http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anythingspossible.jpg
[[caption-width:470:Believe in miracles... [[MealTicket and the attraction of money]].]]

->'''Shawn''': So George, I heard you were married, but wow, huh?\\
'''George''': I know, I know what you're thinking, "what's wrong with this picture?" -- but where does it say that the ugly guy never gets the beautiful woman?\\
'''Shawn''': ... Everywhere, man.
->-- ''{{Psych}}''

A very common DomCom or cartoon trope, in which an ugly-to-average-looking husband (usually a comedian in real life, using the show as his star vehicle) has a much more attractive wife or significant other. {{CBS}} is particularly famous for this, though it's common throughout most of American television. Moreover, recurring girlfriend characters in nearly any TV show or movie will nearly always be far more attractive than plain-looking leading men, especially if the leading men are "Funny fat guys".

This trope is most likely an obvious result of Hollywood-style casting for women's roles, in which "unattractive" women are almost unknown in most of television, and thus, even [[HollywoodHomely women who aren't supposed to be gorgeous]] are portrayed by model-esque women. The men, of course, are not as affected by this, especially since most of them are head writers/producers of their own shows. In other words, you are looking at one of the most blatant examples of DoubleStandard.

This is often only occasionally mentioned, in most shows where it occurs (notably ''EverybodyLovesRaymond'', where anyone and everyone reminds Ray of how much he lucked out on that one), so most of the characters in the show don't seem to think anything unusual of the situation. (WhatDoesSheSeeInHim can occur, though.)

Another common element of this trope is that the wife is not only gorgeous, but she also usually has some sort of glamorous life (or at least the potential for one) that she left behind to marry the schlub--whether she was rich, or had a promising future as a writer, or used to be a showgirl, she gave it all up for him. Most of the time, as well as being more attractive the wife will also be presented as being rather more intelligent and [[CloserToEarth unquestionably morally superior]] to her husband (at least, [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop according to the writers, anyway]]). However, it's not all a good thing, as the wife has a tendency to [[{{Flanderization}} turn into a shrill, ball-busting harpy who's obsessed with banning sex as the series progresses]]. In many shows, there will usually be at least one episode where another female finds the guy attractive, and the hot wife becomes extremely jealous and violent in defending her man from the rival. Arguably and controversially might be considered TruthInTelevision when it concerns successful rich ugly men, or the perception that women are more likely to look beyond looks. Another thing to consider is that women live slightly longer then men and often age less visibly. It is also common for women to marry slightly older men which becomes more apparent as they age.

This trope originated as a TV concept, but has grown to include all types of fiction, since it pops up pretty much everywhere. Sometimes the "Wife" is just a "Girlfriend". Or she can be a HotConsort. '''And note that''' it's "UGLY" Guy, not "AVERAGE" Guy. JD from {{Scrubs}} isn't bodaciously handsome, but is hardly ugly, despite being less attractive than his usual girlfriends. It's generally a given that every male lead in Hollywood is going to be uglier than the woman he hooks up with on the merits of simple casting (unless the male is played by EstrogenBrigadeBait- and even ''then'').

A popular subversion is when the hot wife is only beautiful on the outside, and on the inside she's manipulative, materialistic, spiteful, or just an overall [[ManipulativeBitch bitch]] who doesn't deserve her HenpeckedHusband's kindness since he's nothing more than a MealTicket to her.

Perhaps the only genuinely positive thing to say about this trope is the TruthInTelevision that a sense of humor and fun personality can go much further than good looks alone. Still, it becomes a BrokenAesop in TV Land where such a moral almost never applies to women and we are still reminded over and over again of how gorgeous the wife is.

See also BeastAndBeauty, GiveGeeksAChance, NoAccountingForTaste, HotConsort and don't forget MostWritersAreMale. May overlap with MayDecemberRomance, if the man is old on top of being ugly (or is ugly simply as a result of being old). This trope tends to [[IncrediblyLamePun give birth]] to the [[UglyGuysHotDaughter Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter]].

Contrast ModelCouple.
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!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Advertising]]
* {{Lampshade}}d and celebrated in an ad campaign for fast-food chain Del Taco: "Here's to every 4 who married a 10."
*In a line of beer commercials featuring football referees, one poor guy was penalized for "Disproportionately hot girlfriend!"
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]
* In {{Itazura na Kiss}}, Chris, a beautiful English lady of nobel blood, marries Kinnosuke, a not-so pretty Osakan chef. Most people wonder how a guy like Kinnosuke could have gotten a girl like Chris. The fact is that both she and her sexy American mother, Maria, [[http://randomc.animeblogger.net:8000/image/Snapshots/Itazura%20na%20Kiss%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2004.jpg have terrible taste]].
* In the manga of ''AirGear'', the incredibly ugly Onigiri proves a huge hit with the ladies in an air trek aerobics program, and has an incredibly attractive and borderline obsessive girlfriend. Then she dumped him... for the gigantically fat Buccha. And then she dumped ''him'' for a guy who was somehow even ''fatter''. Little parts of Onigiri and Buccha died after the experiences.
** This example illustrates yet another potential problem with this setup. If you're a big fat guy who manages to land a hot girl with a fat fetish, you're in serious trouble when somebody bigger comes along.
* ''AzumangaDaioh'' plays this trope on the personality axis -- the creepy [[strike:{{lolicon}}]] {{Ephebophile}} teacher Kimura-sensei is revealed, to his students' amazement, to be married... and his [[MemeticMutation waifu]] is lovely, to boot. As the students theorize that she must be a real harpy, Yukari-sensei instead predicts -- correctly, as it later turns out -- that she must be a saint in order to put up with him. It also helps that she is a {{Cloudcuckoolander}}.
* While not married, worth noting is Danjuro Eiga & Miyako Miyazaki of ''BambooBlade''. Miyako is a bombshell, while Danjuro has a head shaped like an acorn. To top it off, "Miya-Miya" (as Danjuro calls her) is very loyal to her man, having joined the kendo club solely to be with him, and also deathly afraid of letting the darker side of her nature become known to him.
* In ''{{Eyeshield 21}}'', Hatsujo, who is sort of unattractive, has a very beautiful girlfriend, just like every member of his team. Whenever the Cupids lose, we all know they're the ''real'' winners there.
* In ''Galaxy Express'' & other works by LeijiMatsumoto, the impossibly beautiful SpacePirate Queen Emeraldas is hopelessly in love with the [[{{Gonk}} impossibly ugly]] Tochiro.
* In ''{{Dragonball}}'', Bulma's mom and dad embody this trope. Ditto for Krillin and Android 18. Kami only knows what Mr. Satan's wife looked like to have a daughter like Videl. Of course, Mr. Satan and Bulma's dad ''were'' both rich and famous. Krillin however, was apparently a very persistent DoggedNiceGuy.
** Krillin and Mr. Satan (Hercule in English dub) are by no means ''ugly''. Krillin is simply shorter than average, but is a great guy, intelligent, and fit (being a Z Fighter and all). Mr. Satan is naive and dumb, and a glory-hound, but means well and actually ''saved the Earth'' by convincing Buu to stop killing people. Though hairier than pretty much every other man on the show, he's probably a sexy body-builder type with ruggedness thrown in for good measure.
