Judge Judy handed down a verdict on the matter of what she thinks makes her marriage of nearly 47 years with her husband work.
The court-show arbitrator — whose real name is Judy Sheindlin —spoke about her marriage to husband Jerry Sheindlin in a recent interview with E! News.
According to the 81-year-old "Judy Justice" star, spending all hours of the day with your main squeeze can amount to suffocation. And allowing them to notice you're attracted to them is also, as the judge says, "key."
“You don’t spend 24 hours together because that’s deadly,” the no-nonsense judge told E! News. “Jerry just celebrated his 90th birthday, and I still like to look at him when he walks in the room—that’s a key.”
The relationship between the couple is a reminder that marriages have ups and downs. Judy and Jerry Sheindlin divorced for a brief period in the '90s.
Read on for how they got together and what she's shared about marriage.
Who is Judge Judy's husband?
Judy and Jerry Sheindlin have been married since 1977, according to People.com.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the couple met at a bar.
“I just finished trying a murder case as a defense lawyer,” Jerry Sheindlin recalled of their first time meeting. “She was a prosecutor. There was a reporter from the New York Post there at the bar, and I was speaking to him about the case. Judy came walking in and put her finger in my face and said, ‘And who is this?’ I said, ‘Lady, get your finger out of my face.’ We’ve been together ever since.”
In 1999, he joined "The People’s Court" as the show's presiding judge after his wife ruled in favor of him taking on a television job.
“She is the one who told me I should do it,” Jerry Sheindlin told the newspaper. “If she had any reservations at all, I wouldn’t have done it.”
“I think that behind every great woman, there is a man,” he added. “So I may be behind her now, but I also heard a rumor that behind every great man, there is a woman. So we’ll have to wait and see how it plays out.”
What has Judge Judy said about marriage in the past?
In 2021, Judy Sheindlin told People that she believed keeping in shape was a key aspect of a happy marriage.
“We’re both very surface people when it comes to that,” she said at the time. “You know, if you fall instantaneously for somebody, that means there’s a physical attraction. And people age, people they change, you can either do it gracefully or you can say ‘I give up.’”
“And I, for myself, I said, ‘I choose to not give up; I choose to stay fit,’” she explained. “So don’t even think about anything but staying, looking as good as you can possibly look at this stage in your life.”
Who are Judge Judy's biological children?
Judy and Jerry Sheindlin share children from their previous marriages.
According to E! News, Judy Sheindlin, who was previously married to a judge named Ronald Levy, has two children: Jamie Hartwright, 58, and Adam Levy, 56.
Jerry Sheindlin is the father to Gregory Sheindlin, 60, Jonathan Sheindlin, 57, and Nicole Sheindlin, 56.
