Ugly Guy Hot Wife - Television Tropes & Idioms

A standard-issue loving housewife who married down to a hugely fat happy idiot.
- The New Yorker's review of Family Guy

A very common Dom Com 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 trope, though it's common throughout most of American television.

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 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.

This is only occasionally mentioned, in most shows where it occurs (notably Everybody Loves Raymond, 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.

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 unquestionably morally superior to her husband (at least, according to the writers, anyway). However, it's not all a good thing, as the wife has a tendency to turn into a shrill, ball-busting harpy who's obsessed with banning sex as the series progresses. Arguably and controversially might be considered Truth In Television when it concerns successful rich ugly men.

See also Beast And Beauty, and don't forget Most Writers Are Male. Don't forget, there's No Accounting For Taste.

Examples:

Everybody Loves Raymond is, of course, the shining example of this trope, as many of its 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 isn't aging so gracefully, and Patricia has used a bit of surgical help to maintain her appearance).
Raymond copycat The King Of Queens takes this to an even more ridiculous level, with portly and short Kevin James paired with about 135 pounds of makeup (and possibly other assistance) in Leah Remini.
- The producers have apparently caught on, as Remini's character has packed on a few more pounds in recent episodes.
  - However, Kevin James also serves as a real life example, as his wife is model Steffiana De La Cruz. Of course, in real life, James is famous and successful, not a mailman like in his show.
- The show didn't have too much Flanderization, however, as it was established from the beginning that Carrie isn't exactly the nicest lady in the world.
- One episode accentuates this into absurdity- Kevin James loses a noticeable but not an extreme amount of weight, and one of Carrie's friends seriously suggests that he's now as physically attractive as she is.
Will And Grace poke fun at this, with Jack and Karen searching for a new sitcom after the finale of Sex And The City. 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."
According To Jim, with Jim Belushi and Courtney Thorne-Smith.
Still Standing, with Mark Addy and Jami Gertz.
- Somewhat subverted in that neither one of them are very smart and mature.
The Drew Carey Show, with Drew and just about every woman he dates, with a few exceptions like Wanda Sykes, and the much-older Shirley Jones.
Jerry Seinfeld regularly brought home supermodels on Seinfeld.
- One could at least argue a funnyman with a reasonably successful career could do well. George Costanza on the other hand...?
Animated example: Marge and Homer from The Simpsons 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.
- Also inverted in the form of Louanne Van Houten. Although fairly plain, not particularly wealthy, a likely philanderer, and seems 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.
As do Peter and Lois Griffin of Family Guy, with a little Lampshade Hanging, as the couple was once described in a news report as "a fat man inexplicably married to an attractive redhead", along with an artist's impression of what they might look like - 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.
Film examples: In his movies, Woody Allen has dated or been married to Téa Leoni, Goldie Hawn, Helena Bonham Carter, Elizabeth Shue, Julia Roberts and Mira Sorvino, among others. Of course, given his string of real-life wives, this could also be a case of fiction imitating reality (see also, Billy Joel/Christie Brinkley).
And of course, probably the grandfather of this trope, Ralph and Alice Kramden on The Honeymooners. 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 sketchs were an 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.
- I once saw Audrey Meadows interviewed on TV (it may have been a special after Gleason died). 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.
...not to mention their animated counterparts, Fred and Wilma Flintstone of The Flintstones, as mentioned earlier in the Family Guy entry.
- Speaking of which, Wilma expected this trope to hold true of their new neighbours, the Gruesomes. It didn't.
Real life example: 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 while we're on the subject of real-life trophy wives, two words: Donald Trump.
- This troper found him to be inadequate as a trophy wife. He bitched and moaned about it constantly.
Such an old trope that even deconstructing it is one of The Oldest Ones In The Book. In the chapter of The Faerie Queene dealing with pure and 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).
- And it'd been deconstructed 200 years before that, even, by Chaucer in two of The Canterbury Tales: The Miller's Tale and The Merchant's Tale.
In the Asterix comic books, the 93-year old Geriatrix has a young and beautiful wife.