** Bulma's father isn't all that ugly either. He looks fairly average himself, like a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} AlbertEinstein. His wife ''is'' [[HotShounenMom amazingly hot, though]].
* Hilariously subverted in ''HajimeNoIppo'', where Ippo's sempai Masaru Aoki has a penchant for ''ugly'' women. At first it's just a consequence of [[spoiler: his beautiful ex-girlfriend Miyuki having cheated on him when in highschool]], but once he ''does'' settle down with female {{Gonk}} Tomiko (Kumi Mashiba's workmate), he ''does'' get to like her for the GenkiGirl she is.
** To mark on the point even more, when Aoki finally got to challenge the champion of his boxing class, it turned out that Katsukata Imae had ''exactly'' the same penchant for ugly girls. Just look at his girlfriend Sachiko.
** Played straight with the Itagaki family though, the mom's a smoking HotShonenMom, the dad is, well, probably the biggest {{Gonk}} in the series. And a real {{Gonk}}, unlike Tomiko who is more realistically plain, papa Itagaki is honestly freakish. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that the Itagaki's share very similar personalities and horrible senses of humor.
* In ''Legendz'', this is not only eplicitly spelled out, but the ugly guy in question is himself concerned about the obvious disparity. "What the Hell does she see in me?" In fact, Meiko's {{Yandere}}-style obsession with the extremely fat and {{Gonk}}y JerkAss Hosuke is all around extremely questionable; NOBODY has a clue what she likes about him.
* Even when young, Genya Nakajima, the father of Subaru and Ginga in ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'', is average-looking at best. Meanwhile, his wife [[HotShounenMom is a female in a]] MoeMoe anime series.
* Taken to a ludicrous extreme in ''NaruTaru''. Not only is Sato's fiance ugly & slow-witted, he is apparently afflicted with Downs Syndrome.
* It's revealed late in ''[[RanmaOneHalf Ranma 1/2]]'' that Genma somehow has ended up married to HotShounenMom Nodoka Saotome. {{Lampshade}}d when Ranma, upon hearing this, punches his father in the face for having the gall to even suggest the possibility.
** Even the other characters find it unbelievable. When they learn that Nodoka is visiting, the Tendos greet and welcome a portly, round-faced matron... who was there to pick up the take-out trays from her restaurant. When the real Nodoka appears, everyone is awestruck by her beauty and grace.
*** Justified in an interview with Rumiko Takahashi where she revealed [[{{IWasQuiteALooker}} Genma was handsome and cool as a young man]]. Nodoka simply aged better.
**** Also, Genma Saotome isn't quite as unattractive as fanon makes him out to be. He is bald and bulky, but his features are basically plain and there are plenty of topless shots of Genma that reveal the majority of his bulk, at least, is actually muscle. Genma's ugliness primarily comes from his panda form (which ''is'' porky) and his frankly rotten personality.
* By the same author, UruseiYatsura has Mr. Invader, of the [[AncientAstronauts Oni]]. While a pleasant enough fellow, he's got the build of an American Football player going to seed, a set of tusks, and is about two or three times the height of a human. It's possible he actually might be the Oni equivalent of a {{Gonk}}, as, with the exception of the "Heian Era Oni" from the New Year's Special episode (who are stated as being a different species), none of the other male Oni look like him. Admittedly, with the exception of Rei, none of them are exactly handsome, either. Rei, meanwhile, is such a ChickMagnet that he has dozens of women going gaga over him... despite the fact he's a dimwitted BigEater who can barely say more than one word at once and turns into an ushitora (a monster that resembles a hybrid of a cow and a tiger).
* Greg and Mischa from EurekaSeven. They were divorced prior to Greg's initial appearance, apparently.
* As a TakeThat to the massive amounts of EstrogenBrigadeBait in most BoysLove manga, a particular one-shot features a gay man who has had a penchant for ugly men since his youth, seemingly oblivious to society's take on beauty throughout. When the story begins he is fondly reminiscing (ShoujoSparkles and all) his first love (a towering, awkard, acne-faced sports freak of a teenager)... Not a few pages later, he runs into his said first love. Who has, amusingly, turned into a rather attractive beautician (''not'' heartstoppingly gorgeous; he seems to have gotten over his teenage awkwardness, instead choosing to be cheerful, and as a beautician, has certainly learned about style). Soon after, the main character has a FreakOut over how gross-looking his first love has become, and HilarityEnsues.
* [[MagicalPrincessMinkyMomo Minky Momo]]'s mother is much better-looking than her short, pudgy father.
* [[UminekoNoNakuKoroNi George's]] parents are Hideyoshi and Eva. Eva still looks good despite pushing 50. However, this is played with in that Eva is a RichBitch and Hideyoshi is a NiceGuy who married into the family. The surprising part? They ''[[HappilyMarried actually love each other a lot]]''. To the point where Hideyoshi is arguably Eva's MoralityPet!
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comic Books]]
* In the ''{{Asterix}}'' comic books, the 93-year old Geriatrix has a young and beautiful wife.
** It's subverted, however in that Geriatrix is completely whipped, with him constantly doing all of her household chores, spoiling her, and following her every command, in spite of his advanced age. Since Asterix is a cartoon for adults, it's also implied that his wife is freed from the usual "wifely obligations." So it's something of a trade-off.
* Not married, but [[{{Batman}} The Joker and Harley Quinn]] probably count. While not conventionally ugly, The Joker certainly looks twisted and freakish. [[HelloNurse Harley, on the other hand...]]
* Deadpool and his girlfriend Vanessa, aka Copycat. (Note that she's a shapeshifter, though...) Also Deadpool and Siryn, although they never even really got past mutual attraction towards one another.
** Don't forget Deadpool and Death.
*** Also, Deadpool and Black Widow. [[RealLife No, wait...]]
* While not exactly ugly, [[FantasticFour Reed Richards]] certainly falls on the nerdy side, and has a very hot wife. {{Lampshade}}d in ''[[Film/FantasticFour The Rise of the Silver Surfer]]'' when a general makes fun of him for being a nerd in high school, only for Reed to hit back that yes, he was a nerd, but a former jock like the general is now coming to him for help, and did he mention he's marrying an absolutely gorgeous woman? (A similar scene appears in the comic book ''Ultimate Extinction'', where the general is UltimateMarvel's BadassNormal, Nick Fury).
--> '''Sue Storm:''' "I am so hot for you right now."
--> '''Johnny Storm:''' "...[[EvenTheGuysWantHim me too.]]"
* Snake-Eyes and Scarlett, in the ''[[GIJoe GI Joe]]'' comics. Though he possesses near-superhuman athletic potential and muscles like a fitness model, he's horribly scarred, at least on his face. (In one example, ''most of his face was cut off'', and he deliberately stopped the bleeding by ''igniting gunpowder on his face''.) Meanwhile, she's a [[HeroesWantRedheads smokin' hot redhead]] who arguably puts up with way too much of his weird shit than can be justified by ninja sex.
