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" You can rely on the old man's money, you can rely on the old man's money"
-Hall & Oates
" We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes."
Snide, snotty and ever-so-superior to coworkers or neighbors, the Rich Bitch is the character you love to hate. She has social position and/or money, and never lets anyone around her forget it; and if she can make you feel like dirt, she'll do it just to amuse herself. She can be especially vicious to men pursuing her who are not up to her sometimes impossible standards.
Sometimes the Rich Bitch actually has a heart of gold, and her behavior is either habit or a defense mechanism, but this subspecies is rare. Most of the time they're just jewel-encrusted sadists. If there is a Country Mouse in the cast, the Rich Bitch usually targets her for the worst abuse.
Rich Bitch is what The Libby and the Spoiled Brat often become when they grow up, and their motto is " Screw The Rules I Have Money!" Contrast Spoiled Sweet and Uncle Pennybags.
Examples
Anime and Manga
- Nanami in Revolutionary Girl Utena.
- Rina Mamiya in Higurashi. Very, very, much.
- Sayoko Mishima on Ah My Goddess.
- Minto in Tokyo Mew Mew, who is also good at heart, and also gained a snobbier rival in a filler episode.
- Domyouji's mother Kaede in Hana Yori Dango is the rich bitch "villain" of the series. She is constantly throwing her money about to ruin the lives of Makino and those she knows to keep her away from the Domyouji family. Also, just about every girl in Makino's school is a rich bitch, including Sakurako, who eventually becomes Makino's friend but does not lose her nasty mannerisms.
- At the beginning of the series, Domyoji himself could qualify as a male example. Luckily he mellows out a bit.
- Flay Allster from Gundam SEED started as a sort-of space version of The Libby, but later she manipulated Kira for a good chunk of the series as "revenge" since he didn't save her father, George, from a REALLY nasty death in space. Which she witnessed from the bridge of the Archangel. She eventually did fall for Kira for real and attempted to redeem herself, only to die in the end.)
- Mashiro in Mai-Otome fits this description nicely, complete with Arika, the Country Mouse, being her favorite target. Of course, since this is a rather idealistic series, her heart of gold manifests itself after she becomes a Fallen Princess (literally), meets the very homeless people she used to despise, and learns An Aesop about abusing her position. Awww, how touching.
- Altessa from Fushiboshi No Futago Hime, although she stopped being so Libby-ish later on and even became a main character.
- Mayu from Ai Yori Aoshi.
- She mellows out a lot as the series goes though.
- Umi Ryuuzaki from Magic Knight Rayearth exhibits this early on the series. But eventually, her situation forces her to mature (including the heartwretching first-season finale), and she ends up as a respectable, formidable Lady Of War.
- Eva of Monster, the medical big-wig's daughter, starts out consoling the (surgeon) hero's angst over choosing who lives and who dies by assuring him that human lives aren't equal, and just gets bitchier from there.
- Dorothy Catalonia from Gundam Wing starts off looking like a Rich Bitch who gets into ideological squabbles with Relena all while making subtle passes at Heero, Quatre, Zechs, and even Relena (and might have had a sort-of crush on her cousin Treize as well). Later on it's revealed that she's a Broken Bird with issues, and official sequels depict her as much nicer, but still playful and flirty.
- Since when are she and Treize related? She is Duke Dermail's granddaughter, but it's never stated that Dermail and Treize are related...though aristocracy does get pretty inbred, so it's certainly possible.
- Not to mention she's got her gold-plated limousine, space shuttle, and, in Endless Waltz, transport carrier.
- A possible male example/parody is Switzerland from Axis Powers Hetalia. Miser, as well as being paranoid, xenophobic, and trigger-happy... though he's still got some Pet The Dog moments when he interacts with his sister, the Token Loli Lietchenstein (and his memories of his past friendship with Austria, no matter how often he denies it).
- Ayaka Yukihiro of Mahou Sensei Negima tends to fall into this, calling the other, less rich students commoners and thinking at points in the series that their lifestyle is lowly. She does have her Heart Of Gold moments, especially after she's fittingly Broken.
- The worst and most extreme example of this trope would be Candy Candy's Eliza Reagan. She pretty much exemplifies EVERYTHING NEGATIVE about this trope. Screw The Rules I Have Money? Check. Being The Libby? Check. Constantly abusing Candy, who can be counted as some sort of Country Mouse? Check. Did it all for her own amusement? BIG CHECK. Taking joy in all of them? REALLY BIG CHECK.
- In A Little Snow Fairy Sugar Greta tries to be this to Saga, except that Saga refuses to pay any attention to her attempts. Or maybe Saga genuinely just doesn't noitce.