Azumanga Daioh plays this trope on the personality axis -- the creepy lolicon teacher Kimura-sensei is revealed, to his students' amazement, to be married... and his wife 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.
The Ur-Example would be Hephaestus of Greek mythology, the ugliest, deformed god, 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 Hera), just put up with it (he did ask for her) and spent as little time around her as possible.
- Actually he DID play several pranks on Aphrodite in revenge for illicit affairs, such as trapping her and Ares (her lover) in an indestructible net that he constructed.
Subverted by Roseanne, where Dan Conner (John Goodman) isn't attractive, but neither is Roseanne herself.
- Or from another perspective, Roseanne is the Star Vehicle for an unattractive woman, and she isn't blessed with a hunk of a husband.
- Or from another perspective, Dan is the hot guy while Roseanne is the plain wife. Seriously, John Goodman is a god among the gay male "bear" community.
The entire premise of the live-action Japanese series Densha Otoko which chronicles the attempts of a weakling, nerdy, geeky, otaku-type guy who is trying to date a beautiful woman with the assistance of a messaging board on the internet, after he saved her from a drunk guy on a train. Based on a real story.
Anime/Manga example: It's revealed late in Ranma 1/2 that Genma somehow has ended up married to Hot Shounen Mom Nodoka Saotome. Lampshaded 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 Genma was handsome and cool as a young man. Nodoka simply aged better.
While not a traditional sitcom, you have to admit, J.D. from Scrubs gets far more attractive women then a guy with his odd (to put it mildly) looks should get.
- Also used to cement a plot point in the Series 3 episode His Story II in which one of Elliot's patients is a hot woman with a short, fat husband. When Elliot asks why they're together, the wife says 'He was there for me without me even having to ask.' This prompts Elliot to see JD in a new way (again) after he uses some free time to take over from her in a clown show for the pediatric ward.
- My cousin finds Zach Braff attractive and he's been described as a pin-up in a magazine, so, depending on the tastes of the women, it's not that unbelievable.
While not exactly ugly, Reed Richards certainly falls on the nerdy side, and has a very hot wife. Lampshaded in 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 Ultimate Marvel's Badass Normal, Nick Fury).
Sue Storm: "I am so hot for you right now."
Johnny Storm: "...me too."
Peter Parker, same deal. By all accounts an average-looking guy who is incredibly nerdy, he still managed to date three bombshells before marrying a supermodel.
- This hasn't gone uncommented--Pete's best friend, the Human Torch, has pointed out the sheer number of gorgeous women that Spidey has dated, including Gwen Stacy, and the Black Cat.
  - Which, in the end, is actually kind of odd, considering that a lot of artists draw Peter as being a friggin' hunk. He's got a strong jaw, manly face, gorgeous eyes, and a great build. In the real world, he'd be the model. The attractiveness gulf between him and the women he dates is really more of a sidewalk crack.
  - Possibly Lampshaded in the movie, where Tobey McGuire plays Peter as a pretty standard nerdy-type, but after he gets bitten, Peter is shocked to wake up with the body of an athlete.
In Dynasty Warriors, Meng Huo, fat king of the Nanman barbarian tribe, is married to a hot babe Zhu Rong, daughter of the god of fire.
- Then again, back in those days, women generally didn't have much of a say in who they ended up marrying. Especially if the guy was rich and/or powerful.
  - Also, in those days, larger men were considered attractive, simply because their size implied that they could afford to buy lots of food.
  - Meng Huo is also a Bad Ass Large Ham who probably has another large ham between his legs.
Somewhat subverted in Home Improvement. While Patricia Richardson is no hag, she is at least believably attractive, and this male troper contends that Tim Allen was reasonably attractive as sitcoms go. 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.
Roger Rabbit of Who Framed Roger Rabbit 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.
- 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.
- 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."
Literary Example: Almost anything written by Mercedes Lackey has at least some element of this. Kethry and Talia come to mind.
- To be fair, Kethry's husband is only handicapped with severe arthritis; he's actually described as distinguished/handsome in the books.
Another real life example: find a picture of Dennis Kucinich, and then find a picture of his third wife, Elizabeth. This troper still can't figure out how that happened. This troper notes she's from his home area.
- While you're at it, do the same with Fred Thompson.
