Judith "Judy" Winslow was one of the main characters of Family Matters. She was the youngest daughter of Carl and Harriette Winslow.
Biography[]
Judith Winslow was born on April 19, 1980 to Carl and Harriette Winslow. She is the younger sister of Eddie and Laura Winslow.
During her years on the series, Judy attended an unnamed elementary school and also an unnamed junior high school.
Judy is introduced as cute, sassy, and sometimes a little naive (like thinking the sponge to seal envelopes was for getting the glue off her tongue). It's often referenced that Judy hated vegetables, especially Brussels Sprouts and broccoli. She has trouble with learning her multiplication tables, and almost gets a "D" in English one semester. Early on, she also liked dolls, even being seen playing with a dollhouse in her intro credit.
She and Laura often bantered back and forth, whether fighting or teaming up. She is paired with Richie more in seasons 2-4.
Judy helps her aunt and sister stuff envelopes to make extra money after Harriette lost her job in Two-Income Family. She is unhappy her aunt portrayed her as whiney in Short Story and stages a fight with Laura to show sisters should make up. She breaks the girl scout cookie record and helps distract Rachel’s suitor by singing in Rachel’s First Date. She earns $10 by getting two As on her report card in Straight A’s. She brings a stray dog in and helps hide him from Carl in Man’s Best Friend.
She helps distract Carl from driving his parade float in Body Damage. She also blackmailed Eddie by taking photos of the mess in the house during The Party. She made a diorama with Estelle and Rachel's help but sets Rachel's log cabin on fire when everyone comments how pitiful it is in The Big Fix.
Carl and Harriette find out Judy isn't doing her book reports and might get a D in English in Fast Eddie Winslow. Judy is very excited to share with her mom that she received an A in Spelling in Ice Station Winslow, but Harriette and Rachel both, are distracted when putting Richie's penguin costume for a play together. After trying to show her the test and mentioning she got extra credit for spelling "platypus" right, Harriette is still distracted so Judy leaves dejected.
Later, Rachel catches Judy ripping Richie's beak off his penguin costume which Harriette determines is out of jealousy and to let them work things out.
Laura and Judy eat breakfast together when Rachel has Richie practice his waddle. Laura comments that he's cute but Judy replies that he's not. Laura questions what she's upset about and Judy fills her in that she's ignored when he's around. Laura tells her she felt the same way after she was born, even trying to bury Judy in her crib with toys.
Eventually, she realized being older also had it's advantages like staying up late and having someone to look up to you. Judy says she never thought about that and goes to apologize to Richie.
In Taking Credit, Richie tries to hog credit for a cake him and Judy both made. When Judy fights back, Rachel tries to explain why Richie shouldn't do that with stories about credit from Carl and Steve. After hearing them, Richie realizes his error and apologizes to Judy about hogging all the credit, which she accepts. After getting Harriette's dress dirty she tried on, she begs Carl to help when she ruins it by putting it in the washing machine. Afterwards, Harriette reveals to Carl she knows he's covering for her because Judy confessed to it in A Thought in the Dark.
Her fourth grade teacher was named Mrs. Fezlate whom the kids called "Mrs. Fuzzlip" for her hairy upper lip. In the series fourth season, Judy's character simply disappeared at the age of 13, with no explanation as to why.
As the show started revolving more around Steve Urkel, the producers of the show thought that Judy was unneeded and she was more of a background character who was given very few lines. She disappeared after the episode Mama's Wedding, where she is last seen walking down the aisle as the flower girl in Estelle and Fletcher's wedding.
In the rest of the series, the cast of the show acted as if she never existed and Harriette and Carl acted as if they only had two kids; Eddie and Laura. William Bickley, the show's creator and writer of the show, said that Jaimee Foxworth was cut due to a "budget consideration." However, in a recent interview, Jaimee disagreed and pointed out that she was cut because of the incident that happened between the producers and her mother Gwyn.
Judy's character was played by Valerie Jones in the pilot and then by Jaimee Foxworth for the rest of the show until the end of season 4.
Relationships[]
Harriette Winslow - Mother
Carl Winslow - Father
Eddie Winslow - Brother
Laura Winslow - Sister
Estelle Winslow - Grandmother
Rachel Crawford - Aunt
Richie Crawford - Cousin
Steve Urkel - neighbor/brother-in-law
3J - Adopted brother
Robert Crawford - Uncle (deceased)
Darlene Baines - Maternal grandmother
Jimmy Baines - Maternal grandfather
Samuel Winslow - Paternal grandfather (deceased)
Frank Winslow - Uncle
Calvin Winslow - Uncle
Walter Winslow - Uncle
Darryl Winslow - Uncle