- A slight subversion is Sonoko/Serena from Case Closed. Sure, she's flighty and a Brainless Beauty, but she's a loyal friend to Ran/Rachel (if bitchy towards Shinichi/Jimmy, whom she believes isn't good enough for her) and doesn't flaunt her riches in a bitchy manner. Besides, she comes to fall for karate champion Makoto, not minding how akward he can be sometimes.
- Eva Ushiromiya from Umineko No Naku Koro Ni might not be any richer than her siblings, but she has no problems fitting the trope, to the point where she considers herself the only one worthy of Kinzo's estate. And just look at the way she treats Natsuhi.
- Mrs. Tachibana and Ruri from Hot Gimmick.
- An example of a Rich Bastard is Shute Sutherland from Nogizaka Haruka No Himitsu, which could be summed up as a male Eliza... only with MORE comeuppance in every of his acts to belittle whoever is of the lower status compared to him.
- Ayame Yatsuhashi from Ai Kora is obsessed with winning over Maeda, and is willing to use all the money and influence she can bring to bear to get his attention away from the other girls and towards her.
Comic Books
Film
- The Blind Side: Leigh Anne's snobbish salad luncheon friends.
- Clueless: Amber is a classic Rich Bitch, contrasted to rich, popular but flawed main character Cher, who's for the most part kindhearted and a very likeable character. Much like Jane Austen's original Emma Woodhouse, I suppose, who again is portrayed as being slightly stuck up but for how much money she has, she is a lot nicer than most of her counterparts, such as Mrs. Elton, the more straight version of the trope.
- Austen also has textbook examples in Fanny Dashwood, Miss Bingley, and Elizabeth Elliot, and, of course, Lady Catherine du Burgh, who defines this trope.
- Similarly, Bring It On is a mostly typical sports movie — except it's from the point of view of the (usually evil) rich bitch team. Their uniforms even have "RCH" spelled out across their chests.
- Cruella DeVil from 101 Dalmatians.
- Joanna from Overboard
 is actually called a "rich bitch." She gets better, though.
- In High School Musical, there's Sharpay Evens. She has parents who own a Country Club
- Tess Tyler from Camp Rock
- In The Parent Trap, Gold Digger Vicky.
Literature
- Male version: Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter series. It's obvious he gets it from his father.
- Blanche Ingram in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, making this Older Than Radio.
- Veruca Salt, infamous Spoiled Brat. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory being what it is, though, she eventually gets her comeuppance: details differ (depending on whether you go by the book or either of the movies), but they all end with her going down a garbage chute.
- Lavina from A Little Princess.
- Esme Squalor from A Series Of Unfortunate Events. Later, her adopted "daughter" Carmelita Spats, who was originally a nasty Libby, becomes this as well.
- Lady Caroline Bingley and her sister Louisa Hurst are a prime Older Than Steam example of this from Pride And Prejudice; condescending and haughty, they're full of snide, superior put-downs to the society they find themselves in, and in Caroline's case Elizabeth Bennet in particular (which isn't help by the fact that she's Darcy's Clingy Jealous Girl). It's implied they're almost the eighteenth century equivalent of nouveau riche, and are making up for their recent good fortune with excessive snobbery.
Live Action TV
- Alexis Carrington on Dynasty, as seen in the picture.
- Julie Cooper on The OC.
- Every single girl in My Super Sweet 16, without exception.
- There was at least one non- stuck up girl on the show. Her grandfather invented Spam, she wanted a Rocky Horror Picture Show themed party, was remarkably down to earth and easy going, and had but one even vaguely bratty moment (pushing her boyfriend to do something) that they played up.
- The newly deceased Bela off Supernatural.
- Another male version: Prince Wendell of The Tenth Kingdom (at least before he learns his Aesop from spending a month as a dog).
- Atia from Rome embodies some of these qualities.
- The cast of Absolutely Fabulous.
- C.C. Babcock of The Nanny.
- Wilhelmina Slater of Ugly Betty.
- Celia on Weeds. The obsession with her daughter's weight alone qualifies her, but is just the tip of the iceberg. Even after going through incredible amounts of Break The Haughty, she still manages to keep this attitude.
- Stephanie Vanderkellen on Newhart, although her parents have "cut her off", which is why she's working as a hotel maid.
- In the show's first season, the maid was Leslie, Stephanie's equally rich but non-bitchy cousin who took the job to see "how the other half lives".
- Cordelia from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In later seasons and the spin-off, she got some character development, but definitely counts.
- London Tipton from The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody. Slight subversion, as London appears to be a genuinely good-natured person who simply doesn't understand that you're not supposed to treat people that way.
- Traci Van Horn from Hannah Montana, who, among other infractions, frequently tells Lola, to her face, no less, how uncool she thinks Lola is. This despite being friends with Hannah, who publicly humiliates herself just as often as Lola.
