[[YesPrecure5 http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lonely.jpg]]
[[caption-width:200:Aww.]]

->''"Just because she's rich, doesn't mean she doesn't have problems."''
-->--''Tony Stark reguarding Whitney Stane, IronManArmoredAdventures''


->''"It's my parents."''
->''"What about your parents? Do they beat you?"''
->''"No! They're just... never around."''
->-- ''{{Were Back A Dinosaurs Story}}''

A type of [[SourGrapesTropes Sour Grapes Trope]] in which wealthy kids are not allowed to have happy lives without the assistance of the plot, instead being made miserable for no particular reason other than having been born to rich parents. The reason being, of course, to show that it sucks to be rich anyway, by demonstrating how rich kids suffer [[BrokenAesop for various reasons that have nothing in particular to do with being rich]]. That being said, the easiest way for a writer to justify this one is simple: no one gets rich without a good measure of hard work, and this means a rich parent cuts back on time with the family. Plus, [[UsefulNotesOnEurope rich]]/[[UsefulNotesOnAmerica white]] people are inhumanely cold anyway.

If you're under the age of about 20 or so and your parents [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney have a lot of money]], it's very likely that you have both of the following problems:

*A noticeable shortage of close friends. Reasons for this vary wildly: they either mistake you for a RichBitch or JerkJock, are scared of you, or will try to take advantage of your wealth. Then again, your parents [[GildedCage may not let you leave home.]]
*Some form of ParentalAbandonment. Mom and Dad will be either a) dead, b) never around, c) [[WellDoneSonGuy inattentive and uncaring]], or d) some combination of these. You will have no siblings to be [[PromotionToParent Promoted To Parent]], either. Your BigFancyHouse's population: you. (Well, you do probably have one or more servants.)

This one-two punch serves to ensure that you are isolated. Depending on how much of the first point is your own fault, this may make you [[LonersAreEvil evil]]. Most likely, though, you just end up being lonely.

If you have entered this state during the course of the series, you are probably the victim of AnAesop. The writers probably had "appreciate what you have" or "BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor" in mind, but the end result is probably a WarpedAesop along the lines of "money makes people jerks" or something. Don't worry, [[ResetButton it'll all be over by the end of the episode]].

If you've been this character from the moment you were introduced, however, you're probably stuck. But fear not! If this is you, then you exist for one purpose and one purpose only, and that is to eventually become close friends with TheHero. At a minimum, the audience will be assured that you're buddies now and that this makes it all better. You're likely to be brought into the {{Nakama}}, you stand a reasonably good chance of [[DefrostingIceQueen becoming someone's love interest]], and if the FiveManBand has an opening for a [[TheLancer Lancer]] or [[TheSmartGuy Smart Guy]], consider yourself [[PromotionToOpeningTitles promoted]]. '''WARNING:''' This may require you to become a FallenPrincess.

In the event that you ''are'' TheHero, that's even better--not only will you get the girl ''and'' your very own {{Nakama}}, but your parental problems will probably be solved as well.

