Judge Judy Retiring After Decades on TV — But Says 'I'm Still Going to Be Creative' as She Shifts Focus Behind the Camera

Judge Judy is retiring from her television career after three decades.

The TV judge has weighed in on thousands of cases over 30 years, first on 25 seasons of Judge Judy and then on Judy Justice. Now, Judy Sheindlin is stepping away to focus her work behind the camera.

"I’m still going to be creative," the 83-year-old announced on Good Morning America on September 16. "I’m going to take the message and put it in a little bit of a different form. I’m gonna become the Benjamin Button of court."

The final episode of her Amazon Prime series, which began in 2021, will air on October 22.

Sheindlin plans to continue her television career in a producer role on Adam's Law, which features her son Adam Levy presiding over various court cases as his mother did before him.

"He’s ready,” she said of the 58-year-old. “And you know, I’ve aged pretty well over the years. Reasonably. I look better than my grandmother did at my age — which didn’t take a lot."

Levy's new show premieres on September 14, almost exactly 30 years after his mother's.

"There aren’t a lot of people who can carry a half hour on their own unscripted,” Sheindlin told People. “He has what it takes.”

The iconic TV judge started her television career in 1996, when her original series began syndication and distribution to various networks via CBS Media Ventures.

Before starring on screens across the nation, Sheindlin practiced corporate law for a cosmetics company. She later joined the New York Family Court system and became the supervising judge of Manhattan Family Court.

After multiple profiles and even her own 60 Minutes episode highlighting her prolific career as a prosecutor, Sheindlin retired in the 1990s. Her nationwide acclaim quickly brought TV producers knocking.

Sheindlin's Emmy Award-winning series amassed millions of viewers daily. It ended only when the judge wanted to move on to a new chapter after inspiring many other courtroom-esque television series.

Now, Sheindlin hopes to shift her focus to other things that have piqued her interest.

"I have a lot of other things of interest,” she explained. “I don’t want to do hair and makeup anymore, but I still want my message to get out there.”

Sheindlin will also take on a producer role to create another program called Judyverse, which will depict her over-the-top TV caricature as a baby in an adult animated series.

Her legendary career as a stern but kind on-air judge will be honored in a CBS special set to release on September 22, entitled Judge Judy: Unfiltered, Unforgettable.

"I don’t have to prove anything else," Sheindlin said of her career. "I did it.”