Jeanine Ferris Pirro is a famous American TV personality, politician, author, and former judge who, despite being physically far away from Lebanon, says that she is connected on a personal level to her family’s country of origin.
I love the Lebanese. I love the music. I love the cooking, and I dance and I cook, and I am very supportive of Lebanese causes.
Jeanine Ferris Pirro
Pirro knew she wanted to be an attorney since the very young age of six. In 1975, when she was 24, she received a Juris Doctor degree at Albany Law School of Union University, and her childhood dream began to materialize.
In the same year, she became the Assitant District Attorney of Westchester County, NYC, where she started out handling minor cases.
After gaining particular visibility in cases of domestic violence and crimes against the elderly, she was appointed the first chief of the then-new Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Bureau, which she claims sole responsibility for establishing.
She was known to be passionate and assertive in that role and had a very strict policy against dropping cases at a victim’s request because she always considered the possibility of coercion.
Despite her sincerity in her work, her so-called “attention-grabbing” behavior, such as issuing press releases in her name instead of the name of her superior, the chief district attorney, often attracted criticism.
But her controversial status did not leave her when she took on more superior jobs.
In 1993, she became the first woman to be elected Westchester County District Attorney, two years after becoming Westchester’s first female judge.
As district attorney, Pirro was often criticized for her relative prosecutorial absence in cases of organized crime – which her husband was later once found to be tied with – public corruption, and for numerous other matters.
A republican, she announced in 2005 her candidacy to challenge first-term incumbent senator Hilary Clinton in the 2006 election for U.S. Senator from New York.
However, she later withdrew her candidacy when it became clear that Clinton would most likely score the win. Notably, Donald Trump was one of the supporters and donors of her campaign.
Likewise, Pirro was an avid supporter of U.S. President Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and continues to be a fierce defender of his administration, though she has said that she was “infuriated” by some of his behaviors.
In addition to her political and judicial presence, Jeanine Pirro has been a renowned figure in American television.
Her popular Fox News show, Justice with Judge Jeanine, has been airing on weekends since 2011. It puts Pirro’s extensive experience in the judicial world to practice by showcasing her views on each week’s top legal stories.
Prior to her ongoing show, she hosted and contributed to several others, including Larry King Live and Geraldo at Large.
She has also been a regular contributor to the American syndicated morning talk show, The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet.
Jeanine Pirro’s experience also made it to print. She has authored six books, two of which are crime novels.
Her 2018 nonfiction book, Liars, Leakers, and Liberals: The Case Against the Anti-Trump Conspiracy, sheds light on Trump’s presidency and explores the anti-Trump movement.
I am proud of my heritage. I have always promoted it and promoted in my own children […] the importance of maintaining that sense of who you are.
Jeanine Ferris Pirro
On a personal level, Jeanine Pirro’s life hasn’t been much less controversial than her public persona.
When she and her husband of 32 years got separated in 2007, it was the final chapter in years of recurring scandals and controversies.
One example of the many times the Pirro family made headlines is when Jeanine’s husband Albert was exposed to having fathered a child with another woman, causing her a great deal of embarrassment and humiliation.
Nonetheless, she maintained that she always stayed strong for her children, who she said needed to believe that their lives would not change despite their parents’ problems.
Although it sometimes made her feel like an outcast in her early teenage years, Pirro has expressed pride in her Lebanese descent, and actively teaches her children to be proud of it as well.
“I am proud of my heritage. I have always promoted it and promoted in my own children, although their father was Italian, a sense of the subculture of Lebanon and the importance of maintaining that sense of who you are,” she told Al-Mohajer.
An admirer of the Lebanese culture, the 69-year-old regularly cooks Lebanese food, which she learned from her mother Esther, and enjoys Lebanese music.
“I love the Lebanese. I love the music. I love the cooking, and I dance and I cook, and I am very supportive of Lebanese causes,” she said.
Despite the many controversies surrounding her career and life, Judge Jeanine, as she’s most famously known, has undoubtedly found success in her long career and a special connection to her roots the more her life progressed.