Line #166 Main/SerialSpouse


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6	[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lizweddings_1.png]]
7	[[caption-width-right:349:Creator/ElizabethTaylor: eight weddings, seven husbands[[note]]Conrad Hilton, Jr.; Michael Wilding; Mike Todd; Music/EddieFisher; Creator/RichardBurton; Richard Burton (again); John Warner; Larry Fortensky[[/note]]]]
8
9	->'''Robert:''' I'll tell you what I've found to be the key to a great marriage...\
10	'''Raymond:''' --Says the man who married a stripper, then divorced a stripper, then married a regular person, then hung in there for ''three whole months''.
11	-->-- ''Series/EverybodyLovesRaymond''
12
13	Some people just can't seem to make it work. They go through divorce after divorce and never seem to learn their lesson. These characters are typically middle-aged, otherwise successful men, but none of these are requirements. The only requirement is that the character has been through at least two divorces.
14
15	There are numerous reasons for a character's marriages to repeatedly fail. Sometimes a [[FriendVersusLover needy best friend]] drives a wedge between them and anyone new. Sometimes the character is still too devoted to a lost loved one. Maybe they're even [[ReplacementGoldfish trying to replace]] a lost love, and the divorces result because the new spouse is simply not the old one. [[ThereAreNoTherapists Maybe they have an untreated mental illness or unaddressed personal problems]], and their spouses just can't deal with them. Perhaps they are marrying [[GoldDigger with the expectation of getting divorced and receiving alimony]]. Maybe they have [[CommitmentIssues issues concerning commitment]] and fidelity. Maybe they are attracted to {{Broken Bird}}s and the TroubledButCute, and erroneously think they can [[ICanChangeMyBeloved "fix" that person...only to find that a) they can't and b) the other person resents being expected to change or being treated like a project instead of a person.]] Usually, it's because they're simply MarriedToTheJob.
16
17	This trope is often part of a character's DarkAndTroubledPast, but it can also be PlayedForLaughs. In both comedies and dramas, the character is often part of a DysfunctionJunction. As it is exceedingly common in crime dramas, this is one element of the StandardCopBackstory.
18
19	Bear in mind that an end of a marriage doesn't necessarily constitute a divorce. If the character has been married twice, but one of the marriages ended in death, it doesn't count.
20
21	Compare with the BlackWidow, a woman who marries repeatedly and then kills her husbands, or the TheBluebeard, which is a man who does likewise to his wives. A SerialAdulterer might also be this because of their rampant cheating.
22
23	----
24	!!Examples:
25
26	[[foldercontrol]]
27
28	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
29	* ''Manga/OnePiece'': This was "Big Mom" Charlotte Linlin's modus operandi to build up her family. She'd take a man as her husband, whether he wanted it or not, then after she'd had his child or children, she dumped him and moved on to the next man. She married and divorced ''43'' men, resulting in eighty-five children (spread across twenty-two single births and twenty-one multiple births).
30	[[/folder]]
31
32	[[folder:Comic Books]]
33	* ''ComicBook/Batman66'': It is established that Marsha, Queen of Diamonds has had no less than 52 husbands.
34	* ''ComicBook/TheManOfSteel'': While fending off Lex's latest unwanted advances towards her in issue #4, Lois mentions that Lex has been married at least eight times.
35	[[/folder]]
36
37	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
38	* [=Jeff MacNally=]'s ''ComicStrip/{{Shoe}}'' has been married five times and divorced five times. He's a bitter crow and a CigarChomper boss with no further faith in women. It's hinted that he became a newspaper editor just to vent his frustrations.
39	[[/folder]]
40
41	[[folder:{{Fan Works}}]]
42	* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' fic "Fanfic/GodSaveTheEsteem," Amy mocks Rita about her failed marriages, only for Rita to bitterly remind her that "You're still winning that race." It turns out that Amy's been married four times (though she doesn't like to count the one in Vegas).
43	* In the Franchise/{{Pokemon}} fic "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10028208/1/Siebold-s-Special-Guest Siebold's Special Guest]]", the eccentric socialite is married to her thirteenth husband.
44	* In Franchise/{{TheLegendOfZelda}} fangame "The Fallen Sage", Felonius tries giving Link advice, before offhandedly commenting "What do I know? I've only been married three times!" He is also implied to have conceived another character in a one-night stand.
45	[[/folder]]
46
47	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
48	* Rosie from ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'' mentions that she's been married twelve times, and at least her most recent husband has died, making her a black-widow widow.
49	* Lola Buzzard from ''[[WebAnimation/QueerDuck Queer Duck: The Movie]]'' is stated to have married and divorced a lot of times, with her manservant and chauffeur Peccary being her second and fifth husband.
50	[[/folder]]
51
52	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
53	* ''Film/AWedding1978'': Muffin's aunt Marge has been married and divorced four times, and spends most of the movie striking up a relationship with the Sloan family's gardener.
54	* Mrs. White from ''{{Film/Clue}}'' is a combination of this trope, BlackWidow, and ReallyGetsAround.
55	--> '''Col. Mustard:''' How many husbands have you had?\
56	'''Mrs. White:''' Mine or other women's?\
57	'''Col. Mustard:''' Yours.\
58	'''Mrs. White:''' Five.\
59	'''Col. Mustard:''' Five?\
60	'''Mrs. White:''' Yes, just the five. Husbands should be like Kleenex: soft, strong, and disposable.
