Judge Judy is used to handing down tough punishments in her courtroom, but there is one crime that she wants to take an even tougher stance against: littering.
The 76-year-old TV judge, whose full name is Judy Sheindlin, recently had a profile in The New York Times, during which she discussed everything from Jazmine Hughes showing up in culottes to having a membership to the Ritz Carlton to her preferred punishment for tossing your trash onto the ground. If she had it her way, the crime would be punishable by death.
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“Ever been on a boat and you see these plastic bottles, and you see condoms on the beach? To me, that’s a death sentence,” she said.
Although it may seem like a tough stance, Sheindlin, who donned a clip-in ponytail for the profile, is clearly doing something right. Her syndicated program Judge Judy garners more than 10 million viewers daily and has helped her not only achieve the Guinness World Record for the longest career as a TV judge but also the title of highest paid talk show host.
She topped the Forbes ranking in March of this year thanks to her $147 million pretax income last year, an income that skyrocketed in part thanks to her 2017 deal with CBS, in which she sold Judge Judy’s 5,200-episode library, along with rights to future episodes, for an estimated $100 million.
Just for hosting Judge Judy and producing Hot Bench, which debuted in 2014, the 76-year-old makes $47 million, and in total, she boasts an estimated $400 million net worth, making her the 48th richest self-made woman in America.
The feat, she claims, is achievable due to her commitment to making what she loves doing most her career.
“Many people, as I did in the beginning, get stuck with a job they don’t really like…If you’re not doing something that you love to do, find something that you love to do, because it will make your whole life different,” Sheindlin said at 2017’s Forbes Women’s Summit.
And while her income certainly is an impressive feat, it was not the topic of conversation earlier this year, when social media was rocked after Sheindlin debuted a brand new hairstyle for the first time in more than 20 years.
During an April episode of Judge Judy, Sheindlin stepped up to her bench not with her typical brown hair with caramel highlights styled into a short bob, but rather a neat ponytail.
Speaking out on the firestorm that the new ‘do caused, Sheindlin explained that her hair was “getting older” as she aged and she decided she needed to “give it a rest from the constant styling.”
