Judge Judy Is a Proud Mom of 5 Children, 3 of Whom Are Following in Her Footsteps

A mix of humor and dread, the TV personality has more to her than what meets the eye. Judith Susan Sheindlin has five children, and three of them are lawyers; just like their mom.

Judith is not all that difficult to please off-screen despite her onscreen toughness. But she is a mother of 5 children, who are all grown now.

Judy had 2 of her children, Jamie and Adam, with her first husband, Ronald Levy, a juvenile court prosecutor whom she married in 1964. The couple finally got a divorce after 12 years of marriage.

About a year after, she married Judge Jerry Sheindlin, who later became an arbitrator in the TV show "The Peoples’ Court." They were soon divorced in 1990 but got remarried in 1991.

Judge Judy now has three stepchildren, Gregory, Jonathan, and Nicole from her marriage to Shiendlin, but in total has 13 grandchildren.

Interestingly, 3 of her children are also in the legal profession. Adam Levy served as a district attorney for Putnam County, New York. Gregory and Nicole are also both lawyers. Nicole co-founded alongside her mother, "Her Honor Mentoring;" a program which seeks to pair female high school seniors with successful female career persons.

Judith, who was named the highest paid TV star in 2013 for earning $147million per year on "Judge Judy," admitted that she and her husband still have the hots for each other; he keeps in shape while Judy preens herself for him. She even once mentioned that Jerry had never seen her without her hair done or lipstick.

The judge started her journey in the legal profession after passing the New York State bar exams in 1965. She worked briefly as a corporate lawyer for a cosmetics firm before becoming a prosecutor in New York’s family courts.

In 1982, Mayor Ed Koch, inspired by her no-nonsense attitude appointed her a criminal court judge. She later got promoted to Manhattan’s division of the family court. Throughout her career of hearing about 20,000 cases, she was a strict judge with an acerbic wit.

Her reputation earned her national recognition. This awareness later got her the reality courtroom series featuring "real cases with real rulings."

The show made its debut on September 16, 1996. Although the show's base is assumed to be New York; "Judge Judy" is filmed in California.

Sheindlin has stated that her show's primary goal is to motivate the public to do the right thing, and to show that each individual must take responsibilities for their actions. Since its debut, it has maintained the No. 1 rated court show.