This fall is the 30th anniversary of Judge Judy, your courtroom series that ran for 25 seasons and was consistently the most-watched daytime TV show, often beating The Oprah Winfrey Show. When you started, you were new to the entertainment industry; you had been a corporate lawyer, a prosecutor, and a judge. What do you remember about filming your first episode?
It was actually easier than I thought it would be. I had no fear of the camera. I was in a courtroom, and I was doing my job. They didn’t take me out of a courtroom and put me in a boxing ring, where I would feel very uncomfortable. All you have to do is forget the cameras—then you can be yourself.
Were you always interested in discerning right from wrong?
I don’t remember, but I was raised in a very moral family. There was right, and there was wrong. There were very few shades of gray. Either you got an F or you got an A. Most of the time, if it’s right for you and you’re basically a moral person, then it’s right for everybody else.
In your first year of law school, at American University in 1963, you were the only woman in a class of 126 people.
The ratio was perfect! I had no competition. I found my first year of law school absolutely delicious. I did very well, and I don’t even remember being an oddity.
You started your career as a lawyer for a cosmetics company. Then, in the 1980s, you were appointed to the Manhattan Family Court bench. There, you made the then rare decision to allow cameras in your courtroom. Why?
Back in the ’60s and ’70s, family court was a dumping ground for inept politicians who were involved in campaigns for mayor or governor. As a reward, they were given an appointment to a bench. I felt the only way to expose those inept people who were ruling on the lives of others was to have people come in, watch them, and write about them. It had historically been a closed courthouse, so I invited the press in, hoping to embarrass my colleagues into doing the same. For the most part, it didn’t work. The people who were inept wanted their shortcomings to remain privileged. I don’t remember if I got blowback. Colleagues may have said a lot of nasty things behind my back, but very rarely to my face.
You have a sixth sense for bullshit. How do you know when someone is lying?
I start out with the assumption that what they’re saying is usually not true. If you run a red light and you can’t walk a straight line, chances are you’re driving while under the influence of something. If somebody tells you, “I can’t walk a straight line because I have dyslexia,” well, that doesn’t make sense to me. I know people who have dyslexia. While they may have difficulty learning, they know how to walk straight lines. Certain things make sense, and certain things do not. And there are always the telltale signs of fabricating. Women have an area of their chest that gets red when they’re trying to make up a story. Men, when they’re trying to negotiate an untruthful answer, they get this beady sweat along the top of the lip, and they have a little twitch. They look away. People who are lying usually hope to avoid eye contact.
The last episode of Judge Judy aired in 2021, when you were 78. Immediately, you started another show, Judy Justice, and produced several others.
It’s important to stay engaged, whatever stage of life you are in. Once you stop thinking and creating, you might as well pack it up. I don’t play golf. I have nothing else that I’m particularly interested in.
Your CBS special Judge Judy: Unfiltered, Unforgettable looks back at the success of the show. Today its reruns have 6 million weekly viewers—roughly the same viewership as new seasons of The Bachelor.
People are frustrated in the same way they were 30 years ago. They like rules, law, order, and personal responsibility. They like their neighbors to be nice and quiet, to keep their cats on their own property. There are reasons for bad behavior, but there are never excuses for bad behavior if it affects someone else.
You have worked with your son, Adam Levy, a former district attorney and criminal prosecutor, on the courtroom show Tribunal Justice. Now he’s getting his own legal show, Adam’s Law. What advice did you give him?
He hasn’t listened to his mother in probably 50 years. He prepares differently from the way I prepared. He goes into depth with evidence. I just went in—didn’t make sense, looked at you, sweaty, bright red chest. I figured it out. My only advice to him is: You will be much better if you get eight hours of sleep, so don’t stay up till 3 o’clock in the morning looking at your notes. Nobody will care, and the camera picks up fatigue.
If you could go back in time and adjudicate any case in history, which would you choose?
O.J. Simpson. It would not have gone well for O.J.!
Hair by Ginger Leigh Ryan for Bumble and Bumble; Makeup by Mical Klip for Westman Atelier; Photo assistant: Jordan Zuppa; Production assistant: Brian Gomez
Judge Judy: Unfiltered, Unforgettable airs on CBS on September 22 from 8-9:30 pm. It streams the following day on Paramount +.
