Rich Bitch

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
"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. Too much money has made her evil.

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 Alpha Bitch and the Spoiled Brat often become when they grow up, and their motto is "Screw the Rules, I Have Money" Compare Gold Digger, Grande Dame. Contrast Spoiled Sweet, Uncle Pennybags, Mock Millionaire and the Ojou. Can be Truth in Television.

A Sub-Trope of Idle Rich.

No real life examples, please; calling real-life people "bitch" is an extremely bad idea.

Examples of Rich Bitch include:

Anime and Manga

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 Alpha Bitch, 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 Alpha Bitch-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.
    • Though, as the series progresses, Eva evolves into something more along the lines of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold and the viewer begans to symphathize with her.
  • Gundam Wing: Dorothy Catalonia 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. 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. She's got her gold-plated limousine, space shuttle, and, in Endless Waltz, transport carrier.
  • Axis Powers Hetalia: A parody example is Switzerland. He's a Miser, as well as being paranoid, Hot-Blooded, xenophobic, and Trigger Happy... though he's still got some Pet the Dog moments when he interacts with his sister, the little girl Liechtenstein (and his memories of his past friendship with Austria, no matter how often he denies it).
  • Ayaka Yukihiro of Mahou Sensei Negima looks like this at first glance, but it's subverted when it turns out that she's really Spoiled Sweet and simply doesn't get along well with Asuna. At least, not that they would admit.
  • Candy Candy: An extreme example is Eliza Reagan. She pretty much exemplifies this trope. Screw the Rules, I Have Money? Check. Being the Alpha Bitch? 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? 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.
  • Case Closed: A slight subversion is Sonoko/Serena. 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.
    • A real Rich Bitch, Reika Yotsui, does appear in a two-part case, in which the Mouris and Conan are invited to her birthday party after they find her lost puppy. Guess what, she's one of the two murder victims in the case, alongside one of the guys in her Unwanted Harem (Youji Nikaido). And they're killed by another member of the bitch's "harem", Takashi Ichieda, since they killed the girl he loved (the Yotsui landlady's granddaughter, Yaeko) to save their own lives some time ago.
  • 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.
Really, really not helped by the shitty treatment she got from her brothers because of her gender. In the seventh arc, nobody expected her to be pretty much the real hero of the story, acting as a Silent Scapegoat to protect Ange's image of her parents.
And also not helped by how, well, Krauss is very not fit for heirloom. He's not evil okay, but it's clear that Natsuhi and Eva were the ones with more common sense, and since he doesn't listen to them...
  • 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.
  • Honey Hunt: Yukari Shiraki, Yura's mother.
  • Ouran High School Host Club: Ayanakouji and Eclair (who's also a bit of a Clingy Jealous Girl), but none of the other rich girls suprisingly enough. With some bits of Character Development, Eclaire turns out to be quite a decent person, and ultimately she lets go of Tamaki. She's more of selfish and very naive in regards to love than truly bitchy.
  • More than one character in Ashita no Nadja, specially Fernando's aunt Simone. Subverted by Marianne Hamilton, who is selfish and blunt but truly cares for Francis and doesn't use her riches to make herself look better than she truly is.
  • Slayers NEXT gives us Martina, who starts the show off as this, but then Lina blows up her town and she becomes a poor girl obsessed with revenge. She's still a bitch though. Until almost the end.
  • Platinum Berlitz from Pokémon Special is a little bit of this in the beginning of the DPP arc, until she warms up to Diamond and Pearl.
  • B-ko from Project A-ko.
  • Bubblegum Crisis: Reika Chang sure fits.
  • Eri from School Rumble, especially to Harima. She gets much better later in the second season though.
  • Eventually subverted by Genevieve Van Heusen from Love is in the Bag.
  • Kodachi from Ranma ½.
  • Ayeka from Tenchi Muyo! also possesses these qualities from time to time, especially when dealing with Ryoko. When not ticked off, she's more like The Ojou.
  • Aya Misaki from Oniisama e.... Her father is a famous lawyer and she's got money, looks and a good family, so when she doesn't get a spot in the Sorority, she begins to abuse Mariko and Nanako for getting in instead of her. Slightly subverted in the anime, where episode 30 gives some insight in her train of thoughts, and it's not pretty. She ends up having a Heel Face Turn.
  • Saya Takagi from Highschool of the Dead, as the daughter and heiress of a super cash-loaded and super crazy right-wing politician.

