Judge Judy Reveals Her Feelings About Ending Her Original Series After 25 Seasons

In a move that will change daytime television, Judge Judy is coming to an end after 25 seasons. However, there is good news for legal drama fans: star Judge Judy Sheindlin isn’t planning on retiring anytime soon and is instead making the jump to streaming with her upcoming Amazon show Judy Justice. In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the television icon opened up about ending her show after so long and what people can expect from her flashy new show.

In her typical no-nonsense way, Sheindlin assured her longtime fans that Judy Justice wouldn’t be a huge departure from the Judge Judy formula. “Look, I do what I do,” Sheindlin explained. “So within the confines of me doing what I do, we’ll be changing some of the things around me. But I’m not becoming a ballet dancer.”

Sheindlin also opened up about her legacy and how she feels about her television career evolution. “Listen, you’ve got to be in it to win it — like the lottery,” Sheindlin quipped. “One of the things that family court judges worry about, at least the ones that have a soul, is that you’re always taking a risk. You take a risk when you return a baby to a mother who had been a crackhead. She’s been in a program and social services says she’s OK and ready to have her child back. But you never want to see that baby on the front page of a newspaper having been abandoned, abused or killed by that parent. You’ve dodged a bullet if you can end your career in the family court having dodged something like that.”

Over the course of the interview, Sheindlin also opened up about how she wasn’t “a chameleon,” and how sometimes you just have to ride out the cultural shifts. “My message has been the same for half a century: ‘Pick up your trash. Don’t expect me to pick up after you,’” Sheindlin explained. “This country goes to the left and to the right but eventually comes back to the center. You just have to hope that you can withstand those swings, that you can get back to a reasonable place where everybody has the opportunity to realize the American dream like me.”

When asked if she felt emotional about the end of Judge Judy, Sheindlin gave a classic response. “I didn’t feel all that emotional. I wasn’t teary,” Sheindlin admitted. “I felt gratified that I had completed that part of my journey and done it respectably. It was just the end of the day, the end of the job. I cleaned the bathroom, and the bathroom is sparkling.”