Theater
- Subverted in the musical Fame where everyone believes that the new dancer is a Rich Bitch, with Tyrone even singing lyrics to that effect (I don't need no Rich Bitch/to tell me which/fork to use) only for her to angrily confide in him that actually, her dad is a limo-driver who drops her off on his way to work, and that she's barely middle-class.
Video Games
- CD-I Zelda thinks it's GOOD to kill people, and she rejects CDI Link.
- Karin Kanzuki from the Street Fighter series. In Sakura and Rainbow Mika's paths in Street Fighter Alpha 3, she does show some hints of softening up, but you wouldn't be able to tell that from her win quotes.
- Elite Beat Agents has the Carrington sisters, who appear to be parodies of Paris and Nicky Hilton. With a little help from the Agents, they manage to survive on a deserted island by sweet-talking the wildlife into helping them find food and build shelter. And by "sweet-talking", we mean going "Hey guyz!" while blowing kisses and Gainaxing at them. The sisters seem to consider their stranded status an impromptu vacation (and given Commander Kahn's wearing a Hawaiian shirt when he calls the Agents out, he doesn't take it too seriously either); at level's end, they get off the island by flashing a diamond credit card at a passing jet. The level's song? "Material Girl", by Madonna.
- And those animals are not their first victims of their "Sweet talking". The first victim is the dog Sam in the previous level, whom they 'Sweet-talked' to get it for a ride (which thankfully, goes along with its purpose to get back home).
- For crying out loud, they Gainax at some poor animals to help them eat fruit.
- There's also the wife of oil tycoon Colonel Bob. Hell, the main reason the man needed the song was because she went completely overboard buying diamonds, erasing his literally billions in one go. The complete and utter Wall Banger that goes with this is that not only the Colonel is enabling the woman, he doesn't even really care that she burned his money and even goes back to her in the good ending.
- No the Wall Banger here is that he's not poor...he has billions still, in diamonds. If you pay for fifty billion in diamonds, that means you now have fifty billion worth of diamonds, which you can sell and get the money back. That's like asking which is heavier a ton of feathers or a ton of bricks...they're both a ton, it makes no difference.
- She's a Rich Bitch because she makes it very clear they're HER diamonds and she has no intention of being with him unless he's in a position to give her more. Her grand Pet The Dog moment was throwing a shovel at him so he could go dig another oil well.
- And diamonds are surprisingly hard to sell. Blame De Beers.
- To the point where governments were finally considering stepping in during the De Beers "Investment grade diamonds" scam, even in the face of De Beers' Screw The Rules I Have Money.
- Another male edition: Arguably Gord Vendome from Bully. Albeit, most of the preppies are supposed to fall under this heading (rich and bitchy, with the token female) but he's something special. In fanon, his enthusiasm for his many articles of fashionable clothing and his status as the token kissable Preppie (as the main character is male) apparently makes him both very feminine and very gay.
- Pinky, of course, is sort of a Rich Bitch Classic.
- Etoile Rosenqueen from the Marl Kingdom games tends to come off as one of these, even hiring out Mooks and heavy weaponry to win a beauty pageant. She *does* become a lot more of a sympathetic character later in Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure, though, and she's definitely one of the Heart of Gold Rich Bitches.
- Joe Chin from Parappa The Rapper. He's got the money, the car, and the looks. He's practically got it better than Parappa and he doesn't let anyone forget it.
- The DS remake of Dragon Quest V introduces Debora, a third candidate for The Hero's bride. A Tsundere that goes heavy on the tsun, she isn't shy about flaunting Daddy's money and expecting everything to go her way. This doesn't change if the hero marries her; she even states flat-out that she regards him as "a good slave".
- Bianca de Saint-Coquille in the Harvest Moon spinoff Rune Factory. She lives in the largest house on Kaldia Island, and is utterly unimpressed by anything you try to give her, be it strawberries or sapphires. This makes her the only marriage candidate out of the lot where it's easier to just sweet talk her.
- Subverted in Fatal Fury Mark Of The Wolves. Bonne Jenet is a rich girl per family rights, but hates mooching off and prefers to make her own money... as a pirate queen Action Girl.
- Super Macho Man from Punch Out, Wii version. In one of the in between round breaks, he tells the reporters "Oh, these sunglasses? You can't afford these sunglasses! And get your hands off the ropes!" When you score a TKO on him, the last blow animation shows him having money fly out of him as he collapses.
- Some of the lady Splicers from Bio Shock act like this. Of course, the setting has degenerated way past the point where money means anything, and the Splicers are batshit insane to a man, but still.