61	* Ma Flodder from the ''Film/{{Flodder}}'' movies has been married 5 times but is currently single again.
62	* Hortense Ditherwell (Alice Brady) in ''Film/TheGayDivorcee'' has been married three times and is looking for a fourth.
63	--> '''Hortense:''' Let's see, I didn't marry in 1929 or '30. That was the year of the crash, and men didn't know whether they had money or not.
64	* Maria Ragetti from ''Film/GrumpierOldMen'' has five ex-husbands. Her mother convinces her that she is "cursed in love" since all her exes were dirtbags in one way or another and she talks Maria out of pursuing a relationship with Max. [[spoiler: The two end up marrying by the end of the film]].
65	* In ''Film/TheHeartbreakKid2007'', Creator/BenStiller character Eddie rushes into marriage with Lila. During the honeymoon, he realizes how mismatched they are and meets another woman Miranda. After many mishaps, both women leave him. Years later, he is settled in Mexico, and Miranda visits him. In the final scene, he makes plans to go on a date with her and after she leaves, it is revealed that he is married to a third woman, and possibly is going to divorce her to be with the One.
66	* In ''Film/TheJaneAustenBookClub,'' CoolOldLady and TeamMom Bernadette has been married six times (once to a producer of Fred Astaire films) and muses that she would like to do it one more time. [[spoiler:She does during the epilogue]].
67	-->'''Prudie:''' For such a famously romantic story, ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice'' is a parade of bizarre marriages.\
68	'''Bernadette:''' I've had every marriage in this book!
69	* In the film version of ''Film/{{Jurassic Park\|1993}}'', Ian Malcolm comments at one point that he's always looking for the next ex-Mrs. Malcolm. It's implied that all of his marriages ended in divorce.
70	* In ''Film/LikeNormalPeople'', Roger's coworker Donna mentions that she's had at least five husbands.
71	* The movie ''Film/TheMarryingMan'' centered on a couple who married each other and then divorced multiple times over the span of decades. By the end of the movie, they are about to get married for the fourth time.
72	* In the 1960 ''Film/OceansEleven'' Jimmy's mother is on her fifth or sixth. When she nags him about missing her wedding, he asks if he has ever missed one of her weddings; "Yes", she replies tartly, "my first."
73	* The princess in ''Film/ThePalmBeachStory'' has possibly been married six times; she's had three divorces and two annulments, and she says she's "not quite through with the Prince" (although she is certainly looking for candidates to replace him).
74	* Lawanda Dumore of ''[[Film/ProblemChild Problem Child 2]]'' already has had six husbands and immediately wants to make Ben Healy her seventh when he shows up at her bank (and for a visual gag, we see the photos of her with each one, and they're all portrayed by Ben's actor Creator/JohnRitter).
75	* Osgood Fielding from ''Film/SomeLikeItHot'' has been married seven or eight times (his mother is keeping score) and plans to marry again, [[spoiler:even after he finds out that his fiancée is a man in drag]].
76	[[/folder]]
77
78	[[folder:{{Literature}}]]
79	* ''[[Literature/TenSixtySixAndAllThat 1066 and All That]]''[='s=] genealogical table of English kings shows John of Gaunt as having been married to Lady Godiva, Margaret of Angoulème, Joan of Arc, The Infanta, The Maria Theresa, Ann of Geierstein, etc. and etc. etc. The text also states that Henry VIII had VIII wives and that he considered marrying a Good Thing. There was also the Scottish queen Mary, who had so many husbands that she was known as Mary Queen of Hearts.
80	* Helene Roffe-Martel in Creator/SidneySheldon's ''Bloodline'' has several ex-husbands. All of whom she married to become [[GoldDigger wealthier]] than she already was. Her current (at the book's time) husband is a [[HenpeckedHusband henpecked one]] she married because he was a nothing she could mould into whatever she wanted.
81	* In the folktale ''Literature/{{Bluebeard}}'', the eponymous widower gives his new bride the keys to all the doors in their house but instructs her never to enter the room that takes the golden key... which turns out to contain [[SerialKiller the corpses of all the previous wives]].
82	* In ''Literature/TheCanterburyTales'' the Wife of Bath has been married five times. She started at age 12, and her first three husbands were elderly men, whom she claims she was quite happily wedded to.
83	* In ''Literature/TheDevilWearsPrada'', Miranda is preparing to marry her ninth husband.
84	* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'': Greg's uncle Gary has been married three times prior to the series, all of which ended in divorce, and one book has Greg and his family attending Gary's ''fourth'' wedding. However, the best man's speech indicates that Gary is probably about to end up divorced again, with Greg dryly noting that they'll likely be attending Gary's fifth wedding soon. Sure enough, next time he appears, Sonja (the aforementioned fourth wife) is nowhere in sight.
85	* Nanny Ogg of the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels has been married three times "...and that's only the official score."
86	* ''Literature/EccentricNeighborhoods'' contains examples on both sides of narrator Elvira's family:
87	** On the maternal side, there's Lakhmé Rivas de Santillana, who marries three times. Her first husband, Tom is an American soldier who returns from the war with PTSD and dies young. Her second husband is a Spanish Muslim who keeps her isolated in Rabat, Morocco until she escapes. Her third and last husband is a business owner [[MarriageOfConvenience she marries to keep her social standing]].