Comic Books

  • Veronica from Archie Comics, although she's often been portrayed as really having a heart of gold deep down, with enough Pet the Dog moments that a nastier rich bitch character has been introduced by the name of Cheryl Blossom.
  • Emma Frost started out as a villain, so her bitchiness was from extreme ambition. Now her bitchiness is from being spoiled and bratty.
  • The Wasp started out as this (and stayed as this for nearly twenty years of issues) in the original Avengers reality, spending most of her time being flighty and inane. Later writers tried to give her a personality beyond it by having her "grow up" a little, but how much it actually sticks is highly Depending on the Writer. The Ultimate Marvel Wasp fell into the same trap, being written as a classic Asian Airhead (and arguably, this version came off as worse, since she had scientific doctorates instead of a socialite/fashion background). In the Marvel Adventures 'verse, Janet (Giant Girl in this continuity) avoids this entirely, coming off more as a Spoiled Sweet if anything. This is probably why she has a much bigger fanbase than any of her other incarnates.
  • Ava Lord of Sin City takes this Up to Eleven and turns out to be manipulative and pure evil as well. She ends up tricking Dwight into killing her husband so she can not only get his estate but his criminal organization as well.
  • Lola Palooza from Cherry Comics.

Film

Literature

Austen also has textbook examples in Fanny Dashwood and Elizabeth Elliot, and, of course, Lady Catherine du Burgh, who defines this trope.
  • The House of Night: Aphrodite, who later becomes somewhat of a Defrosting Ice Queen. But only somewhat.
  • Clarissa from the Bloody Jack series.
  • Jennifer-the-Jerk Is Missing: Eight year old rich girl Jennifer, nicknamed Jennifer-the-Jerk by her classmates, kidnapped for ransom, along with the driver paid to take her to camp. Jennifer's busy making her captors' lives miserable with her brattiness, and is so bratty, she acts like a bitch to her rescuers, one of whom says he prefers her tied and gagged.
  • Massie Block from The Clique series.
  • Dame Olga and her daughters Olive and Hattie from Ella Enchanted.
  • Tyburn in Rivers of London. Likes to boast about her political friends, her connections and dinners at the Houses of Parliament. An utter Jerkass whose own family applauded when the hero slaps down her Reason You Suck Speech with his own World of Cardboard Speech.
  • In Death: A number of characters, murder victims and murderers are very much this. Pandora in Immortal In Death becomes an Asshole Victim early on. Winnie and Moriarity are murderous, rich bastards in Indulgence In Death.
  • Ellen Salpakari in Väinö Linna's Täällä Pohjantähden alla.
  • The Chalet School series has Thekla von Stift, Marie von Eschenau's cousin and one of the main characters in Exploits of the Chalet Girls. As a member of the Junker class, she expresses horror at having to be educated alongside 'the daughters of shopkeepers', and looks down on most of the other students, such as Sophie Hamel, whose father is a self-made businessman. Her arrogant and childish behaviour makes her greatly unpopular amongst the other kids, and although she does thaw out a tiny bit - this being the Chalet School - after her petticoat catches fire, she still has a cruel streak and is eventually expelled in A Rebel at the Chalet School.

Live Action TV

  • Alexis Carrington on Dynasty.
  • Julie Cooper on The OC.
  • Desperate Housewives is made of this. Bree, Edie, Gabrielle, Katherine and Renee all qualify at various times in the series. It may be quicker to just say Lynnette, Susan and Mrs. Mc Clusky are the only ones who don't fit the description.
  • 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. After the first season, her character developed into the Lovable Alpha Bitch. By the time she was introduced in the spin-off, she was a Fallen Princess got even more character development by the time the spin-off was cancelled.
  • 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. Hannah Montana herself also qualifies from time to time.
  • Servalan from Blakes Seven . Alexis Carrington meets Big Brother and gets fashion tips from Anna.
  • Bewitched: Sheila Summers is one of Darrin's rich, snobby former girlfriends. She invites Darrin and Samantha to her house for a posh dinner party then attempts to steal him away from her. Of course Samantha uses her powers to put Sheila in her place.
  • Two and A Half Men. Evelyn is the epitome of this trope.
  • Smallville: Manipulative Bastard Tess Mercer is a villainous version.
  • Karen from Will and Grace.
  • Niles' vicious, hysterical, snobbish wife Maris from Frasier. She uses her money to hire an army of lawyers to thoroughly torture Niles out of spite during their messy divorce.
  • In a flashback in Power Rangers RPM, we learn that yellow Ranger Summer was like this in the past, albeit of the Jerk with a Heart of Gold variety. In the year leading up to the show's proper start, she had undergone a massive attitude shift and is very reasonable and personable, however.
  • The episode of The Closer, "The Butler Did It" featured a family of suspects of whom their characteristics were of both this trope and Big Screwed-Up Family.

