 2005, Sheindlin's salary was reportedly US$25 million per year. Her net worth at the beginning of 2007 was $95 million, and she ranked #13 on the ''Forbes'' top 20 richest women in entertainment. In January 2008 when Sheindlin's contract was renewed, her salary increased to $45 million per year.

Sheindlin briefly considered retirement in early 2010. Her contract at the time was set to end after the 2013/14 television season. She was quoted at the time as stating, "I think 2013 would be a nice time. It's nice to leave on top. I would consider this a great adventure."

On March 30, 2011, Sheindlin was admitted to the hospital after she fainted on the set of her show while handling a case. She was released the next day, and it was later learned that she suffered a mini-stroke.

In May 2011, Sheindlin's contract was extended through to the 19th season with an annual salary increase by CBS to $47 million. Her $47 million annual salary translated into just over $900,000 per workday (she worked 52 days per year taping cases for ''Judge Judy''). According to Forbes, Sheindlin earned $147 million, pretax, in 2017. It was reported by ''TV Guide Magazine'' in October 2013 that Sheindlin was the highest-paid TV star. She later stated that her retirement was up to her viewers and said that fans still seemed to be interested. She said, "I'm not tired. I still feel engaged by what I do, and I still have people who like to watch it."

In August 2017, CBS Television Distribution and Sheindlin signed a contract extension through the 2020-21 television season. She later revealed in a March 2020 appearance on ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' that the series would conclude by its 25th season anniversary. The final taped case aired on June 8, 2021, while the show's series finale aired on July 23, 2021. Sheindlin voluntarily ended the series in the midst of discontentment with ViacomCBS and lawsuits from Rebel Entertainment, feeling as well that "25 is a good round number" to go out on top with.

To honor the 25th and final season of the series, Josh Getlin (writer of the 1993 ''Los Angeles Times'' article that he said Sheindlin credits as catapulting her television show stardom) wrote another news article on Sheindlin. The publication, posted on June 8, 2021 (the same day the final taped case aired), explained the background of the 1993 article and Getlin's relationship with Sheindlin.

''Judy Justice''

Premiering on November 1, 2021, with production that commenced in July 2021 (shortly after production of ''Judge Judy'' ended in April 2021), Sheindlin currently presides over another arbitration-based courtroom series, ''Judy Justice.'' The court show is a spin-off of ''Judge Judy''. The program airs first-run episodes through streaming service Amazon Freevee (originally under the name IMDb TV during the show's first season), which is owned and distributed by Amazon Studios. It is the first standard court show to air first-run episodes exclusively through streaming.

The court show has been characterized as a "hip" rendition of ''Judge Judy'', featuring Gen Z input from Sheindlin's young adult granddaughter, frequent use of a stenographer to quote back Sheindlin and the litigants during moments of discrepancy, Sheindlin's donning a conspicuous robe color, a modern version of the courtroom set from ''Judge Judy'', and what has been described as cases that are more riveting because of less time constraints and advanced monetary award limits than her previous program.

While Sheindlin has promised to use the same adjudicating techniques that she used on ''Judge Judy'', she has lessened her no-nonsense approach, delving deeper into case details, most episodes focusing on a single long case. Her previous program typically hosted two cases per episode and was known for its aggressive pacing.

After a pre-series debut trailer released for the program on September 30, 2021, the spin-off drew early criticism from much of Sheindlin's ''Judge Judy'' fanbase over the absence of ''Judge Judy'' program's Bailiff Byrd; Kevin Rasco serves as Sheindlin's ''Judy Justice'' bailiff. In October 2021, Byrd addressed fans with public statements that he was "confused" and "dismayed" by Sheindlin's manner of neglecting all communications with him regarding the spin-off. Byrd reported that when he himself reached out to Sheindlin by phone in July 2021 to finally discuss the spin-off, the series just having begun production by that point, he was told by Sheindlin that he would be omitted from the series for monetary reasons. Byrd later reported his dissatisfaction to multiple media venues. In a public statement, Sheindlin replied by praising Byrd as "terrific," but adding that the show needed a new and exciting direction. Byrd ultimately expressed that he holds no grudges, is grateful to Sheindlin and wished her all the best with ''Judy Justice''.

:On April 28, 2022, it was announced that Byrd would be returning to his televised bailiff duties for another courtroom series—one created and produced by Sheindlin and her production team, currently in development and set to be streamed on Amazon Freevee as well. Entitled ''Tribunal'', the upcoming court show will be presided over by now former '' Hot Bench'' judges, Tanya Acker and Patricia DiMango, along with Sheindlin's son, former district attorney Adam Levy.

