Judy King

Judy King is a famous Southern chef of the likes of Martha Stewart and Paula Deen who appears in season four of Orange Is the New Black. She lands herself in Litchfield for tax evasion, though we first see her on television as Poussey’s favorite show and celebrity. 

King is charming, and she knows it. She uses her Southern drawl to win over those around her and manipulate them like butter in her bowl. She is older and makes sure everyone knows that her age has not stopped her from being a free and sexual being. Being sixty-five means nothing to her, and she is just as youthful and alive as she was decades prior. She has a whole team of people meant to keep her image in line, though she disregards their advice to do what she wants instead. 

Judy King is popular in Litchfield before she ever arrives. She stars on her cooking TV series, Judy King at Home, which is commonly seen playing in the background of the watch room. When the news announces her sudden scandal of tax evasion, the inmates follow her case to see where she will be serving her sentence. 

To keep things quiet and to confuse the paparazzi, the outlets are told a different prison, then, to our shock, she arrives in our little piece of prison paradise. 

While Judy is seen as trying to be relatable, she often finds herself completely out of touch or out of the norms of whoever she happens to be around. She talks about events in her life that are clearly illegal, where she faced no backlash or repercussions, which frustrates others with her lack of reality and obvious privilege. 

She does not keep her past a secret and openly discusses her polyamorous life with her two partners and all her same-sex escapades. She never holds back when casually mentioning sexual encounters of both sexes and makes it clear that she has no shame or regret in her bisexuality. She is not necessarily a great character when it comes to bisexual representation, never specifically declaring herself with the bi label, but it is good to see that she is unapologetic and not hiding her same-sex attraction. She likes having fun with women and considers herself open-minded. With two male partners, it is clear that she leans towards men on the Kinsey Scale, but that hasn’t stopped her from seeking dalliances with women she finds herself drawn to. 

In her outside life, she and her dear TV-chef friend, Nigella Lawson, would get high together and make out. It is said that Nigella’s recipe for “Caribbean Cream” was the nickname Judy gave her breasts when she went topless in Turks and Caicos. 

Within the prison walls, she has a private room, separate meals, and guards posted to her quarters to assure her safety. She bosses them around and has them do errands for her. This leads to her abusing that power and getting Luschek and Yoga Jones high on MDMA, then seducing them into a drug-addled threesome. Not the greatest depiction of bisexuality, but bi nonetheless. Judy is down to get her freak on with both sexes.

For a brief time, she pretends to be dating Black Cindy to win over the media after an old racist puppet show she made gets resurfaced. She tries to save face by showing the public that she is not racist due to her (fake) girlfriend being a black woman and leaking photos of them together from a contraband cellphone. Here we see that she is okay with her audience believing she has a female partner, but also, based on his prior history with women, it’s fairly likely this isn’t the first female sexual encounter the media has known about.