** Well, considering the reason he got disfigured in the first place was TO SAVE HER FROM BEING BURNED ALIVE IN A FLAMING HELICOPTER [[RescueRomance might have something to do with it...]] Or maybe she feels guilty.
* MadScientist Doctor Thaddeus Sivana, nemesis of [[{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]], could be charitably described as a hideous little troll of a man who makes Dennis Kucinich look like Fabio. His wife Venus Sivana, on the other hand, lives up to her name.
* Wolverine from the ''{{X-Men}}''. In the comic book, he's a short, hairy, gruff mountain man with poor hygiene who smokes. (It's implied his healing factor takes care of the health problems from his poor hygiene.) And it seems about half the beautiful powerful women in the Marvel Universe have slept with him or wanted to. Not even his former girlfriends' [[{{StuffedInTheFridge}} high mortality rates]] keep the ladies away.
**Averted(?) when he makes a cameo in Runaways. Molly, who had previously been repeatedly stating that she would grow up to join the X-Men and marry Wolverine, meets him. She promptly flings him out of a church in disgust after spending all of three minutes with him.
* Inverted in ''Jack Kirby's Galactic Bounty Hunters'', where Tyr looks like a Mr. Olympia contestant but his fiancee is fat, smelly, and very ugly. To be fair, they're aliens and from the way he acts she seems to be attractive by the standards of his race.
* The Kingpin has his gorgeous wife Vanessa and is totally devoted to her.
** Kingpin isn't actually fat. He's actually ''extremely'' muscular. Like, makes DwayneJohnson look like JohnGoodman.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film]]
* The ''{{MST3K}}''-featured ''Attack Of The Giant Leeches'' has Dave and Liz Walker. Between this trope and Liz' complete lack of affection for Dave, it comes as no surprise when she's caught cheating.
* The Bollywood movie {{Partner}} takes this to a ridiculous extent with the beautiful heiress Priya and the doofy dork Bhaskar getting together in the end.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature]]
* Such an old trope that even [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructing]] it is OlderThanPrint, as shown by GeoffreyChaucer in two of ''TheCanterburyTales'': ''The Miller's Tale'' and ''The Merchant's Tale''.
* In [[NineteenEightyFour 1984]], Winston Smith, a 39 year old man, somewhat over the hill by Oceanic standards, physically bent out of shape, and sporting what is apparently a highly unsightly varicose ulcer, manages to have a 4 month affair with Julia, almost ten years younger, described as being in much better physical condition, notably possessing stunning hair and breasts. Considering that both suffer crushing sexual repression and arguably have borderline nymphomaniac traits as well, they seem suited for each other.
** Also slightly subverted in the fact that it's made clear that Julia screws pretty much anyone. She's signed up for some kind of Chastity Brigade, and she sees her promiscuity as a way to stick it to TheMan. In other words, she may not really be too choosy about her partners, IfYouKnowWhatIMean.
* Fiancé example: Zephaniah Cromwell and Emily Gibson in ''Cloud of Sparrows''. Emily is strikingly beautiful (at least by American standards), while everybody in the novel considers Cromwell incredibly ugly.
* Good Magician Humphrey of {{Xanth}} and all five and a half wives (long story). Humphrey, even as a young man, has always been short, gnome-like, and grumpy, while his wives have ranged from "merely" pretty (Sofia Socksorter) to inhumanly beautiful (Dana Demoness)
** From the same Author, in IncarnationsOfImmortality, Thanatos (aka Zane), the incarnation of death is described as a fairly ugly man, the woman he dates, Luna, is described as one of the most beautiful women of her generation (this is stated as fact and recognized by immortal powers such as Satan, not a subjective opinion). It helps when the Incarnations of Faith & Time team up to do some match making.
* ''[[{{Baccano}} Drugs and Dominoes]]'' reveals that Keith Gandor (who, while not exactly ugly, is a [[FaceOfAThug very sinister-looking]] [[TheMafia mafioso]]) is married to a gorgeous and talented pianist named Kate -- who loves him despite his less-than-legal activities, no less.
* In LoisMcMasterBujold's VorkosiganSaga, it must be noted that both Count Aral Vorkosigan (stocky, thick featured, scarred... the author once described him as Mussolini with hair) and his son Miles (under five feet, hunchbacked, and having a disproportionately large head) both managed to marry women who are quite attractive in addition to their other positive attributes.
* The first woman LordByron's 16-year-old ''DonJuan'' sleeps with is the 23-year-old frustrated hot wife of a 50-year-old ugly guy.
* Derk and Mara in Diana Wynne Jones' ''DarkLordOfDerkholm''. She's the 'glamourous enchantress', he's... middle-aged, overweight and balding.
* ''The Malloreon'', by David Eddings, ends, among other things, with Beldin, a deformed, short hunchback with a bad temper who is always described as incredibly dirty, finally going off with Vella, a Nadrak dancer. True, they both changed into hawks, but she was still in love with the guy from day one.
* Though Birgitte and Gaidal Cain of Robert Jordan's ''WheelOfTime'' aren't actually married, they have a generations-spanning relationship together (they usually reincarnate at the same time). Cain is, to put it lightly, not as handsome as the legends about him say, while Birgitte is described as fairly attractive. It helps that she's attracted, as Mat figures out, to dog-ugly men (whether this is a cause or an effect is unstated).
* Almost anything written by MercedesLackey has at least some element of this. Kethry and Talia come to mind.
** Inverted in ''The Obsidian Trilogy''. Idalia, while certainly a beautiful human, has an ''[[OurElvesAreBetter elf]]'' pining for her. Then, at the end of the series, it's subverted, [[spoiler:when she's reincarnated as an elf, though it's acceptable because this is the only way both would find long-term--by elven standards--happiness]].
*** Semi-inverted with Kellen and Vestakia--the fact that she looks like a Demon may repel others in-universe, but the reader is more likely to see her as a CuteMonsterGirl.
* Mr. and Mrs. Delacour in ''HarryPotter and the Deathly Hallows''. This version of the trope seems to indicate that an ugly guy will put up with anything for a hot wife, and a hot woman will want an ugly husband because he will (as mentioned) be a doormat.
** Later, their daughter, Fleur, doesn't reject Bill Weasley after he is scarred in battle, because the scars mean nothing except "that [her] husband is brave."
---> '''Fleur:''' "I am good-looking enough for ''both'' of us, I theenk!"
* In the chapter of ''TheFaerieQueene'' dealing with pure and [[DeathBySex unpure]] sex, Edmund Spenser attacked this trope, mercilessly showing all the problems it would, in the medieval viewpoint, lead to (paranoid jealousy from the guy and cheating by the wife).
* Extreme example of Ugly Guy Hot ''Girlfriend'' in the {{Discworld}} Novel ''Thud!'' With exotic dancer Tawneee (yes, that's Tawneee with three E's,) and Nobby Nobbs, who requires signed papers from the Patrician to certify that he's ''human''. It's later explained that no man had ever asked her out before, all of them assuming she'd be out of their league, which led her to believe she was unnattractive. Nobby on the other hand, is so used to rejection (as EVERYONE is out of his league) that he asks her out expecting rejection she's so desperate that she accepts. Despite this, she actually ''likes'' him. And he is later implied to have dumped ''her.''