88	** On the paternal side, there's Ulises Vernet. His first wife, Carolyn Allan, is an American heiress who is unwilling to put up with his [[ReallyGetsAround extramarital activities]]. His second wife, Venecia, is more open-minded and puts up with his activities as long as he spends at least four days out of the week at home. [[spoiler: After her death, he marries three more times.]]
89	* In ''Literature/TheGoblinEmperor'', Maia's father, the previous emperor, divorced his first wife for barrenness, then went through a number of wives who all died before their thirtieth birthday, [[BlackWidow apparently]] for natural causes. His banishing the Empress Chenelo, Maia's mother, to a remote country estate can be considered the equivalent of divorce, as he never saw her again. Upon his death at the start of the novel, he leaves a widow who is about as old as his youngest son, Maia.
90	* ''Literature/JohnPutnamThatcher:'' Thatcher's friendly competitor Tom Robichaux is married to a different woman in almost every one of his appearances. Thatcher has difficulty imagining how he's able to pay all of the alimony.
91	* Georgia from ''Literature/LoveAnthony'' has been divorced four times. After each divorce, she puts a Post-It note on the refrigerator that says "DO NOT GET MARRIED EVER AGAIN." But she's a wedding coordinator constantly surrounded by beautiful weddings, so the Post-It always comes down sooner or later.
92	* In ''Literature/TheMarkOfTheLion'' trilogy, [[spoiler: Julia Valerian]] goes through three husbands, one fiancé and multiple lovers. Two of the husbands die, but relations with the fiancé and one of the husbands are broken off by divorce.
93	* ''Literature/MollFlanders'' has been married five times by the end of the book (officially)
94	* ''Literature/TheSevenHusbandsOfEvelynHugo'': See the title? Granted, one of them was annulled (it was a Vegas marriage that barely lasted the weekend), but it still counts. [[spoiler:Ironically, the one Evelyn loved most was her "wife", Celia St. James, who she wasn't even officially married to]].
95	[[/folder]]
96
97	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
98	* ''Series/AllMyChildren'''s Erica Kane was married seven times to six different men. One of whom was Adam Chandler, who was himself married '''''10''''' times.
99	* John Sheridan of ''Series/BabylonFive'' is far from the worst example of this trope, but he has been married enough times to cause Garibaldi to exclaim, "How many wives does he have?" [[spoiler: Just three.]]
100	* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'': Sheldon's older brother George Cooper Jr. has two ex-wives.
101	* ''Series/TheBrokenwoodMysteries'': DSS Mike Shepherd has been divorced three times, a fact which gets brought up frequently. Some of the exes make appearances, including as potential suspects.
102	* On ''Series/{{Castle\|2009}}'', the titular character has two ex-wives.
103	* On ''Series/{{Charmed\|1998}}'', [[RaisedByGrandparents Grams]] was married four times and engaged at least twice more; she was quite happy with the girls' grandfather, who was killed by a demon, but the next five husbands left her with a [[DoesNotLikeMen decidedly poor outlook on men]].
104	** For that matter, [[PsychicPowers Phoebe]] gets married three times over the course of the series: to [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor Cole]], then to [[TemporaryLoveInterest Dex]], and finally to [[LoveFreak Coop]]. To be fair, that second one happened when they were under a spell.
105	* Lt. Provenza of ''Series/TheCloser'' and ''Series/MajorCrimes'' was married four times (twice to the same woman). He nearly got married for the fifth time but they broke up.
106	* On ''Series/{{Community}}'', Pierce has been divorced seven times.
107	* On ''Series/CriminalMinds'', Rossi has been divorced three times.
108	* ''Series/DoctorWho'',
109	** It is mentioned that [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassandra_%28Doctor_Who%29 Cassandra]] was married nine times.
110	** The main character also fits. Besides the hypothetical grandparent of Susan, they've married Cameca the Aztec woman, River Song, Elizabeth I, and Marilyn Monroe over the course of the series.
111	** River Song marries the Doctor in "The Wedding of River Song" but in "The Husbands of River Song", we learn she also married Hydroflax, Ramone, and Stephen Fry. She also had at least two wives (one of whom is Cleopatra).
112	* ''Series/EerieIndiana'': In "The Dead Letter", Mary B. Carter tells the ghost of her one true love Tripp [=McConnell=] that she was married six times but none of them worked out as they weren't him.
113	* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'':
114	** Frasier Crane. Aside from his many [[GirlOfTheWeek girls of the week]], he's had a rough record with matrimony. His first wife was Nanette Guzman, a hippie-girl he met in college and was married to for only a few months before divorcing, but she never fell out of love with Frasier and tried to rekindle with him once in ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' and again in ''Frasier''. Next, he was engaged to Diane Chambers, who left him at the altar. Then he married Dr. Lilith Sternin and had a son named Frederick before Lilith cheated on him and they divorced after several years together. They too attempted to reconcile a few times, but it also never stuck.
115	** Frasier's brother Niles went through two shrewish wives (Maris and Mel) before finally marrying his true love Daphne.
116	** Sherry Dempsey, one of Martin Crane's girlfriends was married and divorced six times. She didn't want to marry Martin because of this, which led to the end of their relationship.
117	* Ross on ''Series/{{Friends}}'' had three ex-wives by the end of the series, and was often mocked for it (sometimes by himself).
