Greg Mathis

Greg Mathis has been married to Linda Reese Mathis since June 1985. Linda filed for divorce in August 2024, citing irreconcilable differences and listing July 17, 2024, as their separation date. The couple later reconciled and Linda withdrew the divorce process.

Mathis and Linda have four children: daughters Jade and Camara, and sons Greg Jr. and Amir. Their family appeared together in the 2022 reality series Mathis Family Matters, which explored their careers, relationships and support for one another.

Mathis grew up in Detroit and spent part of his childhood in the Herman Gardens housing complex. As a teenager, he joined the Errol Flynns gang and was jailed for nine months at age 17 on a concealed-weapons charge. While he was incarcerated, his mother told him that she had colon cancer, and a judge gave him the choice of earning a GED or returning to jail.

The experience helped redirect Mathis toward education and public service. Reverend Jesse Jackson visited him in jail and encouraged him to earn his GED, attend college and become an activist. Mathis studied public administration at Eastern Michigan University, where he led Free South Africa and voter-registration campaigns, and received his law degree from the University of Detroit Law School in 1987.

Mathis worked for Detroit City Councilman Clyde Cleveland and later managed neighborhood city halls under Mayor Coleman A. Young. He was elected to Michigan's 36th District Court in 1995, becoming the youngest elected judge in Michigan's history.

Mathis became nationally known as the host and presiding judge of Judge Mathis, which ran for 24 seasons from 1999 to 2023. The program won a 2004 NAACP Image Award and the 2018 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Legal/Courtroom Program.

He followed the series with Mathis Court with Judge Mathis, in which he returned to the courtroom television format. His son Amir Mathis served as the courtroom bailiff after working as a producer on earlier projects with his father, including Judge Mathis and Mathis Family Matters.

Mathis has also appeared as himself or as Judge Greg Mathis in The Steve Harvey Show, Madea Goes to Jail, Meet the Browns and CornerStore. His producing credits include The Mathis Project, Just Keke, American Gangster: Trap Queens, First Lady of BMF: The Tonesa Welch Story and Fighting to Be Me: The Dwen Curry Story.

Mathis has focused his public advocacy on urban youth, equal justice and opportunities for formerly incarcerated people. He founded the Mathis Community Center in Detroit and supported Young Adults Asserting Themselves, an organization that provided career assistance, job training, business support and help with college enrollment.

His connection to Detroit remained part of his public work. In 2003, he lobbied for former Herman Gardens residents to receive housing in the development built where the complex once stood. In 2009, the city named a street Mathis Avenue in his honor.

Mathis wrote the memoir Inner City Miracle with Blair S. Walker and the novel Street Judge with Zane. His life also inspired the stage play Been There, Done That, which toured 22 American cities in 2002.