Judge Mathis wants his wife back and says it's his fault that she filed for divorce in the first place. But the fault, he insists, wasn't infidelity.
The star of the courtroom television show “Mathis Court With Judge Mathis,” whose first name is Gregory, was served notice in mid-August when Linda Mathis filed a lawsuit seeking the dissolution of their nearly 40-year marriage. She now says he neglected his wife but kept his pants on when he was traveling.
“My wife has taken third place,” he said over the long weekend in an interview with TMZ at Los Angeles International Airport. He then rattled off a list of activities that seemed to put Linda in fourth place: “Serving the community, taping my show, having fun with friends. That’s the thing, guys. Never too busy, never too much fun.”
Mathis said that when his new show began filming in Los Angeles in 2023, after decades of filming “Judge Mathis” in Chicago, he made a commitment to stay home more and make his wife a priority. “But, you see, I haven’t. I’m still here on tour doing the same thing … in terms of going out to another city.”
Greg and Linda, who were college sweethearts, married in 1985, more than a decade before the premiere of “Judge Mathis,” which aired from September 1999 to May 2023. “Mathis Court With Judge Mathis” aired in earnest in September 2023.
Mathis, 61, is the longest-serving African-American television host and the second-longest-reigning arbitrator in court history (behind Judith “Judge Judy” Sheindlin). In 2022, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The former Michigan 36th District Court judge told TMZ he wanted to “eliminate” any rumors about the existence of a baby or that he “abused a child.” “It’s nothing like that,” he said. “I just told them what it is.”
As for the rumors of infidelity, he said: “Negligence can raise suspicions, no doubt. And if you are absent as much as I am, [your wife has] “You have every right to be suspicious. You know, you go to work, you go to serve the community all over the country, then you go with your friends to sporting events all over the country, you go to other events, but without your wife being with you and having fun with you. Yes, she would have a right to suspect infidelity.” Still, Mathis said, “that was not the purpose” of his travels.
“That’s not the reason for this,” he said.
For now, the two live in the same house and remain friends, Mathis said.
“I am trying to get my wife back. However, I have to prove it to her. Hopefully I can prove it to her while we are together… and I hope it doesn’t complete the [divorce] process. I am changing in the hope that she will.
“I'm going to get my wife back,” he said. “What do you think?”
Times staff writer Malia Mendez contributed to this report.