If you'd prefer a more proactive method of escaping this situation, you could always try becoming TheLibby, although this has been known to fail.
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!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* Karen of ''[[YesPrecure5 Yes! Pretty Cure 5]]'', pictured above. Her parents are always traveling abroad, and she doesn't even get to see them in the ChristmasEpisode, despite that being the only time they come home. She does have one friend, Komachi, but manages to isolate herself anyway by being resolutely determined not to open up to her or anyone else.
** Karen's ''FutariWaPrettyCure'' [[{{Expy}} predecessor]], Honoka, has a nearly identical backstory, but it takes long enough for the series to get into her head that it's hard to say whether she actually fits the trope.
* Minto Aizawa from ''TokyoMewMew'', who initially JumpedAtTheCall but refused the built-in {{Nakama}} out of snobbery. She gets better, though, especially when Zakuro shows up and her {{fangirl}} side kicks in.
* Christopher "Chris" Thorndyke in ''[[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic X]]'', even though his grandfather is around most of the time and he has several friends at school.
* Aversion: Mihama Chiyo out of ''AzumangaDaioh'' is shown as by far the richest of the girls, and has other reasons that she'd be isolated ... and is of course one of the happiest and most well-liked of her class. Not insanely happy, but generally [[CheerfulChild cheerful]]. Granted, the audience never sees her parents, but they're never implied to be ''gone'', just offscreen.
** Her dad seems to enjoy his life as an extradimensional talking cat secret agent.
* Extra points for ''GreatTeacherOnizuka''. Nanako's parents started out poor and nice and became less pleasant as they got rich. The protagonist solves the family problem without bankrupting them, however.
* Murasaki Kujoin from ''{{Kure-nai}}'' is born into a very rich family, but at the cost of being locked away from the outside world for the rest of her life.
* Kaito Doumoto of ''MermaidMelodyPichiPichiPitch'' is popular at school and has an InstantFanclub, and hides his lonely brooding behind the mask of a carefree joker instead of a standoffish loner like most of these examples. His parents died in a storm at sea, leaving him with a vast amount of money, and he doesn't like to talk about it. It's only Lucia's perseverance and [[LovesMyAlterEgo his growing suspicion that she might be the mermaid he's looking for]] that allows him to eventually open up to her.
** You think he's bad? Check out Michal Amagi, an IllGirl whose [[BigBrotherComplex older brother Rihito]] is pretty much the only person she talks to. Although he pours his riches into making her happy, she's so desperate that she thinks that he's wasting his energy on her. When Kaito shows her genuine kindness, she goes all-out ClingyJealousGirl, throwing herself at him, practically chaining him to her mansion, and [[AmnesiaDanger ready and willing to do anything to keep him from remembering Lucia.]] Her FreakOut when he decides to move back home is ''both'' profoundly creepy and heartbreaking.
* Mawata Awayuki from the anime ''{{Pretear}}'' is a subversion of sorts, in that at first she seems to be lonely for no particular reason: her family is with her, but she distances herself from them; she is popular at school, but doesn't seem to have close friends. It's only later in the series that the ''real'' reasons for her loneliness are revealed -- not only she was quite affected by her father's demise when she was a little girl, she just doesn't think people can understand her true feelings, and so is unwilling to open up to anyone. [[spoiler: Of course, her issues remain unnoticed long enough to turn into a real problem, when the BigBad seizes her and turns her into a DarkMagicalGirl]].
* Tianzi from CodeGeass. Being the figurehead Empress of China meant that she was like a bird in a gilded cage, except the cage was the Imperial Palace and she couldn't properly rule over her country, which was oppressed by her {{Evil Chancellor}}s (who also wanted to either [[ArrangedMarriage marry her off to a much older man]] or get her killed and replaced. Still, she had a devoted protector in TheAce of the series [[IOweYouMyLife whom she once saved from execution]], so...
* Both Ami Mizuno and Rei Hino in the ''SailorMoon'' manga, until they join the Senshi.
* The entire main cast of the anime ''Special A'' qualifies thanks to various relationship traumas during their childhood.
* ''Mobile Suit GundamSEED'''s AcePilot and BigBrotherMentor Mu La Flaga was one of these as a child, courtesy of being rejected and disowned by his father, [[spoiler: who had himself cloned in order to produce a more worthy heir]]. Also, Flay Alster starts as one of these.
* Ai Shinozaki, the TallDarkAndBishoujo Ojou from ''HellTeacherNube''. Lampshaded when she reveals her loneliness [[spoiler: that led her to be possessed by a demon]] to Makoto and Nuubee and one of the reasons is how she can't make true friends.
* Hazuki Fujiwara from ''OjamajoDoremi''. Her father is a famous movie director and her mother is a popular fashion designer, but as much as they ''do'' genuinely care for her, they're so absorbed in their work that Hazuki's more usual companions are her landlady and the other Ojamajo.
** The local Libby, Reika Tamaki, also hits this trope to some degree. Her dad spoils her because he doesn't want to make her cry, but that shapes her into a spoiled Libby who has quite the breakdown when she starts doubting if her dad ''really'' loves her.
** But averted with Onpu Segawa, who, when confronted with an empty house and a cold plate of plastic-wrapped food(on Christmas!) just went out to have fun with the other girls.
* Eri from ''SchoolRumble'' is an archetypical example (as well as an archetypical {{Tsundere}}, and TheOjou.)
* Nagi Sanzennin from ''HayateTheCombatButler'' pretty much gets hit full force by all aspects of this trope. Her parents are mentioned sometimes, but are practically nonexistent (both of them died when she was little). She's hesitant to even go outside her own house because every time she does, somebody tries to kidnap her for her wealth. Pretty much her only friends are fellow {{Lonely Rich Kid}}s, the servants she keeps around (including Hayate), and her pet tiger Tama.
* Amy from ''[[IGPXImmortalGrandPrix IGPX]]'', although later her parents manage to make time for her.
* The [=F4=] boys from HanaYoriDango display this trope in ''very'' different ways.
**Domyoji Tsukasa's parents live in New York where their Corporate Empire is headquartered and at the beginning of the plot he states that he hasn't seen them in years. His [[CoolBigSis older sister]] Tsubaki, [[PromotionToParent who had been largely responsible for his upbringing]], leaves Japan to get married sometime before we meet him, leaving him alone in his BigFancyHouse, besides the legions of servants whom he regularly abuses. His ParentalAbandonment is cited by other characters as his FreudianExcuse for bullying/[[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney complete lack of respect for anyone]]/borderline psychopathic fits of rage.
**Hanazawa Rui is referred to as having an ''extremely'' strict childhood that left him prone to fits of [[HeroicBSOD near-catatonia]] as a child. This was eventually "cured" by ThePowerOfFriendship in the form of his old friend and later girlfriend, CoolBigSis Shizuka Todou, but it left him emotionally dependent on her.
**Nishikado Sohjirou seems at first to be immune from this, but as more of his home life is revealed, he is shown to have parents who are highly emotionally distant and a brother who abandoned the family business, leaving him to be TheDutifulSon. This is [[FreudianExcuse assumed to be the cause of his inability to develop lasting relationships]].
**Mimasaka Akira seems to be the only member immune from this despite that, at least in the j-Drama, his father is a {{Yakuza}} boss. In all incarnations, having a mother who acts almost like an AdultChild seems to be the cause of his CakeEater tendences.
* Kanzaki Sumire in ''SakuraTaisen''. Her father and grandfather were so absorbed into work that she was left emotionally scarred and doubtful about their love for her. [[spoiler: Reversed later, when her dad appears and is revealed to be a rather decent guy otherwise, and even apologizes to Sumire for not being able to spend more time with her. She forgives him.]].
** However, there's a rich kid who's even ''more'' lonely in the group: Vicomtesse Iris Chateaubriand. Her parents were so scared of her enormous PsychicPowers that they locked her in her fancy bedroom and her only constant company were her dolls and teddies. The anime episode where her backstory is revealed is one of the biggest {{Tear Jerker}}s in the SakuraTaisen series.
* In CaptainTsubasa, El Si Pierre is the son of a French nobleman and tycoon who is ''not'' willing to have others treating him like a [[TheWhitePrince a frail White Prince]]. So, to prove to others that he's just like them and doesn't want any privileges, he starts practising soccer.
** Similarly, Mark Owairan is a ''real'' Arabian prince who spent several years in the palace and discovered soccer only when he went out of his gilded cage with his bodyguards and saw a bunch of children playing in the streets. He's so fascinated that he begins training and playing, rising to the top thanks to his own merits and not to his family's influences.
* Tatsuki Iizuka from ''{{Hyakko}}''.
* This is RichBitch Mayu Miyuki's FreudianExcuse in AiYoriAoshi.
* Kunugi-tan from ''{{Binchou-tan}}''.
* Isabella from ParadiseKiss was raised by her butler, and also had the issues you'd expect from a little {{Ojou}} [[{{Transsexual}} trapped in a little rich boy's body]].
* Relena Darlian from ''GundamWing'' is quite popular at her high school but doesn't seem to have any real friends at first, just admirers and would-be suitors. She seems to be aware of their condition, too, and while she's polite to the other kids she doesn't approach them either. Even her beloved father is (unwillingly) distant due to his ''extremely'' demanding job. At first, her only friend seems to be her grandfatherly butler/chauffeur Pagan... until she meets TheStoic HitmanWithAHeart protagonist and her life starts changing.
* The truth is that most to all of the cousins from UminekoNoNakuKoroNi probably could qualify for this - they all (except for George) seem to have rather strained relationships with their parents. However, as far as outright ParentalAbandonment is concerned, Ange probably gets the truckload - by the time we meet her, her entire family [[spoiler:save one]] is dead.
* Serge Battour in KazeToKiNoUta, who is also a HeartwarmingOrphan. His [[BoysLove love intrest]] [[YaoiGuys Gilbert]] is also one of these, but thats [[BreakTheCutie the least of his problems]].
* In TonaGura, Nina Isokawa is a sweet but annoying example, and as a result is very devoted to her friends, the Arisakas and Kaguras. Her extreme early-bloomer bustiness freaks Yuuji out, but at no time does he try and exploit her obvious crush on him. Her GenkiGirl nature always freaks Marie out.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* Several comic book characters, including but not limited to [[Comicbook/{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]] and [[Comicbook/{{X-Men}} Charles Xavier]].
** And in ''{{Smallville}}'', Lex Luthor.
** But not [[Comicbook/IronMan Tony Stark]], who grew up surrounded by social types and was quite the unrepentant ladies' man once grown to adulthood.
* DC Comics example -- Tim Drake, the third Robin, had exactly this kind of 'rich kid abandoned' childhood, at least up until the part where his father died and Bruce Wayne finally adopted him. But even before that, it took 125 issues of his solo title before his father finally noticed that his son was leading a double life, and even then he practically had to be handed the revelation on a silver platter by the plot.
** And that was after their relationship ''improved''. Initially Tim's parents paid him so little attention that he focused on ''Batman'' (who he had seen exactly once, to boot) as a parental substitute.
* Cecilia from ''YokoTsuno''.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* Ridley in ''DiaryOfTheDead'' - when the rest of the group gets to him, he's alone, and he talks about how Cook got his parents, then they got the Butler and the Maid and so on. Part of it was trauma, but the rest was the naturally snobby way one talks about one's staff when one is rich. He doesn't bother to learn their names -- he just refers to them by their job title.
* The movie version of ''RichieRich''.
* In the movie ''Arthur'', Arthur Bach is a LonelyRichKid despite not ''physically'' being a kid.
*Lucas in the film of the same name paints himself as this, explaining that his parents are "superficial" people who take no interest in him, don't meet with other parents, and don't want him inviting friends over or giving out his phone number. At the end, one of his friends reveals that he lives in a trailer with an alcoholic father.
* In ''The Last Emperor'', Pu Yi who has the eponymous title cannot leave the Forbidden City despite being curious about the outside world; his tutor R.J. said, "I think the Emperor is the loneliest boy on earth."

