Judge Judy Talks Doing Her Own Cleaning And Why She's Ending Her Show After 25 Years

Judge Judy

I’m not that young anymore, but I’m still young enough to not know what cable TV is like without Judge Judy. Well, it’s about to be the end of a pretty long era because the judge is putting down her gavel on her long-running show, which comes to an end after 25 years and well over four thousand episodes. Judge Judy, or Judy Sheindlin when she’s not behind her podium, hasn’t changed too much of her core values over the years. As a matter of fact, she recently opened up about what still doing her own cleaning does for her and why she chose to end her show on the 25-year mark.

Like most judges who have been in the game as long as she has, Judge Judy has presided over thousands and thousands of cases. Unlike most judges, though, she's made hundreds of millions from her show. So it's surprising that she still doesn't mind getting her hands dirty and cleaning her home, despite being one of the richest women in the entertainment industry. When Judge Judy revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that she cleans her own place, she explained why she prefers to do things herself, and the reason sounds pretty relatable. Here’s what she said, in her own words:

Never. When I’ve had a frustrating day at work, which I do occasionally, it gives me a great deal of pleasure to get out the silver polish and do some frames around the house or find an old pair of earrings and clean them up — even if I never wear them again. I like to see things tied up in a bow. Perhaps that’s the reason for ending the show after 25 years.

Apparently for Judge Judy, “tied up like a bow,” as far as her show is concerned, just means that it ends on a good number. In the same interview, she says that if she were to go another year or two, she wouldn’t have been able to end the show on a “real” number. This is how Judge Judy puts it:

Nobody says, ‘Oh, they did that show 27 years.’ That’s not a number! Plus, it’s always good to leave everybody wanting a little bit more.

If fans are wanting more (and it’s very likely seeing as she still has millions of people tuning in to watch Her Honor make her legal judgments), they are in luck. Even though Judge Judy is coming to an end, Judy Sheindlin has plans to move to IMDb TV for a new series. So even though her CBS tenure is coming to an end, that doesn’t mean the judge is looking for retirement. It's good to know that just as Sheindlin likes to hold onto the more mundane tasks of cleaning, she is also holding on to her career as a TV personality and judge after the big 2-5.

The final season of Judge Judy has concluded filming but will continue to air throughout this year, with the last episode set for September 10th.

Carlie Hoke
Content Writer

Constantly thinking about books, coffee, and the existential dread I feel from Bo Burnham’s Inside.  While writing I’m also raising a chaotic toddler, who may or may not have picked up personality traits from watching one too many episodes of Trailer Park Boys.