** Nobby Nobbs is a very simple man, who might have been putting on a brave face for his friend Colon, but Tawneee simply couldn't cook.
* In ''{{Stardust}}'', the protagonist blindly chases after a fallen shooting star for the girl he likes, who had become pregnant with an ugly old rich man's child not long before (with even her friends being aware of it).


[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV]]
* ''The Drew Carey Show'' features an endless parade of incredibly beautiful, intelligent women throwing themselves at Drew, who is perhaps the biggest "fat loser-dork" in TV history. Eventually he marries, and has a child with, perhaps the most beautiful one of all-- accomplishing ''both at the same time'' no less.
* ''Family Guy:'' Lois is an attractive redhead from a super-rich family, but marries fat idiot man-child Peter Griffin in a take-off episode from ''Dirty Dancing--'' despite him looking ''nothing'' like Patrick Swayze. Even the series lampshades this fact, by saying that Peter is "inexplicably married to an attractive redhead."
* ''AccordingToJim'', with Jim Belushi and Courtney Thorne-Smith.
** The end of this show prompted TV Guide to do a [[http://www.tvguide.com/PhotoGallery/Fat-Guys-Hot-1005918/1.aspx Top 10 Fat Guys with Hot Wives]] list.
* Not technically this, since his actual wife isn't that attractive, but ''AlloAllo'' has the mundane Rene having an affair with the beautiful Yvette and Maria (amoung a few others)...and it's even implied that they like him more than he's attracted to them.
** This is probably because the show takes place in France (though made by Brits), which has a reputation for having women predisposed to... let's call it gratuitous love.
* ''{{Bewitched}}'' - Successful advertising career or no, [[TheOtherDarrin neither Darrin]] really struck this Troper as having any business being married to Elizabeth Montgomery's Samantha.
* Several of the ''DeadliestCatch'' captains (who are still married) have remarkably beautiful wives, most notably the Hansen brothers. Being Norwegian probably has something to do with it...
* ''EverybodyLovesRaymond'' is, of course, the shining example of this trope, as many of its sitcom imitators have copied this almost exactly. The uncharming, pasty, big-nosed Ray Romano is paired with decidedly better-looking Patricia Heaton (especially notable in later seasons, when Ray wasn't aging so gracefully, and Patricia had used a bit of surgical help to maintain her appearance). This was directly addressed in one episode, which had Debra accidentally implying that she was more attracted to the tall, dark, handsome, and well-groomed Robert, much to Ray's consternation.
* ''TheGeorgeLopezShow'' features the plumper Lopez with a wife who could be perceived by some as better-loking than what he could really get. He seems entirely aware of how lucky he is, and it's lampshaded often. George's best friend Ernie has had a crush on her since high school, and she knows it.
* Averted in ''HomeImprovement''. While Patricia Richardson is by no means a hag, she is at least ''believably'' attractive (and more cute than anything), and this male troper contends that Tim Allen was reasonably attractive as sitcoms go. On balance, they're about in the same league. Jill Taylor also started out as a homemaker but was halfway to becoming a psychologist by the end of the series, and Tim willingly gave up his show in order for her to pursue her dream.
* And of course, probably the grandfather of this trope, Ralph and Alice Kramden on ''TheHoneymooners''. Upstairs neighbors Ed and Trixie Norton probably qualify as well, especially since Trixie's backstory says she was a burlesque dancer before falling for the sewer worker.
** Note that the original sketches were an [[AvertedTrope aversion]], Ralph was married to a much older woman (Pert Kelton). Mr. Gleason changed it to a hot wife in the series for 1955 made-for-TV {{Fanservice}}.
** Audrey Meadows, during a TV interview (it may have been a special after Gleason died), said she wanted the part of Alice but Gleason, seeing her stills, decided she was "too attractive." So she arranged for a friend to bust in with a camera at an unspecified time of night, wake her, and take her picture, no makeup, bleary eyes and all. The rest is history.
* ''Raymond'' copycat ''TheKingOfQueens'' is reasonably interesting in this regard. Star Kevin James? Fat and not attractive. Hot wife? Leah Remini, who inspires a somewhat...diverse reaction from others. "Beautiful" has been mentioned, as has "chunky."
** Kevin James also serves as a RealLife example, as his wife is model Steffiana De La Cruz. Of course, in real life, James is famous, successful, and a fairly funny comedian, not a delivery man like in his show.
** One episode accentuates this into absurdity--Kevin James loses a noticeable but not extreme amount of weight, and one of Carrie's friends seriously suggests that he's now as physically attractive as she is.
** This troper remembers seeing an episode where he was working out and she brought out an "old" picture with his face photoshopped onto a ripped body. So apparently he got fat after they got married.
* Despite Al's dreading the idea of having sex with Peggy on ''{{Married With Children}}'', many viewers (this troper included) found Peggy very attractive. (It's especially odd because Al is a dedicated boob man, and Peggy's quite buxom.) It was eventually [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by the actors themselves, who mentioned how fans repeatedly told them they didn't understand why Al hated having sex with Peggy. The actors attempted to [[JustifiedTrope justify]] it by saying that sex became more of a chore than a pleasure when it's with someone you're married to.
** A GenderFlip occurs with Jefferson and Marcy D'Arcy, the Bundys' neighbors. While this troper personally thought Amanda Bearse wasn't without her charms, much of the humor centered around her character played up Marcy's [[HollywoodHomely supposed ugliness]], and Jefferson earning his keep by serving as her trophy husband.
** Marcy is not called ugly, but "a chicken--" i.e. having no feminine shape to her body.
* Paul Daniels and Debbie [=McGee=], as {{lampshade}}d on the talk show ''Mrs. Merton'': "So, what first attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?"
* ''MyNameIsEarl'' features Randy and Catalina. Originally he chased her, until a green card marriage led to them sleeping together. Using advice from Joy, Catalina makes herself extremely unattractive to him, while Randy proceeds to be the best lover she ever had.
**Another one: when Earl is working in a fast-food restaurant, his JerkAss boss keeps abusing him. Earl then visits his house and discovers he has a hot wife who even has a mug labeled "World's Best Lover". But as luck would have it, Earl discovers he has ''two'' hot wives. By punching the boss in the face, he puts him in hospital, where both hot wives go to join him at bedside, see each other and dump him in disgust. HilarityEnsues! Afterwards she fails to keep him interested by how bad she was.
* ''{{NYPD Blue}}'s'' Andy Sipowicz. ''Twice.'' Wife #2 - Sylvia Costas (Sharon Lawrence). Two decades his junior. Wife #3: Connie [=McDowell=] (Charlotte Ross) - so out of his league they might as well be different species.
** Andy Sipowicz has dozens of beautiful women throwing themselves at him, it seems.
* ''{{Roseanne}}'''s aversion is worthy of mention here; Dan Conner (John Goodman) isn't attractive, but neither is Roseanne herself. The idea of a family of average, normal-looking people had a lot of appeal with the public.