It was computed in April 2022 that ''Judge Judy'' reruns had vastly outperformed ''Judy Justice'' season 1 in viewership quantities. That said, the first season of ''Judy Justice'' set a record for number of streaming hours viewed on IMDB TV for its first season, and was thus granted a second season, which premiered on November 7, 2022. Additionally, Sheindlin won Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Legal/Courtroom Program for the first season of the series, which makes her the only television arbitrator to have won the award for more than one court show (both ''Judge Judy'' and ''Judy Justice'' alike).

External media appearances and participation

Since the success of Sheindlin's ''Judge Judy'' courtroom series, she has been interviewed on many talk and cable news broadcasts over the course of her career. These talk and cable news programs include ''Entertainment Tonight'', ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'', ''The Wendy Williams Show'', ''Katie'', ''Larry King Live'', ''The Roseanne Show'', '' The View'', '' Donny & Marie'', '' The Talk'', ''The Tonight Show'', ''Dateline NBC'', ''20/20'', ''Good Morning America'', etc. On October 17, 1998, Sheindlin made a surprise guest appearance on ''Saturday Night Live'', comedically interrupting one of Cheri Oteri's regular parodies of her presiding on ''Judge Judy.'' That same year, Sheindlin appeared as herself in a cameo scene presiding over her ''Judge Judy'' courtroom show in the 1998 American made-for-television crime drama film '' CHiPs '99''. Also resulting from her ''Judge Judy'' show stardom, she served as a judge for the 1999 Miss America pageant.

On February 21, 2000, the ''Biography'' program aired a documentary film on Sheindlin, "Judge Judy: Sitting in Judgment" (later released on home video). This 60-minute documentary captured Sheindlin's life story and career. The special also featured input from those closest to Sheindlin and those who knew her best. On December 23, 2008, Sheindlin was a guest on '' Shatner's Raw Nerve''. A year later in December 2009, Sheindlin again told her story in a two-hour interview for ''Archive of American Television''. She launched a short-lived advice-sharing website,"whatwouldjudysay.com," in May 2012. In a September 17, 2013 interview with Katie Couric for the 92nd Street Y, Sheindlin elaborated on previously undisclosed facts of her life story and long career in the family court.

In 2014, Sheindlin founded her own production company, entitled Queen Bee Productions. Queen Bee Productions is behind the making of the arbitration-based reality courtroom series '' Hot Bench''. Sheindlin originally desired the title of her personal courtroom series to be ''Hot Bench'' before producers ultimately settled on ''Judge Judy''. The show debuted on September 15, 2014. The courtroom series features a panel of three judges debating and deciding on cases brought to their TV courtroom. Stated Sheindlin, "When my husband Jerry and I were in Ireland recently, we visited the courts and watched a three-judge bench, which I found both fascinating and compelling. I immediately thought what a terrific and unique idea for a television program that brings the court genre to the next level. We have assembled three individuals with extremely varied backgrounds to serve as the judges. They are smart and talented, with terrific instincts and great chemistry, and are sure to create a hot bench." The original panel of judges consisted of New York State Supreme Court judge Patricia DiMango and Los Angeles attorneys Tanya Acker and Larry Bakman. Bakman has since been replaced by Michael Corriero. As with ''Judge Judy'', ''Hot Bench'' is executive-produced by Randy Douthit and produced by CBS Television Distribution.

On August 31, 2016, it was reported that CBS has a scripted, semi-autobiographical drama series in the works based on the life of Sheindlin. The program title will be ''Her Honor''. The show has been described as following the youngest judge in New York who, while proficient at handling family court cases, has a personal life that needs work. Executive producers of the program include Sheindlin herself, Chernuchin, Arnold Kopelson and Anne Kopelson. Chernuchin was a writer for the legal drama series ''Law & Order''.

In 2017, Sheindlin created a game show called ''IWitness'' that debuted on July 10 and ran for 6 weeks. The game show puts the contestant's observational skills to the test, requiring them to view video clips and recall what they have witnessed faster than their competitors. On September 17, 2017, Sheindlin appeared on the series premiere of Fox News Channel's ''Objectified'' hosted by Harvey Levin. The program's first episode took an inside look at Sheindlin's life.

The ''National Enquirer'' issued a formal apology in the September 2017 edition of their magazine for false statements, defaming Sheindlin as having cheated on her husband and having suffered from Alzheimer's disease along with brain damage. In addition, they apologized to her daughter Nicole Sheindlin for defaming her as having a jail record.

Sheindlin and her program appeared on a November 26, 2017, broadcast of ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'', presiding over a sketch comedy court case with Larry David as the plaintiff. The pseudo-Judge Judy case took the appearance of an actual case from Sheindlin's program, taking place from the show's courtroom set with trademarked voice-over briefs, theme music and audience response.

In 2018 Sheindlin appeared as a guest on ''Norm Macdonald Has a Show'' on Netflix.

Non-media projects and community work

Sheindlin, along with her stepdaughter Nicole Sheindlin, is the creator, director, and spokesperson for an alliance designed to empower young women, entitled "Her Honor Mentoring".