- 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 pointed out, "Power is the ultimate aphrodesiac." 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 looked like one of those pot-bellied troll dolls one used to hang from the rear view mirror of one's '67 VW Beetle.
A rare reversal of ugly wife/ hot guy in the British sitcom Vicar of Dibley, which sees plump Dawn French paired with tall dark and brooding Richard Armitage- granted she is the protagonist, and it was only in the season finale, but still. In real life, Dawn French is married to Lenny Henry.
- Depends which episodes you watch. In fact her signifigant weight gain and eventual loss was even made part of the storyline on the show.
Literary example: Mr. and Mrs. Delacour in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
The George Lopez show features the plumper Lopez with a supermodel-class wife as well.
Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee, as lampshaded on the talk show Mrs. Merton: "So, what first attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?"
Arguably inverted in Sex And The City. While Sarah Jessica Parker is not ugly as such, it is stretch to think her, er, unconventionally attractive Carrie would go out with the wealthy, traditionally handsome Big or the ruggedly attractive Aidan.
Seen in Grand Theft Auto 4, with the short, fat, unsuccessful Roman Bellic and his attractive longtime girlfriend (later wife), Mallorie.
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.
Bartre and Karla in Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken, though to be fair Bartre's not so much ugly as he is homely (especially compared to most of the handsome faces in this particular army!)
- To say nothing of anyone Ardan ends up with in Genealogy of the Holy War.
Literary example: Though Birgitte and Gaidal Cain of the Wheel Of Time 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).
This LiveScience article attempts to find some rationalization for this trope in real-life. This arguably makes this trope an example of Truth In Television, but don't consider this article the be-all and end-all. Scientifically, the jury's still out on this one.
In the manga of Air Gear, the incredibly ugly Onigiri proves a huge hit with the ladies in an air trek aerobics program, and has and 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.
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.
Gen-An Shiranui of Samurai Shodown is one of the ugliest Fighting Game characters in history. His wife is a Jungle Princess. One of his win quotes is even "No one calls me a freak and lives! ...except my wife, that is."
Inverted in Guards, Guards!, where the beefy, ruggedly handsome captain's female love interest, while not especially ugly, is rather fat. Then again, some guys are into that kinda thing.
- Also does not hurt she's the richest woman in the city, and is extremely kind, and understands his need to chase a criminal at a moments notice. Including at the wedding. Also some of the official art makes him a bit less good looking.
- Uhh..good looking? to quote the book, he is "badly-dressed, badly-shaven, badly-in need of a drink". He's no great catch, and neither is she.
In Galaxy Express & other works by Leiji Matsumoto, the impossibly beautiful Space Pirate Queen Emeraldas is hopelessly in love with the impossibly ugly Tochiro.
Taken to a ludicrous extreme in Naru Taru. Not only is Sato's fiance ugly & slow-witted, he is apparently afflicted with Downs Syndrome.
Appears even on The Sueniverse, in the case of sallow-skinned, hook-nosed, greasy-haired Severus Snape (yes, that one) and his devoted girlfriend (and later, wife), beautiful, buxom, redheaded Magda.
Wolverine from the X-Men. Not the movie version--this troper would do Hugh Jackman in a heartbeat--but the comic book where he's a short, hairy, gruff mountain man. And yet half the women in the Marvel Universe have slept with him or wanted to. Not even his former girlfriends' high mortality rates keep the ladies away.
Subverted in the film Hairspray and its subsequent adaptations, where plump Tracy Turnblad is jonesing for her teen idol classmate Linc Larkin.
Adell's parents in Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories. Even with the extra eye and tail, Mom is hot enough to attract the attention of far younger men. Dad, on the other hand, is a zombie "but without the stench."
Real Life Example: Teenage acne was NOT kind to this troper's brother, and yet he always has an attractive girlfriend or three at any given time. He has a sense of humor and the devil's charms though, and that's probably the underlying point of this trope: Your physical looks aren't as important as showing your partner a good time. Hell, this troper would rather date a 6 who's fun to be around than a 10 who's a total bore.
The Venture Bros. subverts this, as while she may be hot, most men seem put off by Dr. Ms. The Monarch's(Or just plain old Dr. Girlfriend, we're not sure) 6-packs-a-day voice.
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 was eventually 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 justify it by saying that sex became more of a chore than a pleasure when it's with someone you're married to.