** ... and yet is still too shocking for the networks to make another.
*** Of course, interestingly, there was a list show on E! which showed famous people ''before'' they got famous, and John Goodman did some commercials before he became famous, and ''before he became fat''. One of the female commentators said he looked kinda sexy back then.
**** Roseanne is a shock-comedienne who plays off of her wanting appearance, ala Phyllis Diller, in anti-heroinne fashion.
* ''SexAndTheCity'': Charlotte (played by the ''ridiculously'' beautiful Kristin Davis) finds the love of her life (and the best sex of her life) the second she stops going for handsome boy's club types and lowers her standards for chubby, bald Harry. Of course, this being SexAndTheCity, he's still rich.
** Kristine Davis also played Jerry's girlfriend on ''Seinfeld''-- until, that is, George caused her toilet into a geyser while she's using it-- causing the germophobic Jerry to say "have a nice life."
* Steve and Regina, on ''The Steve Harvey Show''.
* ''StillStanding'', with Mark Addy and Jami Gertz. It's particularly egregious in the High School ClassReunion episode, when the wife is worried about not measuring up to TheLibby. She inexplicably abandons her usual tight shirts and jeans to wear unflattering, baggy clothing and a bad hairstyle. TheLibby, played by the already-pretty Beth Littleford, wears the wife's usual clothes. The next episode has the wife right back to her usual clothes and hair.
* ''ThirdRockFromTheSun'' features Don & Sally. Played with in that Sally has no idea Don is supposed to be ugly (despite the fact that he's played by ''Wayne Knight''), and finds his power as a police officer sexy.
** In fact, Sally thinks ''everyone'' in society is just as smitten with Don's "good looks" as she. One episode has sally thinking she is too ''unattractive'' to believably be with someone like don.
* Some ''{{Torchwood}}'' fans claim that Gwen Cooper and her husband Rhys fall under this category. (Not surprisingly, they're usually the same fans who ship [[IronClad Gwen with Jack Harkness.)]]
** Also, while not married, some ''{{Torchwood}}'' fans find the same with Gwen and Owen. Or Owen and ANYONE. YourMileageMayVary.
* ''That70sShow'' has Bob Pinciotti... who, not only started the series with a hot wife (played by Tanya Roberts), but also had a romance with Jackie's mother (played by Brooke Shields). At some point he even was seeing both of them at the same time.
** Both Midge and Jackie's mother were supposed to be rather stupid, while Bob was rather cute and successful, as well as fairly friendly and self-confident; so it's not so far-fetched that it would be a trade-off.
* A GenderFlip in the British sitcom ''TheVicarOfDibley'', which sees plump Dawn French paired with tall, dark and brooding Richard Armitage--granted, she's the protagonist, and it was only in the season finale, but still. In RealLife, Dawn French is married to Lenny Henry.
** Depends which episodes you watch. In fact her significant weight gain and eventual loss was even made part of the storyline on the show.
* ''WillAndGrace'' poke fun at this, with Jack and Karen searching for a new sitcom after the finale of SexAndTheCity. Whilst they are channel hopping, they spin through several "Fat guy, skinny wife" shows before hitting upon a "Ugly guy, skinny wife" show.
--> '''Karen:''' "Ugly guy, skinny wife? *shakes head* No, America is not ready for that just yet."
** For that matter, Karen and Stanley. Yeah, we never actually see Stanley on camera, but everyone on the show says he's a whale.
* A show about women's sex lives and the toys they used to enhance it featured one couple that seemed to be a middle-aged British woman who was probably rather pretty ten years ago and a Spanish or Italian male underwear model in his early to mid twenties.
* This trope gets lampshaded quite heavily in an episode of RescueMe, when Billy (one of the firefighters) [[spoiler: dies. At his funeral, they find out that he'd had 2 ex-wives, both of supermodel quality]]. The episode had a sub-plot of a [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean measurement contest]], which Billy had declined to take part of. After having talked with the ex-wives, the chief declared Billy the [[spoiler: post-humous]] winner, stating "Our friend Billy... was packing 10."
* Averted on MalcolmInTheMiddle. Both Lois and Hal are average looking people.
* ''CurbYourEnthusiasm'' has both Larry and Cheryl, and Jeff and Susan. Larry is bald, lanky, and the little hair he has left is long since gray. Cheryl is much younger than Larry and very beautiful. As for Jeff and Susan, Jeff is very overweight, and his wife, while not attractive personality wise, is somewhat good looking.
** Replace "somewhat good looking" with "fucking sexy".
*** Larry David plays ''himself'' on the series, so it doesn't hurt that he has hundreds of millions of dollars from ''Seinfeld--'' as well as being someting of a creative comedic genius. In fact, it's amazing that he's so whipped by Cheryl on the show, when he clearly could afford ANY woman; but then, part of the show's comedy was how Larry was "new money" that just couldn't get used to his fame and fortune, but still behaved like George Costanza with money.
* ''{{Seinfeld}}'''s troll-like George Costanza dated models and other hot, thin women, but eventually got engaged to someone more in his league in the looks department- Susan Ross.
** Jerry likewise dates a bevvy of beautiful women, including supermodels, despite being a supposedly-average comedian; and Jerry's not much more of a catch than George in terms of looks and personality.
* ''{{Friends}}'': Monica dated a rich computer software tycoon played by John Favreau. Monica was at her peak in the hotness dept. at the time this was going on.
* Another rare aversion in a modern DomCom: Paul and Jamie Buchman of ''MadAboutYou'' were both average to moderately attractive looking.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Mythology]]
* The Ur-Example might be Hephaestus of Greek mythology, the ugliest god--even outright deformed--who married Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love and Beauty herself. Even back then, however, the Greeks weren't exactly shy about exploring the consequences - Aphrodite was constantly cuckolding her husband, who, like most immortals (except [[ClingyJealousGirl Hera]]), just mostly put up with it (he ''did'' ask for her) and spent as little time around her as possible. He ''did'' play several relatively harmless pranks on Aphrodite in revenge for illicit affairs, such as trapping her and Ares (her lover) in an indestructible net that he constructed.
** There are two other versions as well: one is that Hephaestus demanded Aphrodite's hand in marriage in return for getting Hera off a magic chair he stuck her on because she crippled him, and the other is that Zeus ordered her to marry because she was causing trouble among the gods and she picked Hephaestus because he's the god of jewelry (another legend has Zeus choose Hephaestus because he was the most stable of the male Olympians... which considering he once tried to rape his half-sister, says something about the rest of the immortals).
*** Also Hephaestus has been said to put up with it because Aphrodite can become a virgin again by bathing in the ocean.
* Also, in NorseMythology, there's Thor,(not the MarvelComics version, obviously) and his wife Sif. Of course, you might say he got her because he's fucking Thor, but Sif is pretty badass, too.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]
* As do Peter and Lois Griffin of ''FamilyGuy'', with a little LampshadeHanging, as the couple was once described in a news report as "a fat man inexplicably [[HeroesWantRedheads married to an attractive redhead]]", along with an artist's impression of what they might look like - [[TheFlintstones Fred and Wilma Flintstone]]. Lois, of course, came from a ridiculously wealthy family and could have hired a different gigolo every night, if she were looking for a hunk.
