Inside Judge Judy's 3 Marriages (2 Of Which Were With 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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

When Judy divorced Jerry, she was sure of her decision. However, Jerry knew they had made a mistake. "I missed her presence the very first week that we were separated. It was the first time in years that we didn't get to see each other every single day. It was such a strange experience," he said in "What Makes a Marriage Last" (via E! News). Judy came to miss her ex-husband, too, and it wasn't long before the couple got back together.

Jerry reached out almost a year after they had separated and after a particularly bad date, Judy was glad to have his company. Although Judy realized Jerry wasn't going to change, she accepted his flaws, and they left their issues in the past. But as their relationship strengthened being back together, Jerry felt like something was missing.

"Suddenly I said to her, 'This is silly. I'm uncomfortable being with you all the time and not being married to you. Let's get married again,'" he recalled. With both of them having an intimate knowledge of the law, it wasn't difficult for them to get a same-day marriage license. They wasted no time organizing an intimate ceremony officiated by a friend who was a New York Supreme Court justice.

Judge Judy Sheindlin's biggest problem with her ex-husband Ronald Levy was their inability to share household responsibilities and the fact that he thought of her career as nothing more than a hobby. She had similar problems with Jerry Sheindlin of not feeling supported, which led to their divorce in 1990. But Judy and Jerry started working through these problems when they got back together, ultimately becoming each other's biggest supporters.

In his 1999 interview with The Los Angeles Times, Jerry shared that he had no problem supporting Judy while her career grew bigger than his. "I think that behind every great woman there is a man. So I may be behind her now, but I also heard a rumor that behind every great man there is a woman," he said. Judy's hit law series "Judge Judy" had begun airing three years earlier in 1996.

Judy was equally supportive of Jerry when his opportunity to be on TV came around too, and the following year, he began working as a judge on "The People's Court." "She is the one who told me I should do it," Jerry noted. "If she had any reservations at all, I wouldn't have done it."

Judy Sheindlin has never boasted about her looks or physique. In fact, when she was younger, she always thought her best assets were her brains and her tenacity — which has resulted in her celebrated career, becoming America's favorite TV judge. However, she does believe that looking good is important and does her best to maintain her health and stay attractive. She has said that this is an integral part of her marriage with Jerry Sheindlin. "We're both very surface people when it comes to that. You know if you fall instantaneously for somebody that means there's a physical attraction," she admitted to People.

This is not a one-way street in their marriage, though. Judy explained that Jerry takes just as much pride in his own appearance, which she feels is a healthy part of their marriage. "He takes wonderful care of himself," she added during her appearance on an episode of "Who's Talking to Chris Wallace?" (via People). "And I sort of like it, because he maintains that physique that I fell in love with 48 years ago."

Aside from the minor blip that was their year-long divorce, Judy and Jerry Sheindlin have enjoyed a long, happy marriage. Along with keeping up their physiques and maintaining a healthy level of attraction to one another in their relationship, Judy believes that the secret to their success was discovering the basic needs men require to be happy, and understanding that this is sometimes different from what a woman needs.

In her interview on "Who's Talking to Chris Wallace?" (via People), the TV judge explained that cracking that code has done wonders for her love life. "[Men] like to be fed. They like to be cuddled. They like to have their alone time, that you take out the alone box and leave me alone. And if you feed them and love them up a little bit, and don't get in their way too much — they're happy," she said. Judy may not be speaking for all men when she says this, but she can certainly attest to her and Jerry's own happiness.

After their marriage, Judy and Jerry Sheindlin quickly adapted to life as a family of seven. Over the years, their family has grown exponentially. The couple now shares 13 grandkids who they adore, some of whom have even followed their footsteps into the family business.

Although Judy is a career-focused woman, her main motivation for originally launching her CBS series, "Judge Judy," all the way back in 1996 was to take care of her family. "I was hoping we would have a three- or four-year run and that my husband and I would be able to afford a two-bedroom apartment one block off the beach in Florida as a retirement place," she recalled to People. "We were civil servants. We had five kids that were all educated, most went to graduate school. We tried to see to it they weren't burdened with a lot of debt," Judy added.

As it turns out, after a quarter of a century on TV, Judy has provided quite a legacy for her ever-growing family. And she gets to share it directly with her granddaughter Sarah Rose, who works with her as a law clerk on "Judy Justice."