Music

Professional Wrestling

  • "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase's motto was that everybody had a price. He regularly pulled a Screw The Rules, I have Money.
His son, who goes by the same name, is repeatedly trying to state now that he's a very different person than this father, all while stuffing dollar bills in people's mouths, buying people off, and carrying the Million Dollar Belt around due to being unable to win one himself.
  • When he first arrived in the WWF, Triple H was Hunter Hearst Hemsley, American blue blood from Greenwich.
  • For that matter, all of the McMahon family have played up this trope, but especially Stephanie.
  • One of the facets of Ric Flair's "Nature Boy" gimmick was that he had enough money to get away with being a jackass sometimes.
  • After he invested heavily in a popular energy drink whose stock dramatically rose in 2004, former APA (for "Acolytes Protection Agency") member Bradshaw transformed seemingly overnight from a beer-swilling, Texas trailer park brawler to a fabulously wealthy Wall Street tycoon known by his real name of John Layfield (or, to be more specific, John "Bradshaw" Layfield, or "JBL" for short). JBL turned his back on his Texas roots, billing himself from New York City and entering arenas in a beautiful white limousine. In the ring, however, he was still just as tough as ever - only now he was a bully who enjoyed beating up on smaller wrestlers, particularly Rey Mysterio. JBL did manage to defeat WWE Champion Eddie Guerrero (in controversial fashion, it is true) and become the longest-reigning world champion in the history of SmackDown!, but this was thanks to the constant interventions of his "Cabinet" (Orlando Jordan and the Basham Brothers), who gladly put their own asses on the line so their ultra-wealthy boss could weasel his way out of defeats.
  • Somewhat subverted with Wade Barrett, who was introduced as someone who will do just about anything for money, but aside from that mention, that hasn't been a part of his character at all.

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 constantly denies that Link saved her from Ganon. Alma is worse, though, spending most of her time looking at herself in a mirror.
  • 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.
    • In the first two versions of Street Fighter 3, Dudley was a more or less straight example of this, only entering the tournament to get his father's Jaguar back, and calling all his opponents sissy men and cowards in his win quotes. In Third Strike and Super Street Fighter 4? Why, he's one of the most charming gentlemen to ever exist in a fighting game, to the point where his win quotes in his first two games seem hilariously out of character.
  • 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.
    • Pinky, the only girl in the Preppies clique, is a Rich Bitch Classic... except for when she's being Spoiled Sweet. She swings between bitch and sweet so quickly and suddenly it's almost like she has a split personality.
  • 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.
  • BioShock (series): Some of the lady Splicers 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.

Web Original

  • Whateley Universe: Solange (Tansy Walcutt). 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.
  • Cleo De Nile, the mummy princess from Monster High.
  • 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 Alpha Bitch.
  • The Nostalgia Chick has impossibly high standards for everyone (including herself), is Wicked Cultured and can't even face giving some change to the resident Adorkable bum.
  • Weiss Schnee of RWBY comes across this way during her first few appearances, but turns out to actually be a (mostly) nicer person than her initial impression would suggest.

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.
    • Except for Sam in Danny Phantom, who is down-to-earth and even hides her affluence so that she doesn't get any special treatment. Her parents may qualify, although they're really just Jewish WASPs who are overly concerned with their image.
  • 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.
  • Muffy Crosswire from Arthur. Although she's not as bad as most examples on this page.
  • Princess from the Powerpuff Girls definitely deserves a mention.
  • Tiny Toon Adventures: Male version—Montana Max.
    • Roderick and Rubella Rat, as well as all the other students of Perfecto Prep. TTA really like this trope.
  • Doug: Averted by Bebe Bluff 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 Narcissism 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.
  • Jimmy Two-Shoes gives us Jez, Lucius' gold digging girlfriend.
  • Sabrina the Teenage Witch: Gem Stone from the Sabrina animated series. Paid fellow students to do everything for her (Even be her friend) and seemed to be unable to understand that they only tolerated her for her money (Even in the Christmas Carol episode where she was shown even her parents hated being around her and her nanny screaming in glee that she was finally free when Gem died).
  • Ned's Newt: The teenager Rusty McCabe. He sometimes randomly receives luxurious gifts in the middle of his classes, and invokes Screw the Rules, I Have Money something fierce. He also competes with the Adorkable protagonist for a girl's affections.
  • Hey Arnold!: Rhonda has a tendency to be this, although it's not as bad as other examples on this page.
  • Sasha Caylo of Titan Maximum certainly qualifies - she looks proudly smug when Palmer calls her a raging bitch.
  • Eustace Strytch from Jimmy Neutron is a male version of this - constantly using and abusing everyone, including his own father, and focusing all his resources on one goal - SMASHING NEUTRON. Oh, and possibly using Cindy, too, just for the hell of it.
  • Aria of Rollbots is the mayor of Flip City, and she's rich and can't even remember the names of the people she knows.
  • Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara from My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic fits quite well. Both came from rich families and they often tease Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle because they're "blank flanks."
    • We later find out that Diamond Tiara's the only actual bitch of the two.
      • Rarity encounters Jet Set and Upper Crust in Canterlot. They're not only preppy rich bitches, but they're also the nauseatingly smug couple you love to hate.