118	-->'''Ross:''' I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say No Divorces in '99!\
119	'''Rachel:''' But your divorce isn't even final yet.\
120	'''Ross:''' Just The One Divorce in '99!
121	** His first divorce occurred shortly before the start of the series from Carol, [[ClosetKey who realized she was gay and left him for a woman]]. However, Carol soon realized she was pregnant and went on share joint custody of Ross's son Ben while raising him with her new wife Susan. Ross's second marriage is to Emily, who he marries after knowing for just a few months... [[WrongNameOutburst and then says Rachel's name at the altar]]. Emily is furious but eventually agrees to take him back, but they soon divorce after Ross makes her admit she doesn't trust him. Ross's last marriage is to Rachel after they get drunk and marry in Las Vegas. They try for an annulment, but for complicated reasons have to get a divorce instead.
122	* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
123	** Sansa is put in an ArrangedMarriage four times. With Joffrey in Season 1 (although the wedding itself never happens), then with Tyrion in Season 3, then with Robin (doesn't pass the engagement part) ''then'' with Ramsay in Season 5.
124	** Margaery as well, with the benefit that she manages to marry a king each time: First Renly Baratheon (to whom she is TheBeard; he prefers her brother and hence never consummated their union), then Joffrey Baratheon who is poisoned at his wedding reception, and finally Joffrey's younger brother Tommen Baratheon.
125	** We hear about four marriages of Salladhor's, and those are only the ones whose weddings Davos was able to attend!
126	* On ''Series/GeneralHospital'', both Carly and Sonny have had multiple marriages. Carly has been married ''7'' times, just 1 more than Sonny at ''6''. And out of those marriages, Carly and Sonny have shared '''3 different marriages''', over the span of more than 2 decades!
127	* Miss Patty on ''Series/GilmoreGirls'', the [[SilverFox older]] [[BigBeautifulWoman voluptuous]] dance teacher who is an incorrigible flirt, is asked to total up her marriages once. She comes up with "three men, four times", explicitly referencing Elizabeth Taylor in how she married the same man for her first and last marriage.
128	--> '''Miss Patty:''' Well, there was Sinjin, John, Sergio, Sinjin. Three men, four times. [...] Well, Sinjin was a let-down the second time, but he was my Burton and I was his Taylor. Just wish I could've found a little Mike Todd there in the middle.
129	* John Munch from ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'' and ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' had two ex-wives in his past, married a bartender in Homicide's last season, and had divorced her by the final movie. There was a reason he always got teamed with Briscoe during crossovers.
130	** By SVU, he's been married (and divorced) four times and states that he still believes in true love, but that it always eludes him.
131	* Wilson on ''Series/{{House}}'' had been divorced twice at the start of the show. He went through his third divorce in Season 2.
132	* ''Series/ICarly2021'': Freddie mentions that he's been gone through two divorces in the time since the [[Series/{{iCarly}} original series]]. His first wife's identity is unknown as of this writing (though it almost certainly wasn't Carly), but his second wife was a woman named Gwen, whom he met at a wedding and the two were only married for 14 months. Freddie also adopted her daughter Millicent and shares custody with Gwen.
133	* ''Series/KnotsLanding'':
134	** Valene has been married five times, the most of anyone in the ''Series/{{Dallas}}'' / ''Knots Landing'' universe: she married and divorced Gary twice, then she married Ben Gibson and was (seemingly) widowed but she got a divorce instead of having him declared legally dead, then she married Danny Waleska (who died while they were in the process of getting a divorce) and then she married Gary for the third time. When she thought that she was Verna Ellers after losing her memory, she almost married Parker Winslow in the Season 6 episode "Fly Away Home" but Gary managed to convince her of her true identity and that Parker was using her after he discovered that she was a famous author.
135	** Gary married and divorced Abby between his second and third marriages to Valene. He was also engaged to Jill in Season 8 but they never got married.
136	** Abby was married to Jeff Cunningham (who is Olivia and Brian's father), then to Gary, then to Charles Scott, and then to Greg. Her very brief marriage to Charles was annulled while the other three ended in divorce.
137	** Greg was married to Jane, then to Laura, then to Abby, and then to Anne. He claimed that he married Jane out of ignorance, Laura for love, and Abby for business reasons. His later marriage to Anne was one of convenience. Laura died while the other three marriages all ended in divorce. Greg was also engaged to Paige in Season 12 (between his marriages to Abby and Paige's mother Anne) but they never got married.
138	* On ''Series/LawAndOrder'', Jack [=McCoy=] has been divorced twice, as has Lennie Briscoe, and naturally, his {{Expy}}, [[Series/LawAndOrderUK Ronnie Brooks]].
139	** Briscoe's associate John Munch from ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' has been divorced no less than four times.
140	** Also on ''SVU'', Detective Carisi mentions that one of his sisters has been engaged (though not married) about ten times.
141	* On ''Series/MamasFamily'', Naomi was married and divorced twice before marrying Vinton. On their wedding day, a drunk and pissed-off Eunice called her Vinton's "recycled bride."
142	* The criminal known as Berlin in ''Series/MoneyHeist'' is revealed to have been married five times. All five marriages appearantly ended with ugly divorces.
143	* On ''Series/TheMunsters'' Grandpa has been married [[ExaggeratedTrope 166 times]]. However, it's not known if ''all'' the marriages ended in divorce.