In September 2017, Sheindlin funded a space for public debate at the University of Southern California. The purpose of the forum was for "free exchange of ideas by well-meaning people."

Authoring and literature projects

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Personal life

In 1964, Judy married Ronald Levy, who later became a prosecutor in juvenile court. They moved to New York and had two children, Jamie Hartwright and Adam Levy. Judy and Ronald divorced in 1976 after 12 years of marriage.

In 1978, she married Judge Jerry Sheindlin, who was an arbitrator on ''The People's Court'' from 1999 to 2001. They divorced in 1990, partially as a result of the stress and struggles that Judy endured after her father's death that same year. They remarried in 1993. She has three stepchildren with Sheindlin: Gregory Sheindlin, Jonathan Sheindlin and Nicole Sheindlin, and 13 grandchildren. Jonathan is a retinal surgeon,"Bio: Dr. Jonathan Sheindlin"
, NYU Langone Medical Center and Greg and Nicole are lawyers. Nicole is the co-creator (along with her stepmother) of the Her Honor Mentoring program.

Sheindlin owns homes in several states, including Connecticut, New York, Florida, California, and Wyoming. She commuted to Los Angeles every other week for two to four days to tape episodes of ''Judge Judy''. In May 2013, she bought a $10.7 million condominium in the Los Angeles suburb of Beverly Hills. In 2018, Judy and her husband announced spending $9 million on the Bird House, a property on in Newport, Rhode Island once owned by Dorrance Hill Hamilton.

Sheindlin holds honorary Doctor of Law degrees from Elizabethtown College and the University at Albany, SUNY. In 2013, she was made vice-president of the law society at University College Dublin, Ireland in recognition of her work in family law.

Sheindlin is a registered Independent. She is a supporter of same-sex marriage and, although she has said that she is not a supporter of "big government", she believes that the issue of same-sex marriage should be handled at the federal level rather than on a state-by-state basis. Sheindlin has stated that she is in favor of increasing requirements for gun ownership. She prefers not to be labelled by political terms, and states that she is not registered with any political party. When asked about the 2012 presidential elections, Sheindlin stated that while she voted for President Barack Obama in 2008 (as well as voting for Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, respectively in 1980 and 1984, and 1992 and 1996), she did not care for either of the leading candidates in the 2012 United States presidential election. In October 2019 Sheindlin penned an op-ed endorsing Michael Bloomberg for president, despite the fact that he had not announced a campaign. In January 2020 she released an ad supporting him saying, in part, "I like to say you can judge someone's character by what they've done; Mike Bloomberg has done amazing things, and will be a truly great president". She later campaigned alongside him.

Lawsuits

In March 2013, a lawsuit was filed against Sheindlin by Patrice Jones, the estranged wife of Randy Douthit (executive producer of Sheindlin's ''Judge Judy'' and later ''Judy Justice'' court shows). Jones alleged Douthit and Sheindlin had conspired to permit Sheindlin to buy Christofle fine china and Marley cutlery owned by Jones. She said Sheindlin had paid Douthit $50,815 for the items without her knowledge to deprive her of her valuables, and she sought $514,421 from Sheindlin. The suit was settled out of court after Sheindlin returned the tableware to Douthit, and Jones agreed to pay him $12,500 and have the tableware returned to her.

On March 12, 2014, Sheindlin filed a lawsuit against Hartford, Connecticut personal injury lawyer John Haymond and his law firm. In the lawsuit, Sheindlin accused Haymond and his firm of using her television image without consent in advertisements that falsely suggested she endorsed him and his firm. Sheindlin's producer allegedly told the firm that use of her image is not permitted in March 2013, but ads continued to be produced. The lawsuit filed in federal court sought more than $75,000 in damages. Sheindlin said in her statement that any money she wins through the lawsuit will go toward college scholarships through the Her Honor Mentoring program. Sheindlin further stated, "Mr. Haymond is a lawyer and should know better. The unauthorized use of my name is outrageous and requires legal action." Haymond later filed a countersuit for punitive damages and attorney's fees, alleging defamation of him and his firm by Sheindlin. Haymond insisted that local affiliates asked him to appear in ''Judge Judy'' promos to promote Sheindlin for which he obliged. On August 8, 2014, it was reported that the case between Sheindlin and Haymond settled out of court in a resolution that favored Sheindlin. Haymond donated money to Sheindlin's charity, Her Honor Mentoring.

References

Further reading

* Jazmine Hughes
"Judge Judy is Still Judging You,"
''New York Times Magazine,'' June 20, 2019.

External links

What Would Judy Say? website
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Judge Judy marks 10 years laying down the law
CTV News, February 15, 2006
Biographical article from ''The Guardian''
October 9, 2008
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheindlin, Judith
1942 births
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