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* TeenGenius VillainProtagonist ArtemisFowl fits this quite well, though his lack of friends seems to be by choice, and his ParentalAbandonment is actually remedied as the series goes on.
** Played straight in the beginning of the ''Artemis Fowl'' series, but increasingly averted as the series progresses. Oh yes, and the reason he was hunting fairies in the first place was to rebuild the lost family fortune.
*** The rebuilding for the expressed purpose of locating his missing father. [[spoiler:Which he finally succeeds at in the Arctic Incident.]]
* Holden Caulfield in ''The Catcher in the Rye''.
* Prince Brat in the novel ''The Whipping Boy''.
* ChanceTheGardener in ''BeingThere'' is a variation. He was raised by a wealthy man but was forcibly confined to the townhouse ''all his life'' due to his mental retardation. So as the story opens, Chance is middle-aged but otherwise he fits the trope: he's attended to by a maid; he spends his days eating, sleeping, tending to a garden, and watching television; and he has no friends. Perhaps luckily, the poor guy doesn't ''know'' he's not living a normal life. When he's forced to leave the house after the master's death, he winds up befriending and enriching the lives of Eve and Ben Rand, a married couple who also serve as adult versions of this trope.
* In 'Hating Alison Ashley' Erica, already dissatisfied with her middle-class family, is very jealous of the rich new girl, Alison Ashley. It takes her the whole book to realise that maybe having parents that bother to turn up to the school play you are staring in is more important than a fancy house and your own room.
* Terisa Morgan in ''Mordant's Need''.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* Logan Echolls from ''VeronicaMars''.
* Dr. Robert Chase from ''{{House}}''.
* Brett Aspinall from ''WaterlooRoad'', at least when he was first introduced.
* Greg from ''DharmaAndGreg'' had this kind of childhood.
* As mentioned, most of the F4 from ''HanaYoriDango'', despite the fact that [[{{Nakama}} their mutual friendship]] would seem to make them immune from the loneliness aspect.
* Olive Snook from ''PushingDaisies'' had this type of childhood.
* This was how Summer Landsdown from ''PowerRangersRPM'' was until her butler died in her arms trying to get into the city of Corinth.
** IIRC, Wes from ''PowerRangersTimeForce'' also was one of these until he joined the Power Rangers.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Truth In Television ]]

