Scarlett Johansson Recalls Being ‘So Starstruck’ Meeting Judge Judy: ‘She’s Like an Icon’
"I was so relieved that she was a very nice person," Scarlett Johansson says of meeting Judge Judy Sheindlin at a restaurant once
Scarlett Johansson met her hero, Judge Judy Sheindlin.
The actress appeared on The Tonight Show last week, when host Jimmy Fallon asked her if she has ever met her idol in the same way her Sing 2 character Ash meets her favorite singer Clay Calloway, voiced by Bono.
“I met Judge Judy once. I was in a restaurant and I saw Judge Judy at a table with her family and I, oh my God, I was so starstruck. I couldn’t believe it,” recalled Johansson, 37, of meeting the 79-year-old television personality.
“Were you afraid a little bit that she might judge you?” asked Fallon, to which the actress said with a laugh, “I was a little nervous. I mean, she’s like an icon, obviously. I didn’t know if she was gonna look at me and be like, ‘Get away from my table, I’m here with my family,’ and like, ‘I’m Judge Judy, leave me alone!’ But she wasn’t like that.”
“She was wonderful. And I was so relieved that she was a very nice person,” the Black Widow star continued. “She probably was, I think she was surprised that I was there, and I was very geeked out. I mean, I grew up with Judge Judy. She’s amazing. She was very, very nice.”
After 25 years on the air, Sheindlin’s hit series Judge Judy came to an end in May. Now, she’s launched a new show, Justice Judy, on IMDb TV, Amazon’s free premium streaming service.
She told PEOPLE for an exclusive cover story last month, “We left on top, which is perfect. Amazon had the confidence in me to say, ‘Let’s do it in streaming. Let’s let you do your thing in a fresh version with new people.’ And I’m excited!”
Judge Judy premiered on Sept. 16, 1996. The Brooklyn native recalled to PEOPLE, “I was hoping we would have a three- or four-year run and that my husband and I would be able to afford a two-bedroom apartment one block off the beach in Florida as a retirement place. We were civil servants. We had five kids that were all educated, most went to graduate school. We tried to see to it they weren’t burdened with a lot of debt.”
Sing 2 is in theaters Wednesday.