144	* On ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'', Earl has been married three times. The first time was an AccidentalMarriage to Joy until she left him (while he was hospitalized, no less!) for Darnell. The second time was to [[ShotgunWedding a friend's elderly mother]] until she wanted sex and he didn't want to give it to her. The third time was to a friend's ex-girlfriend who wanted to follow in his footsteps... then morphed into a {{Yandere}} when he was more focused on the list than on her before she finally left him to join an Amish-like settlement, doing him a final favor by leaving him all the money she got in ''her'' court settlement. Earl states that despite all their problems, Joy was his favorite wife.
145	** In the same series, one guy on the list is a man who's been married a few times in his life, and Earl slept with at least two of his wives, on multiple occasions.
146	* Gibbs on ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' has three ex-wives, [[spoiler:though he has actually been married four times; it's implied that his multiple marriages are because he never got over the murder of his first wife and daughter]].
147	** Tony's father, affectionately referred to as "Senior," has been married so many times it's difficult to keep track.
148	-->'''Tony:''' How's my stepmother?
149	-->'''Senior:''' Ex-stepmother.
150	-->'''Tony:''' Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I actually liked Karen.
151	-->'''Senior:''' Phoebe. You missed one.
152	-->'''Tony:''' Were you going to tell me about that?
153	-->'''Senior:''' I don't like to advertise my failures.
154	-->'''Tony:''' Well, my condolences, my congratulations, and my condolences.
155	* ''Series/OneLifeToLive'''s Asa Buchanan was married 14 times to 10 different women.
156	* ''Series/{{NTSFSDSUV}}'': Agent Trent Hauser mentions that he's been married six times. His boss Kove has been married ''eleven'' times, including with Trent.
157	* On ''Series/Numb3rs'' Lt. Walker mentions in "Robin Hood" to having been married and divorced three times.
158	* Ron Swanson on ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'' has two ex-wives named Tammy, which is also his mother's name. And despite his better judgement, Ron even ''remarries'' his 2nd ex-wife (Tammy II) again! He eventually marries a third woman (Diane) during the course of the series. Thankfully it works out this time.
159	* Al Calavicci of ''Series/QuantumLeap'' had five wives, three of which are confirmed to have left him in a divorce (or divorce-like circumstances), and one is implied to. Only the first one really "worked": She only left him because she [[YouHaveWaitedLongEnough waited long enough]] after he was declared dead. [[spoiler: The series finale gave Sam a chance to change all that by telling her Al was still alive and would come back to her. The epilogue explains that as a result they stayed together and had BabiesEverAfter instead]].
160	* ''Series/TheRedGreenShow'': In an episode where Winston was seeking to get married, he comments that his self-help guru Anthony Anthony was married eight times.
161	* On ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'', JD mentions that after his parents got divorced, his mother "started marrying everyone who rang the doorbell."
162	* Mickey from ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', and he seems to take pride in it. When meeting a woman who is distraught over the possibility of her ''second'' marriage ending, he laughs and calls her a "lightweight" before walking out with his newest wife-to-be.
163	* Guinan on ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' has been married ''23'' times. It's not clear if all these marriages ended in divorce, or if she outlived some or most of her husbands.
164	** This trope is standard practice for Trill symbiotes, as their marriages are considered to end automatically if they transfer to a new body. Dax on ''Deep Space Nine'' had been married so many times in various former host-bodies that when Worf insisted on a traditional Klingon wedding, she agreed to everything he wanted, simply because she was so completely bored with doing the Trill traditions every time (and because it meant so much to him).
165	* ''Series/StElsewhere'': Helen Rosenthal has been married four times, [[GentileJewChaser each time to a Jewish man]]. All four marriages end in divorce.
166	* [[{{Fiction 500}} Multi-millionaire]] CorruptCorporateExecutive Wilfred Tipton of the ''[[Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody Suite Life]]'' franchise has been married and divorced anywhere between eight and fifteen times (London can never seem to remember just how many).
167	* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S5E17Number12LooksJustLikeYou Number 12 Looks Just Like You]]", marriages are extremely short-lived in Marilyn Cuberle's society. Her mother Lana has had ten husbands, nine of them in the last five years, while Val's mother has had eleven.
168	* ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen'':
169	** Evelyn Harper has been married five times. Her first husband (Charlie and Alan's father) died, her second husband left her for a younger woman (then left said younger woman for an even ''younger'' woman), not much is said about her third and fourth husbands, but one was implied to have been a gay man using Evelyn as TheBeard. Her fifth husband died at their wedding reception and was actually a ConMan trying to take her money.
170	** Alan barely qualifies, having been married and divorced twice: first to Judith, then to Kandi.
171	** Russell the pharmacist brags to Charlie about how he pays alimony to three women, but not one penny in child support.
172	[[/folder]]
173
174	[[folder:Music]]
175	* The narrator of the Music/GeorgeStrait song "All My Ex's Live in Texas."
176	[[/folder]]
177
178	[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]
179	* In Literature/TheFourGospels, the unnamed Samaritan woman who chats with UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} at the well has been married five times, with each marriage ending in either divorce or death on the husband's part, making her a social pariah. (Which is why she went to the well by herself in the middle of the day, rather than at dawn or at dusk like most women would.) She was apparently living with a boyfriend (who likely already had a wife, making her TheMistress).