*[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Hutton Barbara "Poor Little Rich Girl" Hutton]].
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Onassis Christina Onassis]], daughter and heiress of the Onassis fortune. Brother died early, mother killed herself, dad married Jackie Kennedy (whom she hated) and later died. In the end, she became a succesful businesswoman but her lonely childhood made her horribly love starved, and died at age 37 because of drug abuse.
** So was her daughter, the show jumper [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athina_Roussel Athina Russel]]. At least Athina was luckier and is now HappilyMarried.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* Ijuuin Enzan (Eugene Chaud) of ''MegaManBattleNetwork'' gets this treatment in the third game, where his heartfelt, touching moment at the end was... being allowed to eat with his father. Actually, he rarely mentions any angst over it and, normally, is seemingly himself too busy to care that his father is wrapped up being the CEO of the biggest technology corporation ever, and the game makes it perfectly clear that his lack of friends is due more to his being a combination of TheRival, AloofBigBrother and SeriousBusiness. Ayanokouji Yaito aka Yai, likewise, seems to have an army of young maids (and her Navi) as her only company and we never see her parents once in three fairly long-running forms of media. She seems well adjusted enough, if a bit [[TheOjou bratty and spoiled]], and indeed is part of the original {{Nakama}}. So there's two aversions, "I can eat with you?" notwithstanding.
* For all her academic and Shadow-fighting prowess, Mitsuru Kirijo of ''{{Persona 3}}'' seems to be somewhat cursed socially. She and her father rarely talk, she rarely has any free time whatsoever, she takes the burden of guilt for [[spoiler: her grandfather's creation of the Shadow threat]], and her sheltered upbringing means she's [[FishOutOfWater often lost in everyday situations others take for granted]]. It's no wonder she [[HeroicBSOD collapses]] after [[spoiler: her father is murdered by Ikutsuki]].
* Nanjou Kei in ''{{Persona}}'' -- the only person in his household who ever paid attention to him was his butler, Yamaoka [[spoiler:who dies while protecting him very early on in the game]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

