Faith Jenkins is the new judge on Fox’s veteran court show Divorce Court, said Stephen Brown, executive VP of programming for the Fox Television Stations, on Thursday.
Jenkins, who previously starred in Trifecta’s Judge Faith from 2014-18, starts her new role in July. She succeeds Judge Lynn Toler who departed the show after serving as judge from 2006 to 2019, and Judge Mablean Ephriam, who was with the show from its reboot in 1999 to 2006.
“I started watching Divorce Court in law school, so to be now joining the show is quite surreal,” Jenkins said in a statement. “My legal expertise combined with my personal life experience – including years of dating in the world of social media and technology – provides me a unique perspective that will inform my empathy and judgment for many of the issues couples raise on the show.”
In the week ending Feb. 23, Divorce Court averaged a 0.7 live plus same day national household rating, according to Nielsen Media Research, a 17% increase from the prior week.
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In its 21st season, the show has moved production to the Georgia Public Broadcasting Studios in Atlanta, after being produced at Tyler Perry Studios for the past two years. Before that, Divorce Court was produced in Los Angeles.
Divorce Court originally launched in 1957, using actors to reenact real divorce proceedings for television, and aired for 12 years before going off the air. It was brought back from 1985 through 1992, and again in 1999 and has been on the air ever since. The show is produced by Lincolnwood Productions and distributed by Fox First Run. Sonja Solomun serves as executive in charge.
Prior to becoming a TV judge, Jenkins served as a legal analyst and commentator for Fox News, CNN and MSNBC, commenting on such high-profiles cases as the George Zimmerman case in Florida.
After getting her law degree from Southern University Law School, and graduating first in her class, Jenkins worked for five years as a litigator in the New York City law firm Sidley Austin. She then served as an assistant district attorney for the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. Earlier, she was a Miss Louisiana who went on to be named first runner-up in the Miss America 2001 competition.