180	* Myth/ClassicalMythology: [[TopGod Zeus]] is famous for his many affairs, but according to some accounts Hera was actually his ''fifth'' wife, after previously marrying Metis (mother of Athena[[note]][[ImAHumanitarian whom Zeus ate while she was pregnant]], causing Athena to be born from his head[[/note]]), Themis (goddess of justice, mother of the Hours and Fates), Eurynome (mother of the Graces) and Mnemosyne (mother of the Muses).
181	[[/folder]]
182
183	[[folder:Radio]]
184	* ''Radio/CabinPressure'' -- Douglas is on his third marriage by the time the series starts, and that ends after she has an affair with her Tai Chi teacher. Herc Shipwright has four ex-wives by the time he shows up and starts going out with Carolyn.
185	-->'''Arthur:''' Wow, is that true? You two have got ''seven'' ex-wives?\
186	'''Herc:''' Between us, yes--I think. There isn't any overlap, is there, Douglas?\
187	'''Douglas:''' [[DeadpanSnarker I'd have to check my paperwork.]]
188	* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': In "Marriage Madness", Mrs. Davis falls prey to a gold-digging butcher, who had married the first time when he ran away with his French teacher in Junior High.
189	-->'''Miss Brooks''': [[DeadpanSnarker If he had said English teacher, I would have screamed!]]
190	[[/folder]]
191
192	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
193	* PROTIP: Never, ever marry a darklord in ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}''.
194	** Bluebeard is a darklord who keeps getting married and performing the same sadistic test on his brides as in the folktale. The spirits of his slain wives haunt him every night, terrifying him. His populace is under blanket CharmPerson powers, and incapable of realizing they're dooming each poor girl they find for him.
195	** Baron Urik von Kharkov is a vampire were-panther who'd love to be HappilyMarried but is cursed to become murderously jealous and paranoid about each new bride. His populace is ''not'' magically deluded about this and tries to find foreign girls to sacrifice to him instead of their own.
196	[[/folder]]
197
198	[[folder:Theater]]
199	* Joanne from ''[[Theatre/CompanySondheim Company]]'' has been married "three or four times".
200	* Tanya from ''Theatre/MammaMia''
201	* Millionairess Claire Zachanassian in Friedrich Dürrenmatt's play ''Theatre/TheVisit''. Over the course of the play, she divorces her seventh husband, marries and divorces the eighth, and prepares to marry the ninth.
202	* ''Theatre/MaryMary'' downplays this with Dirk Winsten, whom Bob tries to consult as an expert on divorce, since he's a Hollywood movie star who's been married multiple times. Dirk is almost embarrassed to admit that he's only had three marriages, two of them to the same woman. Furthermore, he's no longer paying alimony to either wife, since his second wife remarried a plastic surgeon and his first wife died.
203	[[/folder]]
204
205	[[folder:Video Games]]
206	* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftPizzaDelivery'': [[PlayerCharacter Bob]] learns from his boss' wife that she's not his first wife. She's actually his 47th. His 33rd wife is in jail for a crime [[spoiler:that he committed and pinned on her]].
207	* A mid-mission conversation in ''VideoGame/SplinterCellChaosTheory'' suggests this to be the case for [[MissionControl Lambert]]; Grimsdottir claims that Japanese admiral Toshiro Otomo is nicer in person than he seems, Sam claims that people have said the same about Lambert, and when asked what that's supposed to mean, asks Grim how many of Lambert's ex-wives she's spoken to.
208	[[/folder]]
209
210	[[folder:Webcomics]]
211	* Tarquin in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' has been married nine times. He's implied to have [[TheBluebeard killed most of his wives]], though Elan and Nale's mother is still alive[[note]]flashback shows they divorced due to irreconcilable alignment differences[[/note]] and he turns out to be [[NotMeThisTime telling the truth]] about the last one dying in "mysterious circumstances." [[spoiler:She was inadvertently snuffed out by Vaarsuvius.]]
212	[[/folder]]
213
214	[[folder:Web Original]]
215	* WebVideo/ChadVader: Champion J. Pepper says that Clint is his third wife's son, indicating that he's been married at least three times.
216	[[/folder]]
217
218	[[folder:Western Animation]]
219	* Hayley Smith from ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' has been married three times. The first was to Dill Sheppard in "Haylias", which only happened because of Stan activating a control chip in her head (plus, Dill was gay and only wanted to use her as TheBeard). Once Hayley regained her free will, she had the marriage annulled. Her second marriage was to her long-time on-again/off-again boyfriend Jeff Fischer in "100 A.D.". In "One Fish, Two Fish", Hayley would divorce Jeff and marry Klaus in order to [[CitizenshipMarriage help him get his citizenship]]. She presumably remarries Jeff after this episode, so she's technically been married four times.
220	* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'': Terry's friend Jared mentions that his mother "goes through husbands like popcorn".
221	* Even earlier than that in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Chemistry" Veronica Vreeland mentions that her new husband Michael was her fourth. Since [[spoiler:Michael was a plant creature created by Poison Ivy]], that marriage also ended. She has a daughter named Bunny in the prologue of ''Batman Beyond'' pilot "Rebirth", indicating that she got married again in the future. (Then again, Bunny has her mother's maiden name as her surname, so unless Veronica's husband [[TheMaidenNameDebate took her last name]], it's likely that she was a single mother).