** This troper has no idea why Peter [[TooDumbToLive is still alive]]. Or why Lois didn't dump him years ago for any number of perfectly valid reasons, including but not limited to his insistence in continuing behaviors that bother her, openly mocking and belittling her in both public and private, ignoring her wishes at every conceivable opportunity, wasting family funds on whatever little whim strikes him... suffice to say Peter's ugliness does not stop at his appearance.
*** [[OnlySaneMan Brian]] [[LampshadeHanging has even questioned]] why they are together. Then again, Brian is jealous of Peter...
** She said it was his ass... well, there's certainly enough of it.
** WordOfGod is that Peter and Lois share a similar sense of humor. This seems evident a number of times when Peter makes a DoubleEntendre (or single entendre), and Lois snickers at it.
*** ThisTroper distinctly remembers an episode where Peter was snickering at some of his own double entendres and Lois makes a single entendre in order to make him laugh and [[TooDumbToLive he doesn't get it.]]
* ''TheHoneymooners'' animated counterparts, Fred and Wilma Flintstone of ''TheFlintstones''.
** Speaking of which, Wilma expected this trope to hold true of their new neighbors, the Gruesomes. It didn't.
** BetaCouple Betty and Barney ''do'' uphold the trope, though, much like Wilma and Fred.
* Peg from ''GoofTroop'' is seen by many fans as being really hot. Same can't be said for her overweight husband Pete.
** Lucky and Dyl Piquel from {{Bonkers}}.
* [[TheJetsons George and Jane Jetson]]
* Luann Platter from ''KingOfTheHill'' is an attractive but mostly dumb blonde eventually married an ugly bucktoothed middle aged hillbilly known as Lucky.
** Also Cotton Hill and his wife Didi. Dale and Nancy arguably fit as well. Dale is hardly ugly, more average looking than anything, but it's his staggering idiocy, devotion to absurd conspiracy theories, and all around giblet-headedness that make you wonder how the two ever got together.
* Marge and Homer from ''TheSimpsons'' fit this description, although Marge's attractiveness has been played up over time.
** Not only that, but Homer has managed to attract several bombshells over the course of the show. They seem to see him as hot. Or maybe it's his personality, which is odd, given the way he acts the ''rest'' of the time.
** Might be justified in that Homer and Marge first fell in love in high school, when Homer was thin, clean-shaven, and had hair.
** Homer's ugliness also varies according to the plot. Homer's often been shown to be rather good-looking if he took better care of himself (lose some weight & gain some hair). Take his near-identical older brother for example. The only characters who consistently describe Homer as ugly are Patty & Selma, both of whom are biased and one of them is a man-hating lesbian (And that's putting it nicely), and in an earlier episode, even they got dumbfounded by Homer's looks when he got hair and dressed respectfully. Similarly, many of the women in the Simpsons family, including Homer's mom, are described as good-looking. Heck, even Bart is apparently not too bad-looking, being able to seduce Ranier Wolfcastle's daughter Greta.
** Also inverted in the form of Louanne Van Houten. Although fairly plain, not particularly wealthy, a likely philanderer, and seeming to make her ex-husband's life hell for fun and/or spite, somehow manages to date American Gladiators on a routine basis (even more than one at a time) after she divorced her dopey husband.
* ''Tripping The Rift'' has Chode, a disgusting purple alien with incredibly hot Six. Then again, Six is a sex robot that he owns, and we have no definition of Chode's relative attractiveness by the standards of his own species (as opposed to us humans, who aren't really qualified to judge). Also, an episode claimed that men and women are both held up to unreasonable standards for attracting the opposite sex, it's just that with women it's looks and men it's money.
* ''{{The Venture Brothers}}.'' subverts this, as while she may be hot, most men seem put off by Dr. Mrs. The Monarch's (or just plain old Dr. Girlfriend) 6-packs-a-day voice.
** Another example would be the scrawny balding Dr. Thaddeus Venture and the rather attractive blond Myra Brandish. While the latter had a strong BodyguardCrush on the former, Rusty ultimately was creeped out by Myra's StalkerWithACrush tendencies and had her sent away, driving her insane.
** Rusty also manage to seduce Dr. Quim, possibly the hottest superscientist ever.
* ''{{WALL-E}}'' and EVE, being a rusted trash compactor and a sleek, top-of-the-line scout droid, respectively.
** Arguably Mary and John as well. While both are incredibly overweight, Mary has a relative prettiness about her, whereas John looks average at best.
* Inverted with Eek the cat and his love interest Annabel.
* Angela and Broadway from ''Gargoyles'' could fall under this trope. Since gargoyles aren't into the whole money and power business, it had to be his sweet and charming personality that won her over.
** Or just different standards. See the ''Tripping the Rift'' examples above. Besides being a gargoyle and thus possibly having different standards of beauty than a human, Angela was raised by people from a time period where being fat meant you weren't starving to death.
* In ''SuperManTheAnimatedSeries'', Mr. Mxyzptlk (who is a tiny, bald, beady eyed imp) has a hot wife; a ''really'' hot wife; a really hot wife who would (and probably could) do anything to get a little attention from him. Oh, yes.
** Although as a RealityWarper, Mxy can probably look like whatever he wants.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film]]
* Billy Joel/Christie Brinkley.
** A BloomCounty strip had Opus frustrated with practicing music and about to swear off playing music forever, when the Joel/Brinkley pairing is invoked, along with Ric Ocasek/Paulina Porizkhova and another homely musician/hot model pairing.
* Roger Rabbit of ''WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' isn't exactly ugly for a cartoon rabbit, but he is married to the insanely hot Jessica Rabbit--who isn't bad, she's just drawn that way. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] beautifully in the movie by a line from Jessica. When Eddie asks her why on Earth a girl like her married Roger, she replies in her most sultry tones, "He makes me laugh."
** Inverted for the toon characters, who still see Jessica and Roger as an example of the trope...but to a one they all wonder how Jessica managed to land someone so out of her league.
** Turned dark in the original novel, ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'', in which it was revealed to be not quite true love.
* Played for laughs in ''Harold And Kumar Go To White Castle''; the title characters are picked up by a disfigured man called "Freakshow" who is married to a rather beautiful girl. When Harold and Kumar ask her about this, she explains that they met in a church choir, and he has a lovely singing voice.
* ''Any'' movie with Seth Rogen in it. I think voodoo is involved. (Although ''Knocked Up'' played it for laughs.) He quite recently lost weight and toned up, though, so time will tell how he looks compared to his next female costar.
* Gleefully inverted in the film ''Hairspray'' and its subsequent adaptations, where plump Tracy Turnblad wins over her teen idol classmate Link Larkin, who loves her no matter what she weighs.
