Trophy Wife: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''A friend of mine has a trophy wife, but apparently, it wasn't first place. ''|Steven Wright }}

She is often seen as a contrast to the first wife. If the first wife is the sympathetic character, she sacrificed her own career prospects and youth to support her husband's advancement during the long hard early years only to be summarily dumped for the younger, prettier trophy wife. If the second wife is meant to be sympathetic, then the first wife is a nagging, emasculating harridan who only ever cared about the social status and wealth she'd eventually pushed her husband into, while the second wife truly cares about him as a person and understands his inner creative urges.

Contrast [[Gold Digger]] and [[Meal Ticket]].

[[No Real Life Examples, Please]].

=== Trophy wives [[Film]] ===

* The murder victim's wife from ''[[Legally Blonde]]''.

* ''[[Bill and Ted (Filmfilm)|Bill and Ted]]'': In ''Excellent Adventure'' Bill's dad has divorced his mother and gotten married to Missy, who is only three years older than his son. In ''Bogus Journey'' they have split up and now Ted's dad is the one married to Missy.

* ''[[Mona Lisa Smile (Filmfilm)|Mona Lisa Smile]]'' is about the art professor teaching all the girls at Wellesley to actually apply themselves and learn. In the 1950s and earlier, the whole point of a woman going to college was to find a husband to whom they could become a well-converse, good little trophy wife.

* ''[[The First Wives Club]]'' is about women who get dumped, often to be replaced by trophy wives. Phoebe, the self-absorbed starlet, and Shelly, the empty-headed gold-digger, are the two most prominent trophy second wives, who help inspire the women they've replaced to create the club.

* In the ''[[James Bond (Filmfilm)|James Bond]]'' films, a few of the women Bond manages to maneuver into a [[Sex Face Turn]] are the villain's neglected or duped trophy wife. [[Disposable Woman|Paris Carver]] in ''[[Tomorrow Never Dies (Film)|Tomorrow Never Dies]]'' is one of the later examples.

* Jennifer Coolidge's character in ''[[Best in Show]]'' is a spoof example in the [[Gold Digger]] vein, and, unusually, {{spoiler|is cheating with another woman, not a man.}}

* ''[[Rollerball (Film1975 film)|Rollerball]]'' (original version): Jonathan had a trophy wife bestowed on him for his success, but he really did care for her. Then she was taken away from him and given to an executive. This seems to be completely normal behavior in that verse.

* In "''[[The Jerk"]]'', Steve Martin's boss (Jackie Mason) brings his hot wife to the garage to explain the importance of keeping the place safe. Without such a lucrative business how could he, of all people, get and keep such a woman? He explains that if anything happened to the business she'd leave him in a second. She nods in agreement.

=== [[Literature]] ===

* [[TinkerThe TailorQuest Soldierfor SpyKarla|George Smiley's]] wife Anne is arguably an example of the unfaithful type.

=== [[Live-actionAction TV]] ===

* Katherine Wellington from ''[[HarpersHarper's Island]]''. She even admits it.

* Jane Siegel Sterling on ''[[Mad Men]]''. Roger Sterling throws over his wife of many years, Mona, for his sexy secretary. He soon tires of her, although she seems sincerely devoted to him. Don Draper marries his sexy secretary at the end of Season 4.

* The Master's wife {{spoiler|Lucy Saxon}} in the revived ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' was chosen for her pliability and her family connections, making her a fairly straightforward example of a trophy wife. However, even finding out his true nature doesn't shake her loyalty to him. {{spoiler|After he abuses her, [[The Dog Bites Back|she fatally shoots him]] and, still later, sacrifices her life to sabotage his resurrection and leave him with a bad case of [[Came Back Wrong]].}}

* [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] on ''[[Lois and Clark]]'', where the [[Obfuscating Stupidity|seeming trophy wife]] of Intergang's boss swiftly takes over and proves to be her husband's equal in brains and ruthlessness after he is imprisoned.

* ''[[Modern Family]]''{{'}}s Gloria Delgado-Pritchett is a surprisingly sympathetic example of a trophy wife.

* In [[Two and Aa Half Men]], Charlie sleeps with an old man's trophy wife without knowing she was married. He wasn't too happy about it.

{{quote| '''Evelyn:''' Did my son polish your trophy wife?}}

=== [[Newspaper Comics]] ===

* From ''[[Barney and Clyde (Comic Strip)|Barney and& Clyde]]'' we have J. Barnard Pilsbury's second wife Lucretia.

=== Theater[[Theatre]] ===

* In the form of an [[Unbuilt Trope]], this is premise of [[Henrik Ibsen]]'s play ''[[A Dolls House (Theatre)|A DollsDoll's House]]''.

=== [[Western Animation]] ===

* Ashley-Amber from ''[[Daria]],'', [[Dumb Blonde|Brittany]]'s stepmother. A former beer spokeswoman, she met her husband at a photo shoot; he is significantly wealthy and presumably quite a bit older, given his children's ages. Interestingly, [[All There in the Manual|a tie-in book notes]] that she's been learning about joint property law behind her husband's back.

* The Fleur-de-lis pony from ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]''.

=== Trophy husbands ===

=== [[Music]] ===

* ''[[Tom Lehrer]]''s song [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHtWoTWmmiQ A"Alma"] is a ballad dedicated to Alma Mahler-Werfel, a socialite, whowhom he praises for managing to marry three of the greatest minds of the day and having the raciest obituary he had ever had the pleasure of reading.

* Trace Adkins's recent2009 song [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8pcEl5ItXM "Marry for Money."] Toldis from the perspective byof a Trophy Husband who doesn't care about love or looks, as long as she's rich.

=== [[Western Animation]] ===

* In ''[[The Simpsons (Animationanimation)|The Simpsons]]'', when Marge became a successful businesswoman, Homer met up with other Trophy Husbands who try to teach him about their way of life.