222	* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'': Mr. Peanutbutter starts the series with two ex-wives, Katrina and Creator/JessicaBiel. During the course of the series, he marries and divorces Diane and gets engaged to Pickles (though the last engagement falls through).
223	* On ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}},'' Jane's oldest brother Wind is on his third or fourth wife by the time he first shows up. In this case, it seems to be because he's a neurotic mess who jumps into relationships with less-than-stellar women (he insists Wife #3 "isn't like the other ones").
224	-->'''Relative:''' And [how's] your brother Wind?\
225	'''Jane:''' He's thinking about getting remarried if he can just figure out whether his divorces were legal.
226	* ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince:'' Lujanne, the [[MasterOfIllusion guardian]] of the Moon nexus, mentions that Rayla, when saying silly things like "strong relationships need a foundation of truth and honesty, not blind acceptance of important truths being kept hidden," sounds like her first three husbands.
227	* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': Catman implies in the episode "Cat-Astrophe" that he had been married nine times.
228	* In ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Lois' sister, Carol, has been divorced nine times. She's currently married to Mayor Adam West.
229	* On ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'', Arnold has been left some money by a lounge singer that he had helped to rediscover his talents in an earlier episode. At the will-reading, are several different blond women that he had been married to at one point or another.
230	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
231	** Marge's sister Selma, who over the years has been married to Sideshow Bob, Lionel Hutz, Troy [=McClure=], Disco Stu, Grandpa Simpson, and Fat Tony[[note]][[spoiler:Well, she thought she married him, but it was actually a ceremony to become his mistress]][[/note]]. She's [[AllegedlyDateless usually unable to find a man]], so when she ''does'' find one, she leaps right in.
232	--->'''Selma, when asked to have a CitizenshipMarriage with Apu:''' My name's already Selma Bouvier-Terwilliger-Hutz-[=McClure=]. God knows it's long enough without Nahassapeema-whatever! From now on, I'm only getting married for love ''(starts to hang up, hesitates)'' and maybe once more for money.
233	** In fact, the only [[NoodleIncident marriage]] she had that ''didn't'' [[DownplayedTrope (technically)]] end in divorce was to Disco Stu, who got an annulment from the Catholic church.
234	** Lurleen Lumpkin (a country singer that tried to seduce Homer) has been married 5 or 6 times, all to [[ReplacementGoldfish men that look and act]] [[HasAType just like Homer]].
235	** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E14LisaVsMalibuStacy Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy]]", the creator of Malibu Stacy (an {{Expy}} of Barbie) has been married to 5 different men, mainly parodies of Ken and Toys/GIJoe. She's single now and lives her life in a pink mansion (made to look like Bar-uh...Malibu Stacy's Dream House) as a LadyDrunk. Lisa talks her into creating a new doll, after finding that a talking Malibu Stacy doll was spewing sexist drivel.
236	[[/folder]]
237
238	[[folder:Real Life]]
239	* Emperor UsefulNotes/{{Claudius}} of Rome had two failed betrothals and four marriages, the final one ending in his death. His first betrothal was to a distant cousin, which was broken because her family came into conflict with UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}}, his great-uncle. The second one ended with his fiance [[WidowedAtTheWedding dying on their wedding day]]. Later on, he divorced his first wife Plautia due to suspecting her of adultery and of murdering her sister-in-law. He divorced his second wife Aelia for political reasons and trivial offenses (allegedly). His third wife, Valeria, was a [[GoldDigger gold-digging]] nymphomaniac who cheated on him regularly, [[ReallyGetsAround even going so far as to compete with prostitutes to see who could obtain more partners]], and married her lover Gaius Silius before being executed along with him. After this, Claudius told the Praetorian Guard that if he ever married again they had his permission to kill him. Regardless, he married his fourth and final wife (and niece) Agrippina months later, who manipulated him into adopting her son UsefulNotes/{{Nero}} before [[BlackWidow poisoning him so Nero could take the throne.]]
240	* Creator/ElizabethTaylor was married eight times including twice to Creator/RichardBurton. Her third marriage ended when her husband died in a plane crash but all the other ones ended in divorce. There was even a well-known joke regarding [[https://newyorkcityinthewitofaneye.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/call-me-liz.jpg how her name would be if she adopted all their surnames]].
241	* Burton himself was married five times, including his two marriages to Taylor. Only his last one didn't end in divorce.
242	* Creator/PamelaAnderson has been married four times (twice to the same person). None of these have lasted more than 3 years, to the delight of late-night comedians.
243	* Creator/LarryKing was married eight times, to seven different women. All of his marriages ended in divorce, except for the last one, where they were in the process of divorcing but King died before it could be finalized.
244	* Creator/ZsaZsaGabor had nine husbands during her lifetime. The first eight marriages ended in divorce, except one that was annulled. Her ninth husband outlived her.
245	** Her older sister Magda was married six times (including once to one of Zsa Zsa's ex-husbands), and her younger sister [[Creator/EvaGabor Eva]] was married five times. Their mother was married thrice. Guess it's InTheBlood? Interestingly, despite the sisters' collective 20 marriages, only one child was born to any of them: Zsa Zsa's daughter Francesca Hilton. As a girl, Francesca was briefly the sister-in-law of Elizabeth Taylor when she married her much-older half-brother.