* The JohnWayne western movie ''War Wagon''. The youngest member of the gang gets snarled at when he smiles at what he thinks is the [[UglyGuysHotDaughter grizzled old codger's pretty daughter]]. It turns out she's his wife, whom he bought off her parents in exchange for a horse. But the old codger gets killed and the kid forgoes his share of the gold to ride off with her instead.
* Lampshaded all the time in the case of AustinPowers. Austin is probably one of the least attractive male characters in all of the films, but is apparently seen as highly attractive by almost all female characters.
** When his old secretary's daughter questioned her about this, she explained that in TheSixties he was cock of the walk because of attitude rather than looks. As to why he still is in the present day....
*** However, Mrs. Kinsington does give a rundown of some of the rest of Austin's positive qualities, things which often are cited as positives of refined, upper-class men. She doesn't add that he's also famous, caring, devoted (and even more devoted when he's convinced of the virtues of monogamy), honorable, heroic, and apparently rich as fuck-all.
* ''Magnolia'' has the elderly and rather withered movie executive dying of cancer played by Jason Robards married to a gorgeous trophy wife several decades younger than him played by Julianne Moore. The twist is that it started as a typical 'marrying him for his money' arrangement, but then she genuinely fell in love with him [[spoiler:to the extent that out of guilt she even tried to have his will changed so that she would no longer be his heir.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: TabletopGames]]
* In ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'', Isha, the Eldar goddess of life is stuck in a Hades & Persephone-type relationship with Nurgle, the Chaos god of disease, who is best described as one big pustule. The other examples on here don't even come close. She isn't happy about it, but Nurgle seems to genuinely love her (in his own sick way), and Emperor knows the other alternatives were worse - [[FateWorseThanDeath Slaanesh]], for instance.
** Her equivalent in ''{{Warhammer}}'' is either the same... or Nurgle's ''daughter'', who cures people so daddy can make them sick again. No one's sure.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: {{Video Games}}]]
* In DynastyWarriors, Meng Huo, fat king of the Nanman barbarian tribe, is married to a hot babe Zhu Rong, daughter of the god of fire.
** Meng Huo is also a BadAss LargeHam who probably has [[GagPenis another large ham between his legs]].
* Seen in ''GrandTheftAuto 4'', with the short, fat, unsuccessful Roman Bellic and his attractive longtime girlfriend (later wife), Mallorie.
*Bartre and Karla in [[FireEmblem Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken]], though to be fair Bartre's not so much ugly as he is homely (especially compared to [[{{Bishonen}} most of the handsome faces in this particular army]]!)
** To say nothing of anyone Ardan ends up with in Genealogy of the Holy War.
* Gen-An Shiranui of ''SamuraiShodown'' is one of the ugliest FightingGame characters in history. His wife is a JunglePrincess. One of his win quotes is even "No one calls me a freak and lives! ...except my wife, that is."
** And inferred from Haomaru's ending in the first game, the Shiranui (hint, hint) pairing will inevitably bring to the world '''the''' foremost name in {{Stripperific}} {{Fanservice}}.
* Adell's parents in ''{{Disgaea}} 2: Cursed Memories.'' Even with the extra eye and tail, Mom is [[HotShounenMom hot enough]] to attract the attention of ''far'' younger men. Dad, on the other hand, is a [[ZombieApocalypse zombie]] "but without the stench."
* Video game and girlfriend example: In FinalFantasyVIII, this trope is ''inverted'' with Rinoa, who is quite cute but ''nowhere near as attractive'' as [[{{Bishonen}} Squall]].
* A rather tragic version: Vega's parents according his backstory in ''StreetFighter II''. [[spoiler: Vega saw his very ugly father murder his beautiful mother under the belief that she was cheating on him. Vega went crazy and became a SelfMadeOrphan by killing his dad to avenge his mom, this being his StartOfDarkness]].
** Also, Dhalsim and his wife Sari. This time, they're very HappilyMarried.
***using the power of Yoga, Dhalsim can stretch ANY part of his body. I don't think Sari will ever be dissapointed.
** Also, Rufus and Candy, though not married, probably count as well.
* InterspeciesRomance example: A minor {{NPC}} in ''FinalFantasyXII: RevenantWings'' is a Seeq married to a Viera. Seeq are hideous pig like things, Viera are [[CuteMonsterGirl beautiful]] [[PettingZooPeople bunny girls]].
** The Seeq is also quite friendly and supportive of the party's quest to save the Aegyl. OTOH, his wife is as cold and aloof as most of her race and just wishes her husband would leave the ship already. Which just raises more questions about how the hell they hooked up in the first place.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Real Life]]
* Anna Nicole Smith ({{Playboy}} Centerfold) and J. Howard Marshall II (Millionaire). Despite their age differences, she claimed to truly love him. His multimillion dollar estate was purely ancillary.
** And he claimed to truly love her. [[MostCommonSuperPower It wasn't just the tits, honest.]]
* Inverted by FranklinDRoosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt. She was so much uglier than him that it was rumored he was secretly gay.
** See [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Eleanor_Roosevelt_in_school_portrait.gif this]]. Seems he just aged better than her.
*** Even when young she was considered at best mediocre by society standards. Franklin, meanwhile, was one of the most eligible bachelors in New York state, so their marrying surprised a lot of people (including Eleanor's cousin Alice Roosevelt Longworth, who was rather uncharitable about it).
* Also, Donald Trump and ''any'' of his wives: Ivana Zelnikova, Marla Maples, and now Melania Knauss-Trump.
** To her credit, Melania is at least honest about their motivations. Supposedly when asked if she would be with him if he wasn't rich, she responded with "do you think he'd be with ''me'' if I wasn't beautiful?"
* Find a picture of Dennis Kucinich (who can be charitably described as a gnome), and then find a picture of his third wife, Elizabeth.
** It's because [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-celebrities-who-just-might-be-superhero-alter-ego/ Dennis Kucinich is Spider-man]].
** While you're at it, do the same with Fred Thompson, or John [=McCain=].
** Many would cite Nicholas Sarkozy de Nagy-Bocsa (President of France) and his new wife, Carla Bruni Tedeschi- an Italian supermodel.
** As former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (who is still alive, surprisingly) pointed out, "Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac." And if [=ANYone=] ought to know that it was Kissinger. Nobody--but nobody--in Washington, DC got more first-class skirt during the Nixon administration than Kissinger, and he looks like one of those pot-bellied troll dolls one used to hang from the rear view mirror of one's '67 VW Beetle.
*** Of ''course'' Kissinger's still alive! Sex is good for you!
*** {{Futurama}} says it best:
---->'''Nixon:''' Accompanying you will be our top peace negotiator, Henry Kissinger.\\
'''Kissinger:''' How are you?\\
'''Bender:''' Is he any good?\\
'''Nixon:''' Looking like that, he talked his way into Jill St. John's bed. Nuff said!
* Anne Bancroft was married to Mel Brooks for 41 years.
