Judy Tenuta was not married at the time of her death.
Judy Tenuta was an American comedian, actress, and comedy musician. She was known for her whimsical and brash persona of “The Love Goddess”, mixing insult comedy, observational humor, self-promotion, and bawdy onstage antics.
Tenuta was born in Oak Park, Illinois, on November 7, 1949, into a Roman Catholic family to a Polish mother, Joann, and an Italian father, Caesar.
She grew up in a staunchly Irish-Catholic neighborhood, graduating from Immaculate Heart of Mary High School in Westchester, Illinois, and attended the University of Illinois at Chicago where she majored in theater.
Her interest in comedy began when she took an improv comedy class with the Chicago improv group The Second City. Shortly thereafter, she started opening for other comedians in Chicago.
Tenuta began her comedy career performing openers and small-time shows on the Chicago comedy circuit in the 1970s.
During her first performance, Tenuta shocked audiences by dressing up as the Virgin Mary, and after being encouraged by her friends to incorporate an accordion into her routine, she began to develop the character into her iconic persona as the wisecracking “Love Goddess”.
Tenuta was an outspoken advocate for gay rights and amassed a faithful following in the LGBT community.
During the early years of her career, Tenuta frequently performed at gay bars and clubs around Chicago and continued to perform at Gay Pride festivals and events across the country until her death.
Judy Tenuta died in Studio City, California, on October 6, 2022, at the age of 72, from stage 4 ovarian cancer, with which she had been diagnosed in 2020.