246	* Creator/MickeyRooney was married eight times and divorced seven times. He was married to his eighth wife for over 35 years from 1978 until his death in 2014, which was more than the length of all of his previous marriages combined; however, they were separated for the last few years.
247	* UsefulNotes/HenryVIII of England is probably the... er, king of this trope. He created an entire church (with him as the boss) in order to get his marriage annulled. He married six times in total; two of his marriages were annulled, three ended in the wife's death (twice with [[OffWithHisHead a bit of help from Henry]]), and the last ended with Henry's death. Unlike most of the serially married, it was his ''first'' marriage (to UsefulNotes/CatherineOfAragon) which lasted longer than all of the others combined, contributing to the popular conception of his subsequent marriages as the symptom of an ugly and protracted mid-life crisis.
248	* Henry's reigning contemporary was Russian czar UsefulNotes/IvanTheTerrible. The details are rather sketchy with him, but he did have either six or seven wives (even though the church only sanctioned the fist four marriages[[note]]Generally, the Orthodox Church doesn't sanction more than three marriages, but an exception was made since Ivan's third wife Marfa Sobakina was so DelicateAndSickly that she died 15 days after the wedding and Ivan stated that the marriage was never consummated.[[/note]], so the last partners might be more as concubines rather than wives). Some accounts say that the last three wives were killed by the czar; more likely all Ivan's wives except for two or three who died while married to the czar (possibly poisoned) were just forcibly sent into convents as nuns though.
249	* Baptist minister Glynn Wolfe, married ''29 times'', although not all his marriages ended in divorce. His last marriage, solely a publicity stunt, was to Linda Lou Essex, who was married 22 times before.
250	* Creator/NormanMailer was married six times (though his marriage to Carol Stevens, which lasted for one day, was only to legitimise the child they had together).
251	* Musician Music/BenFolds has been married and divorced 4 times, and currently has a girlfriend.
252	* German chancellor Gerhard Schröder was elected in 1998 just one year after entering his fourth marriage with a much younger woman, earning nicknames as the "Lord of the Rings" and "Audi-Kanzler" (German car manufacturer Audi has four rings as their logo). Years after leaving office, Schröder divorced his fourth wife and married for a fifth time.
253	** His vice chancellor and secretary of state Joschka Fischer, who had been married three times by then, drew even the next year, marrying an even younger woman. It didn't quite work and he finally surpassed Schröder in 2005 by saying the vows for the fifth time (needless to say, she's only slightly older than her predecessor).
254	* Creator/RichardPryor was married seven times to five different women. His last and longest marriage, which ended with his death, lasted for four years. All the other ones ended with divorce.
255	* Creator/JamesCameron has been married to five different women, though it seems the fifth time was the charm, as he and Suzy Amis have been together since 2000 (a longer time than his first four marriages combined).
256	* Creator/BillyBobThornton has been married six times and divorced five times; none of his first five marriages lasted longer than a few years. After five divorces, he lived with Connie Angland for 11 years before marrying her in 2014.
257	* Creator/JimDavidson has been married five times. His turbulent marital life has formed much of his stand-up. He estimated that his four divorces cost him around £60 million. He has been with his current wife since 2009 and has joked that the reason he's still married to her is that he can't afford another divorce.
258	* The unnamed {{Bridezilla}} described in [[https://old.reddit.com/r/relationships/comments/2t51lo/update_my_57f_daughter_30f_is_getting_married_for/ this]] Website/{{Reddit}} post. It seems she cared more about being a bride than about being a wife.
259	* Wrestling/RicFlair has been married four times, with all four ending in divorce. Although he had a fifth wedding ceremony in 2018, the couple broke up in 2021, and [[https://people.com/sports/wwe-superstar-ric-flair-wendy-barlow-split/ both confirmed that they had never applied for a marriage certificate]]. Flair's long-time rival Wrestling/RickySteamboat also had his first four marriages end in divorce, but unlike Flair did go through the proper legal process with his fifth (and current) marriage.
260	* Both [[Creator/LaurelAndHardy Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy's]] personal lives included multiple troubled marriages and turbulent divorces; Laurel had five wives (counting one common-law marriage) over the course of his life (one of whom he remarried, only for them to end up divorcing a second time), while Hardy had three. Both men seemed to find lasting happiness with their final spouses (Ida Kitaeva Raphael and Virginia Lucille Jones, respectively), who remained with them until their deaths.
261	* Creator/HarlanEllison was married five times. His third marriage lasted only seven weeks, while his fourth lasted just eight months. His final one lasted for 32 years until her death in 2020.
262	* Creator/LanaWood (the sister of Creator/NatalieWood) was married six times.
263	* Creator/TonyCurtis was married six times; all of his marriages ended in divorce, except the last which ended with his death.
264	* Music/JerryLeeLewis was married seven times, most infamously the third to an underage cousin when the previous one's divorce wasn't even settled.
265	* Music/RogerWaters has been married five times, the latest one at the age of 78.
266	* Two Brazilian singers are infamous for this, Fábio Júnior, who was married seven times, and Gretchen, who the media liked to say that had marriages in the double digits but in her own biography clarified that out of her many relationships she only wedded five men.
267	* UsefulNotes/BuzzAldrin had his fourth marriage at ''93''.
268	[[/folder]]

Context Main / SerialSpouse