The verdict is unknown on whether Judge Judy and Justin Bieber will ever be fond neighbors.
In an interview with Access Hollywood, published Monday, the stern TV personality and former prosecutor, full name Judy Sheindlin, claimed the “Peaches” singer used to be terrified of her after she’d slammed him about his teen years.
“He’s scared to death of me,” the 80-year-old told the entertainment news outlet. “There was a period of time before he grew up — when he was foolish, and doing foolish things.”
The no-nonsense magistrate added that Bieber, now 28, did everything he could to not cross paths with her when they lived next door to each other.
She explained that the singer was so dismayed by her presence that he even allegedly had his security team keep tabs on her schedule so he could avoid her at all costs.
With a laugh, she said, “I must have said something about it, and then, I understood that he was paying the front door people to let them know when I was there, coming and going, so he wouldn’t have to bump into me.”
In 2014, Sheindlin publicly blasted a then-teenage Bieber for “making a fool out of himself” after he was arrested that year for a DUI.
“Being a celebrity is a gift,” the “Judy Justice” star told CBS Los Angeles at the time. “You could either treat it reverently or you could make a fool out of yourself. And he’s doing a very good job of making a fool out of himself.”
She added, “I think it’s sad. And nobody’s going to remember that he was a marginal singer. But they’re going to remember a young kid who had a chance to have it all and who is blowing it by acting like a fool.”
During the seventh anniversary of his Miami arrest, the pop star — who married Hailey Bieber in 2018 — opened up on social media about that time in his life and how his relationship with God has helped him become a better person.
“7 years ago today I got was arrested, not my finest hour. Not proud of where I was at in my life. I was hurting, unhappy, confused, angry, mislead, misunderstood and angry at god….. I also wore too much leather for someone in Miami. All this to say God has brought me a long way,” Bieber wrote on Instagram last year, alongside a photo of himself hunched over in handcuffs.
