Judge Judy's show is ending after 25 years. Here's how one of the highest-paid personalities in TV history makes and spends her $440 million fortune.
"Judge Judy," the beloved courtroom reality show helmed by Judy Sheindlin, is coming to an end.
Source: CNN
Sheindlin went on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" on Monday to announce the show's upcoming 25th season would be the final one.
Source: USA Today
The 77-year-old is famously one of the highest-paid hosts in daytime television, pulling in $47 million a year for just 52 days of filming. That's equal to just over $900,000 per working day.
She fought for the salary she wanted every three years by bringing along an envelope with demands to dinner with John Nogawski, the former president of CBS TV Distribution. Once, he also brought his own envelope, which Sheindlin reportedly refused to open. "Well, John, if I look at your envelope, it's a negotiation," she told him according to The Hollywood Reporter. "This isn't a negotiation."
Source: The Hollywood Reporter, The New York Times Magazine, Parade
That kind of payday is a long way from her days in family court. In 1993, she was making $113,000 a year.
Source: Dujour
Forbes estimated her net worth to be $440 million in June 2019. She built her wealth primarily as a TV personality.
In 2007, Forbes reported that Sheindlin had signed a four-year contract for $100 million in 2004 and estimated her net worth to be $95 million.
Source: Forbes
She sold the rights to her show's 25-year library to CBS for an estimated $100 million in 2017, meaning she made $147 million that year alone.
Thanks to that windfall, Forbes named Sheindlin the world's highest-paid TV host in 2018.
Source: CNN, Business Insider
Sheindlin's production company, Queen Bee Productions, also co-produces "Hot Bench," a separate successful syndicated legal TV show she created in 2014.
Source: The New York Times Magazine
Her wealth seems to be predominantly tied up in real estate. She and her husband, Jerry Sheindlin, spend most of their time in an $8.6 million mansion in Naples, Florida ...
Source: The New York Times Magazine, Curbed
... but also have multimillion-dollar homes in Greenwich, Connecticut, Beverly Hills, California, and Newport, Rhode Island, according to E! News.
Source: E! News
According to The New York Times Magazine, Sheindlin has also spent her money on a membership at the Ritz-Carlton in Naples, where she works out most days ...
Source: The New York Times Magazine
... as well as on the Bentley she drives to the Ritz and on a motorcycle she gifted her husband for his 85th birthday.
Source: The New York Times Magazine
Sheindlin also reportedly hasn't flown commercial since 9/11, opting instead to fly private. She travels every couple of weeks to Los Angeles in her own private jet to film "Judge Judy."
Source: Dujour, Daily Mail
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