* Parodied in [[http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=060929 this]] ''SluggyFreelance'' strip.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

* Jonas from ''{{lonelygirl15}}''. He lives in a big house, which he has all to himself, because his parents vanished at sea. He has no close friends prior to meeting the protagonists, and you get the impression that he's very lonely. He soon joins their circle of friends and becomes both a central character and a love interest for another central character.
* Seiki from ''SailorNothing'' lost his parents at an early age, and is now pathologically afraid of being alone. He isn't a loner, but otherwise fits the trope to a tee.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* Remy Buxaplenty from ''TheFairlyOddparents'' counts. In fact, [[AbusiveParents his workaholic and billionaire parents's EXTREME neglection of him]] is Remy's FreudianExcuse as well as the reason why he's got a fairy godfather in the first place.
* In ''TheSimpsons'', Mr. Burns is shown in flashbacks to have been offered the choice between warm, loving parents or a heartless billionaire. He chose the billionaire, making him a LonelyRichKid by ''choice''.
** Admittedly, he didn't take long to make his mind up (the entire sequence is a ShoutOut to a very famous [[CitizenKane classic film]]).
*** In the episode "Burns' Heir," Bart went through the temporary version.
* Whitney Stane from ''IronManArmoredAdventures'' fits both main types perfectly. She has a terrible relationship with her busy CEO father (commenting she has to now make appointments just to see him) and being an outcast at the school she goes to. Her only real friend is Tony Stark, who would often brush her off until he found out just how bad her home life was.
* Mai from ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'', whose [[EmoTeen dark view of the world]] and [[EmotionlessGirl emotional repression]] are results of a combination of this, her mother's obsession with etiquette and respectability, and becoming an [[TheUnfavorite Unfavorite]] after her brother Tom Tom is born. One of her few close friends is the horrifically evil Azula. [[spoiler: At least, until she turns her back on her. ]]
** Fortunately, one benefit of a [[spoiler:HeelFaceTurn]] is acquiring lots of ''new'' friends.
** [[AllThereInTheManual Supplementary information]] indicates that not only [[CuteBruiser Toph Bei Fong]] was kept hidden from the world and confined to her parent's estate, but her parents left the bulk of her actual care/interaction to servants. No wonder she sneaked out enough to become defending champion at the local pitfights.
* Alexis on ''Series/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' is an unapologetically spoiled RichBitch celebrity who seems to hate other kids as much as they hate her. Still, she confesses to Superman that she just wants to have friends and [[IJustWantToBeNormal be normal]], not the richest girl in the galaxy. It turns out she ''really'' never learned to take 'no' for an answer, though: When Superman makes it clear he can't just drop everything and spend time with her whenever she wants, she figures the solution is donning a suit of PoweredArmor to kill all of Superman's friends in the Legion to eliminate the competition. And then, in the end, she realizes that she ''doesn't'' want to be normal after all, and that being a supervillain is her true calling. Er, yay for a happy ending?
* In one episode of ''Jimmy Neutron'', Jimmy changed the past so that his parents became rich, but it turned out they never paid any attention to him once they had money, so he went back to the past and undid the change.

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