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Inside Judge Judy’s 3 Marriages (Twice to the Same Man!)
Judge Judy Sheindlin has made quite the career for herself. The TV personality – who, yes, really is a judge – became part of the pop culture zeitgeist when she launched her first reality court show in 1996. Sheindlin eventually ended her 25-season tenure on “Judge Judy” in 2021, feeling that the show had run its course and that it was time to move on from CBS. However, she didn’t move too far. Later that same year, Sheindlin teamed up with Amazon Freevee (formerly IMDb TV) to launch her new reality court drama, “Judy Justice.”
While explaining her decision to do another show to The Hollywood Reporter, Sheindlin simply said retirement wasn’t an option for her. “Why, at my stage in life, would I try to find something else when I already know what I like? And this isn’t a 9-to-5 job. I’ve still got the time to see the children I love, the grandchildren who are growing up very fast and the cute mate who I still get a kick out of,” she explained.
As Sheindlin noted in the interview, she always makes an effort to prioritize her personal life, family, and relationships outside of work, so let’s take a closer look at two of the biggest relationships in her life — her marriages to ex Ronald Levy and her “cute mate,” husband Jerry Sheindlin. Keep reading for a closer look into Judge Judy’s storied romances and details of what she thinks it takes to make a marriage work.
Judge Judy married her first husband, Ronald Levy, in 1964
Judge Judy Sheindlin, born Judith Blum, tied the knot for the first time in 1964 at the young age of 20. She married Ronald Levy, who at the time of their wedding was working as an attorney, while Sheindlin had just graduated. Talking about what first attracted her to Levy, Sheindlin told Fox’s “OBJECTified” host Harvey Levin, “[He was a] nice guy, good dancer, [and] it was time for me to get married. You know, all my friends were getting married, there were still those pressures.”
Sheindlin didn’t feel like she was bowing to the pressure by getting married, though, because she felt very strongly that she wanted to have children in her 20s. “I was never one of those women who said, ‘I want a career, and I’m really not into having babies,'” she explained. So, although Sheindlin did start working briefly as a lawyer for a cosmetics company when she was first married, she soon gave it up to be a housewife, and eventually have kids.
The couple welcomed their daughter, Jamie, in 1966, followed by her younger brother, Adam, who was born in 1968. Sheindlin and Levy also moved out to live a quieter family-focused life in the countryside. It was domestic bliss, for a few years, at least.
The couple drifted apart because Levy wasn’t supportive of her career
Although Judy Sheindlin was sure she wanted kids, she eventually realized she was unsatisfied with her life as a stay at home mom. “After a period of time, I was bored,” she admitted on “OBJECTified.” Sheindlin recalled struggling because she was “not being engaged outside of the home.” “It didn’t work for me, but I’m not sorry I had those five or six years of staying home, I tried it and it didn’t work for me,” she remarked.
So, instead of going through life being unhappy, Sheindlin decided to make a change. She went back to school and got her juris degree in family law at NYU before re-entering the workforce in 1972. Sheindlin wasn’t worried about defying societal norms at the time. “I felt that if I worked hard, I could have both. I could have a family and, because that was important to me, and I could have a career. I just felt it,” she said.
But, unfortunately, her passion for the law and her desire to have a career caused problems in her marriage. “My first husband is a lovely, lovely man. But he always viewed my job as a hobby and there came a time when I resented that,” she explained. Ultimately, the couple grew apart, which led them to divorce after 12 years of marriage.
Judge Judy moved on with Jerry Sheindlin
Following her divorce from Ronald Levy in 1976, Judy Sheindlin found herself working as a prosecutor in Manhattan’s family court and adjusting to life as a single mom. However, she wasn’t single for long because that was the same year she met Jerry Sheindlin in a bar. It was love at first sight for defense lawyer Jerry. He recalled their first meeting in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, explaining that it happened by chance when Judy walked into the bar he was in.
Jerry was talking to a reporter from the New York Post, who was a mutual friend, when Judy interrupted them. “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,” Jerry said. Judy and Jerry married a year later in 1977.
Their relationship was complicated by Jerry’s first marriage
Although Judge Judy and Jerry Sheindlin basically fell in love at first sight, the first year of their relationship before they got married wasn’t without its complications. While Judy was freshly divorced, Jerry was still technically married to his previous wife. They had been separated for the last few years, but Jerry was still reluctant to get legally divorced. The father of three suggested to Judy that they could just live together instead, but she was not interested in a relationship without the commitment of marriage.
Judy threatened to walk away from Jerry, but the couple knew they wanted to be together. This left only one option: marriage. “I actually had to drag him to the altar,” Judy admitted in Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue’s 2020 book, “What Makes a Marriage Last: 40 Celebrated Couples Share with Us the Secrets to a Happy Life” (via E! News) She added: “He had no intention of divorcing his wife, even though they had been separated for three or four years. After we were together for about a year, I said, ‘I want to see your divorce in the newspaper or don’t bother calling again.'” They tied the knot in 1977 after Jerry’s divorce was finalized.
Making their blended family work was their biggest priority
Judy and Jerry Sheindlin both brought kids into their marriage, and making their blended family work was their biggest priority. In fact, during an interview with Katie Couric for Extra, Jerry admitted that he was ready to put his kids’ happiness above his own. Jerry, who shares kids Nicole, Gregory, and Jonathan Sheindlin with his ex-wife, said: “My three children were about as young as her two children and we both agreed that if the five children did not get along, we would just say goodbye, it’s been a nice try but it’s not going to work.”
Although Judy doesn’t recall them having that conversation, the couple dove head first into making their new family dynamic work. Three of their five children ended up following in their footsteps, pursuing careers in law. Judy’s son, Adam, became a New York district attorney, though eventually followed in his mom’s footsteps and became a TV judge on “Tribunal Justice.” Meanwhile, Jerry’s eldest son, Gregory, followed a similar trajectory, working as an assistant district attorney before eventually setting up his own law practice, the Sheindlin Law Firm, in 2014. Nicole also became a partner in a private practice, Mentzer & Sheindlin, after working as a criminal defense attorney.
However, Judy daughter’s, Jamie, and Jerry’s son, Jonathan, pursued careers outside the family business. Jamie has largely kept out of the public eye, while Jonathan chose to be an ophthalmologist.
Personal tragedy caused Judge Judy and Jerry Sheindlin to divorce
Judy and Jerry Sheindlin boast a long and happy marriage of over 40 years. However, they did briefly split up after a decade together. Judge Judy has since opened up about their time apart, revealing that she filed for divorce due to issues that they were having after her father, Murray Blum’s, death in 1990.
Judy, then working as a family court judge, was grieving and struggling to cope emotionally. She told her husband it was his turn to take care of her for once, but his response was that he didn’t know how. “I wasn’t asking for anything unreasonable, and he wasn’t being unreasonable saying that he really didn’t know how to do that. He was 55 and had lived a certain way all his life. He couldn’t even conceptualize taking over that role. He just couldn’t,” Judy said in “What Makes a Marriage Last” (via E! News).
As this continued, Judy felt unsupported and issued an ultimatum to her husband. “She said to me, ‘If you can’t maneuver this, I’m going to divorce you.’ And I said, ‘Oh, yeah? I dare you.’ And the next day I got divorce papers. The next day. So, that was the end of that,” Jerry recounted. Judy went through with her threat, officially divorcing Jerry in 1990.
However, they remarried less than a year later
When Judy divorced Jerry, she was sure of her decision. However, Jerry knew they had made a mistake.
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