** Or Jimmy Kimmel and [[http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20180632,00.html Ben Affleck]].
*** Don't forget Jimmy Kimmel and Sarah Silverman.
* By far the most popular real-world example of this trope in certain circles (that is, intellectuals) is the slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek and his wife Analia Hounie. Although he's about 20 years older, they both really love Lacan :)
* Louis XVI and MarieAntoinette. More or less; portraits of royalty can be...unreliable. But the Bourbons tended to be big guys and Louis was no exception. These two also show up in RoseOfVersailles.
** Though it's not like she had a choice.
* This [[http://www.livescience.com/health/080410-couples-beauty.html LiveScience article]] attempts to find some rationalization for this trope in real-life. This arguably makes this trope an example of TruthInTelevision, but don't consider this article the be-all and end-all. Scientifically, the jury's still out on this one.
* Janet Jackson's romance with Jermaine Dupri. Chris Rock said in a stand-up that that's like finding out BMW's were on sale for four dollars...after the sale was over.
* Wayne Rooney, who can be best described as looking like an orc version of Mr. Potato-Head, and Coleen, who is merely vaguely attractive but looks much better than she should when she stands next to him.
** Also, Ronaldo and his actual wife/girlfriend and almost all ugly football players. However, played in reverse with Robinho, who married his chubby childhood sweetheart.
* Prince Charles. Princess Diana. Discussion over.
** Ironically, Charles wasn't really that taken with her, his heart having always been with Camilla Parker Bowles who is more, er, matched with him in the looks department.
* Gene Simmons and Shannon Tweed. Although not actually married, they still more than qualify. Ol' Genie isn't exactly the handsomest man in the world.
**YourMileageMayVary as to whether Gene and Shannon are an example or not.
* [[http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTI5MzQyMzAyNl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwODU4MjY0._V1._SX280_SY400_.jpg Kevin James and and his wife Steffiana de la Cruz]], a former model.
*Seal and Heidi Klum.
** {{YMMV}} since, if Seal's face marks/scars, he would border on HotShoujoDad. And he was ''way'' better looking than...
**Flavio Briatore and Heidi Klum (pictured)
* KevinSmith and Jennifer Schwalbach. Often [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by Smith himself in his ''Evening With Kevin Smith'' DVDs.
* Salman Rushdie dates exclusively models, despite looking like an owl.
* Tim Burton: first with model Lisa Marie, then with actress Helena Bonham Carter
* Rare gender reversal: Sarah Jane Fenton, Debralee Furness and Keely Shaye Smith, while by no means ugly, are plump, older, not supermodel gorgeous and therefore considered unlovable by Hollywood standards. They are married to, and publicly adored by, hunks Clive Owen, Hugh Jackman and Pierce Brosnan.
** Pierce Brosnan is a chubby chaser? I love this guy!
* Rob and Sherie Moon-Zombie. While this troper finds Rob Zombie attractive she is aware she is in the minority, and Sherie Moon-Zombie is just plain gorgeous, so the trope applies.
* [[BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Paul Dini]] and Misty Lee. It gets even more out there when you realize that Dini is in his early fifties and Lee is in her late twenties.
* Strangely inverted with [[OnePiece author Eiichiro Oda]] and model Chiaki Inaba. While she's by no means ugly, to think that the RICH MANGA ARTIST is more of a catch in looks than his fashion model wife makes this troper believe SHE'S the lucky one and not him.
* French film director [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/RogerVadimJaneFonda1969.jpg Roger Vadim with his wife]], JaneFonda. He was also married to Brigitte Bardot and lived with Catherine Denevue.
*Michael Emerson (Ben on {{LOST}}) is married to the very attractive Carrie Preston. Slightly subverted in that they're genuinely happy together.
* Rupert Murdoch and Wendi Deng.
* John "[[TalesFromTheCrypt Crypt-Keeper]]" Kassir, and [[http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/images/julie-benz.jpg Julie Benz]]. [[http://www.popcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/julie_benz-mar2k3-fhm1.jpg That's right]], [[http://www.posters555.com/pictures/Julie-Benz-picture-Z1G81098_b.jpg Julie]] [[http://www.terrorhotties.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/julie_benz1.jpg Fucking]] [[http://s3.amazonaws.com/images.nachofoto.com/b-Julie-Benz-4653ac090b8f.jpeg Benz]].
* Roger Federer and his wife Mirka have in the past managed to play this one both ways. Though neither have ever exactly been ugly, when they first started dating, he was very boyishly awkward while she was so attractive she'd had the attention of a Prince of Dubai in the past. Years later, he blossomed into one of the most beautiful men around, while she lost her athletic looks, got older and fatter until certain tabloids and fans made nasty comments. Her new maternity has been surprisingly good to her looks at the moment, though. Either way, he still gushes about how much he loves her in the interviews.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Others]]
* Several examples in NewspaperComics: ''{{Blondie}}'', ''{{Zits}}'' (the dad is extremely round & bald, while the mom is built more-or-less like the teen females- though not especially gorgeous given the art style), the US ''Dennis the Menace'' (Hank is tall, spindly and bespectacled, but Alice is an ideal 1950s-style housewife), ''{{Luann}}'' (pudgy, cartoonish Brad is hooked up with positively gorgeous Toni the firefighter), Liz and Anthony in ''ForBetterOrForWorse''.
** This almost seems to be the default setting for newspaper comics and animation. Funny male cartoon characters will be nondescript looking at best, while females by default will [[TertiarySexualCharacteristics be drawn with eyelashes or lipstick to prettify them]]. [[DykesToWatchOutFor Alison Bechdel]] noted this in ''The Indelible Alison Bechdel'', that as in {{Blondie}} all female's sexual characteristics will be emphasized while if the men were drawn this way they'd look like the buff hunks popular in gay comics.
** A ''MyCage'' Sunday strip parodied this trope, along with [[DomCom Dom Coms]] in general. The FunnyAnimal motif was used to emphasize it, making the husband a slug and the wife a busty bunny girl.
* Subverted/reversed in song:
---> If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life\\
Never make a pretty woman your wife\\
So from my personal point of view\\
Get an ugly girl to marry you\\
[...] ''"Hey man, I saw your wife! She sure is uuuuuuuuuuuugly!" "Yeah, but she sure can cook!"''
* Some Mexican women have a saying about the type of man they seek: He must have the three Fs: "''Feo, Fuerte y Formal''" (Ugly, Strong and Serious).
* A RunningGag in satirical British magazine ''Private Eye'' is that whenever anyone mentions anything in relation to an UglyGuyHotWife scenario and the need for a photographic example they print a photo of journalist Andrew Neil with his sometime girlfriend Pamella Bordes in the water on a beach. In fact, they include it at any occasion where the words "Young" "Old" "Asian" "Beach" "Water" are juxtaposed.
* Firefighters. Young and full of energy or aged and full of experience, firefighters are the bane of every other single man in a bar. Even the married ones still get the girls.
** Wait... [[FiremenAreHot Since when are firefighters considered ugly?]]
*** Well, being surrounded by smoke, soot, fire, broken glass and splintering wood tends to dampen the mood.
*** [[StupidSexyFlanders The Stupid Sexy Flanders]] page is (very agreeably) by the door at the end of the smoking, sizzling hall.

[[/folder]]
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