Judy Gemstone

Judy Gemstone is one of the main characters in the T.V. series, The Righteous Gemstones. She is portrayed by actress Edi Patterson.

Background
Judy is a part of the Gemstone family. She is a secretary. She is the middle of three Gemstone offspring of Eli and Aimee-Leigh Gemstone. Originally, she was supposed to be the last and youngest of the Gemstone clan. However, upon Aimee-Leigh's surprise pregnancy resulting in Kelvin's birth, she became the middle child with a strong middle child complex.

Season 1
Judy starts off the show/season as a secretary in her mid 30s, working a dead-end job for her father and family's church, Gemstone Ministries. Due to her emotional immaturity and need to constantly compete with her brothers, she has never been given a chance of her own to shine. She has constant emotional outbursts and tries to one-up Jesse and Kelvin whenever possible. As of the start of season 1, she is engaged to Benjamin Jason "BJ" Barnes, and they share a house together at the Gemstone compound in Charleston, SC.

In 1989, Judy enjoyed her status as the youngest member of the family and the princess of Eli Gemstone's clan. However, upon hearing of Aimee-Leigh's surprise late life pregnancy with Kelvin (both Eli and Aimee-Leigh were in their 40s), Judy immediately grew to resent her parents for upsetting this status. During her birthday party in 1989, Judy was gifted by her Uncle Baby Billy with a miniature pink Corvette. Her parents saw this as usurping them, and as such, did not allow Baby Billy to gift the car to Judy. To further create dissent among the family, Baby Billy plied Jesse with Coors Light Beer, resulting in Jesse's drunken outburst to the family and passing out from his inebriation. Between Judy's parents gifting her a simple locket with their pictures instead of letting her accept the Corvette, along with Jesse's outburst, this ruined Judy's birthday, which she held a grudge for the rest of her life.

Flashing forward to the present day (2019), Judy feels resentment toward her family for never letting her shine in the ways she can. She gets roped into Jesse's blackmail scheme involving Jesse's son Gideon and his stunt colleague Scotty, which she later divulges to their father Eli. Separately, Baby Billy begins to groom Judy to join him in Locust Grove at the new Gemstone location, as well as to join him in replacing her mother in Baby Billy's musical act. Eli sees through this and recognizes Baby Billy's treachery, as Baby Billy wanted to steal Judy from Eli the same way Eli supposedly stole Aimee-Leigh from Baby Billy before the show started.

Judy develops her dancing and singing skills with Baby Billy, performing Misbehavin' to Baby Billy's delight. Baby Billy even goes so far to start calling Judy, "Judy-Leigh", in a nod to her mother. This leads her father to finally recognize her talents, and Eli offers her a chance to perform during the donation collection portion of the Easter Sunday service at the main Gemstone location in Charleston. Baby Billy does not approve of this, and demands Judy join him in Locust Grove for Easter Sunday. Judy relents and performs in Locust Grove, spurning her father and brothers. Before her performance in Locust Grove, however, she demands sexual favors from BJ, who turns her down and subsequently breaks up with her.

After Baby Billy and Tiffany decide to leave Locust Grove with the money they acquired from Scotty after their car accident, Judy confonts them. Baby Billy then reveals that his whole scheme of using Judy was a ploy to get back at Eli, and that Baby Billy never truly believed in Judy's talents, which are non-existent according to him. These kicks off an existential crisis and emotional breakdown from Judy, who then confronts her ex BJ at his optician's office location inside a Piggly Wiggly supermarket. BJ had changed a lot about himself, in terms of personality and looks after breaking up with Judy. BJ got his left ear pierced, along with choosing to be more assertive and controlling in his life. Judy begs BJ to take her back, but BJ rejects this reunion. BJ's coworker, Denim, defends BJ and Judy proceeds to insult her. As Denim is prepping for a fight, Judy begins to destroy the optician's office and vandalize the Piggly Wiggly. She proceeds to the parking lot, where she damages Denim's car by ramming shopping carts into the vehicle. She is later brought to jail, where Eli has to bribe the arresting officers in order for Judy to be released.

After being bailed out of jail and having a come to Jesus meeting with her family, she reveals at the spot of Baby Billy and Scotty's crash, that she told Eli about Jesse's (and Kelvin's) participation in Gideon's blackmail scheme. There, she finds a springy Jesus figurine that Baby Billy used to keep on the dashboard of his car. They then all figure out that Baby Billy was the one that got into the accident with Scotty, was likely the one responsible for Scotty's death, and almost certainly absconded with the stolen Gemstone money that Scotty robbed. The whole Gemstone clan then proceeds to confront Baby Billy and Tiffany at Aimee-Leigh's ancestral home in Freeman's Gap, SC. At first, Tiffany claims Baby Billy is dead, but they spot Baby Billy fleeing the house into an open field. Chasing him through the rainstorm, the family confronts Baby Billy who claims that the money is actually rightfully his, as Eli stole Aimee-Leigh from him and denied Baby Billy of his primary income source, the musical duo with him and his sister. Baby Billy is then struck by lightning, knocking him unconscious. As the Gemstones return Baby Billy to the house, Baby Billy comes to and reveals that he saw his sister in heaven and forgives his in-laws.

Later, Judy confronts BJ again, meeting up at an Outback Steakhouse. At this rendezvous, Judy reveals that her claimed sexual prowess was all a lie. She tells BJ that she wasn't the sexual freak she had sold herself as, and her only sexual encounter to that date had been with a college professor that she may or may not have sexually assaulted in his own office. She describes the encounter, which involved giving said professor a handjob. The professor then started crying and talking about his wife and son. Upon finding out the identity of her professor's son, Judy proceeds to kidnap the son from his high school and tell the son about her encounter with his father. This results in her having a restraining order filed against her by the professor. BJ respects Judy for being honest with him, and they agree to reconcile thereafter.

Season 2
While not listed on IMDB in the Season 2 cast, Danny McBride revealed in an October 2021 interview that Edi Patterson would return as Judy, and that Judy and BJ agreed to elope in the interlude between Season 1 and Season 2. This elopement is going to be a major issue in the family in the season, as Eli does not approve of a secretive elopement as opposed to a Christian wedding that would be expected of a pastor's daughter.

Quotes
"How was China for you boys? I wouldn’t know, ‘cause I was stuck here, being a secretary."