Meet Jerry Sheindlin, Judge Judy’s husband of nearly 50 years: the Korean war veteran pioneered DNA evidence in the US and appeared on The People’s Court – but why did they get married twice?

How did Judge Judy meet her husband, Jerry Sheindlin?

Gerald “Jerry” Sheindlin met his wife at a bar in New York after he had “just finished trying a murder case as a defence lawyer” and was speaking to a New York Post reporter. “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,” he told the LA Times of their first encounter.

He is a multi-hyphenate

Before kicking off his legal career, Jerry served in the US army during the Korean war. He then got his bachelor’s degree from Long Island University, per People, and graduated from Brooklyn Law School in 1959. Per the LA Times, he was a partner at Adlerberg & Sheindlin for 22 years, then a US administrative law judge, and eventually a criminal court judge. In 1986, he became a New York Supreme Court trial judge.

In 1996, he published two books, Genetic Fingerprinting: The Law and Science of DNA Evidence, which offers detailed insight into forensic DNA, and Blood Trail, about the credibility of forensic DNA as evidence based on a case that he presided over. This trial set a precedent by admitting DNA as evidence for the first time and had a major impact on the American criminal justice system.

Jerry made his television debut on The People’s Court in 1999 before fully retiring from the Supreme Court, per LA Times. He was the arbitrator on the show from 1999-2000 and for most of the 2000-2001 season.

He accepted a role on The People’s Court on his wife’s advice

When Jerry was first offered The People’s Court role, he looked to his wife for advice. “She is the one who told me I should do it … If she had any reservations at all, I wouldn’t have done it,” he told the LA Times, adding that if “my show takes off and I beat her, I am contacting Hollywood immediately to remake the movie Sleeping With the Enemy”.

After he was replaced in 2001 by Marilyn Milian, he said, per The Ledger, “Part of the adventure was trying to nip at the heels of my wife. Unfortunately, I could never catch up with her.”

Judge Judy divorced him after her father’s death – but only for a year

Per E!, for the first 12 years of their marriage, it was mostly Judy taking care of her husband. However, after the unfortunate passing of her father in 1990, the Judy Justice star took a step back and demanded her husband “take care” of her.

Despite the split, the two started to miss each other and remarried months later.

How many children do Judge Judy and Jerry Sheindlin have?

The Sheindlins have five children. Three are from Jerry’s first marriage to Suzanne Rosenthal – Gregory, Jonathan and Nicole – and two are from Judge Judy’s first marriage to Ronald Levy – Jamie and Adam. Jerry and Judy do not have any kids together.

They also have 13 grandchildren and one of them, Sarah Rose, is also Judge Judy’s colleague on Judy Justice. She works as a law clerk on the show.