Western Animation
- Lily from Kappa Mikey, though in her case she's like this as a knee-jerk reaction to Mikey swooping in and stealing her perceived status as the biggest star in town.
- All too present in both The Fairly OddParents and Danny Phantom. Due to high school experiences, series creator Butch Hartman does not particularly care for rich kids.
- Pizzazz from Jem fits here as well.
- Bianca Dupree in Beverly Hills Teens. The funny thing is that most of the other cast is also filthy rich, so she just fills the bitch part.
- Virginia of Lola And Virginia.
- Alexis in Legion Of Super Heroes is a bit complicated. She really is a Lonely Rich Kid, but as Phantom Girl puts it, "She takes the 'privileged but misunderstood' act to a whole new level." Bitchy to everyone but Superman, she has a pretty unforgiving jealous streak.
- While not exactly the same as in the comic, Cornelia Hale from WITCH the animated series deserves a mention. Hey, drinking game! Take a shot everytime Cornelia throws back her long blonde hair and insults her friends' fashion sense and lack of popularity. Double-up if she sticks out her chest while she's doing it.
- On Horseland, the series based on the horse-raising computer game, we meet the Stilton sisters...oooh, how clever. Yes they act in keeping with the pop culture stereotype perpetuated of Paris and Nikki Hilton too. Interestingly, the younger redhead sister Zoey looks like Lindsay Lohan while the older one, Chloe, still looks like Paris dead-on.
- Princess from the Powerpuff Girls definitely deserves a mention.
- Male version: Montana Max, from Tiny Toon Adventures.
- Georgette from Oliver & Company is literally one.
- Averted by Bebe Bluff in Doug for the most part... but a possible male version in Roger, a Jerk Jock bully who won the lottery in the switch to Disney, adding a permanent case of Acquired Situational Narcicissm to his already abrasive personality. He does show a few signs of maturity at times, though.
- Angela Anaconda: Nanette Manoir isn't just a rich bitch, she's the queen of all rich bitches. Sweet and polite towards the adults (especially the teacher), she exercising all her worst traits on Angela, her friends, and any one unlucky enough to be considered beneath her. She uses her family's wealth and status to assert her bitchiness.
Web Original
- Solange (Tansy Walcutt) from the Whateley Universe. She was an ugly, chubby, pimply (but filthy rich) victim of other rich kids, until she got her mutation and transformed into a gorgeous blonde bombshell.. who treats everyone the way she was once treated. She definitely doesn't have a heart of gold. The difference between her and some other rich bitches on this list is that she also uses her superpowers to hurt and degrade other people.
- Almost all rich characters in Survival Of The Fittest seem to fall into this stereotype, regardless of whether they are male or female. Two particularly notable examples are Olivia Swan and Charlie Burchman, both of V3, both being thoroughly nasty pieces of work. Of course, in SOTF, most disliked characters wind up getting their comeuppance. Kill Em All and that... This also tends to overlap with The Libby.
Real Life
- Paris Hilton became (in)famous for being one of these. Among other things, she once landed her helicopter on someone's lawn and threw the occupants out of the house so she could use their bathroom.
- How the fuck did she do that? Is she a Super Saiyan? That would explain the blonde hair...
- Her actions have since gotten her disinherited by her Grandfather... but not by her parents.
- In her favor, behold her hilarious Presidential campaign parody video, which has kinda gotten her Rescued From The Scrappy Heap in the eye of some people.
- Playing a rich, spoiled, slutty heiress in Repo The Genetic Opera, who has an addiction to plastic surgery, sells her body for drugs, and gets boo'd off the stage when she tries to sing sort of helped, too.
- Some of it, she's paid for. She makes a very good living off of publicity stunts. And her perfume and cosmetics company, of course. But quite a bit from publicity stunts.
- How the hell did Leona Helmsley not get on this list? Among other things, she left her DOG more of an inheritance than her grandchildren, and her husband money only on the condition that he come to her grave and worship her like a deity. You would think she would be the trope namer...
- For the three people who don't know: Her. Holy crap, she's like the Beyond The Impossible of this trope.
- "Lawyer Alan Dershowitz said he once had breakfast with Leona at one of the Helmsley hotels and the waiter brought him a cup of tea with a tiny bit of water spilled on the saucer. Alan says Leona grabbed the cup from him and smashed it on the floor, then demanded that the waiter get down on his hands and knees and beg for his job."
- Her dog Trouble is a LITERAL example of this. Helmsley's will ordered a payment for whoever adopts the dog, including providing for its exquisite tastes (Helmsley provided for the dog's expenses in her will). This has become a problem, since the dog is so nasty no one wants to take care of it.
- Nevertheless, Leona Hemsley was likely the inspiration behind one of the antagonists in The Adventures Of Willy Beamish, Leona Humpford.
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