Judge Judy Reveals What 'Deadly' Habit She and Husband Jerry Have Avoided to Keep Their 46-Year Marriage Strong

Judy and Jerry Sheindlin have been married since 1977

Nearly five decades into her marriage, Judge Judy Sheindlin knows how to create lasting love with husband Jerry Sheindlin.

The Judy Justice star, 81, shared the secret to her marriage with Jerry, telling E! News, "You don't spend 24 hours together because that's deadly.”

“Jerry just celebrated his 90th birthday and I still like to look at him when he walks in the room—that's a key," she added.

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The couple got married in 1977 and share five children from both of their previous marriages. In 1990, they divorced but remarried the following year. After so many years together, Judy previously opened up to PEOPLE about how a good physique keeps the spark alive between the pair.

"We're both very surface people when it comes to that," she told PEOPLE in 2021. "You know if you fall instantaneously for somebody that means there's a physical attraction. And people age, people they change, you can either do it gracefully or you can say 'I give up.' "

She continued, "And I, for myself, I said 'I choose to not give up, I choose to stay fit.' So don't even think about anything but staying, looking as good as you can possibly look at this stage in your life."

"I don't have to tell him that more than once, he loves himself desperately," she joked of Jerry.

Related: Judge Judy: Her Show — and the Amazing Story Behind Her $480 Million Fortune

In Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue's 2020 book, What Makes a Marriage Last: 40 Celebrated Couples Share with Us the Secrets to a Happy Life, Judy revealed that Jerry was initially hesitant about the idea of tying the knot a second time. (Judy was previously married to Ronald Levy while Jerry was married to Suzanne Rosenthal.)

"I actually had to drag him to the altar ... He had no intention of divorcing his wife, even though they had been separated for three or four years. After we were together for about a year, I said, 'I want to see your divorce in the newspaper or don't bother calling again,' " she recalled.

"I said, 'I'm not going to do that,' " Jerry added. "So she whipped out a calendar and said, 'Pick a date. Now.' "

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The third season of Judy Justice is currently streaming on Prime Video and Amazon Freevee with new episodes premiering every weekday until April 5.

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