Top 10 Most Outrageous TV Wives

They say well-behaved women seldom make history. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’re counting down the top 10 worst wives on TV.

For this list, we’re looking at wives from television shows and are selecting the ones that we wouldn’t really want to be married to. However, we’re not including wives from reality show or any shows set in medieval times, like “Vikings” or “Game of Thrones,” as we want to focus on relatively modern relationships. Since we’ll be talking about all the bad stuff these ladies are capable of, a SPOILER ALERT is probably in order.

Devious, calculating, and manipulative, President David Palmer’s wife (and eventual ex-wife) is not only a terrible person, but also an especially awful wife. Considering she’s covered up murders, committed treason, and even convinced a woman to have an affair with her husband in order to get information, her morals are certainly questionable.  What’s more, she essentially kills a man by yelling at him to the point that he has a heart attack, prevents his wife from giving him life-saving meds AND throws her husband, the President, under the bus by exposing his role in covering up the death! Although they get divorced, Sherry is able to continue making President Palmer’s life hell for as long as she can.

Julia begins this plastic surgery-focused drama as a highly emotionally unstable woman, mostly due to her tumultuous relationship with her husband. This is exacerbated by her feelings for Sean’s partner, Christian, who, as it turns out, is the real father of their son. It’s difficult to see why these men are so caught up in this love triangle, as Julia proves again and again that she’s really nothing but trouble. She behaves inappropriately while married, and is very wishy-washy when it comes to choosing whether she wants to stay with her husband, leave him for Christian or whatever else she decides to do. Usually, she goes for the third option, leaving both men hanging. 

The mother of Laura Ingalls’ nemesis is certainly not a pleasant wife. Running the town mercantile with an iron fist, she often uses her wealth and influence to manipulate the citizens of Walnut Grove and spread gossip. She spoils her daughter, Nellie, which causes her to grow into a complete brat, and she highly mistreats her much kinder husband, Nels. While her love for her daughter is admirable, she tends to be a ruthless bully like her daughter, which irritates the more sensible residents - her husband included. After Nellie moves out, she adopts yet another daughter, Nancy, and you can guess how she turned out.

Many of these wives are on this list for their awful behavior in a marriage, but Julie takes it up a notch with TWO horrendous marriages, and many other more casual relationships. She may initially seem like a simple, materialistic housewife, but that’s just a part of her game. After marrying and later divorcing Jimmy for his money, she begins to date and eventually marry Caleb, all the while having an affair with her daughter’s ex-boyfriend, and later her own ex-husband. She also has a habit of popping pills, almost murders her husband, and tries to frame someone else for a shooting. At least she keeps busy!

Instead of being a stereotypical housewife like most other sitcom wives of the time, Peg is a lazy, narcissistic shopaholic. As her husband Al describes, she is a part of “the Bundy curse,” which runs in his family and makes them all unhappy. She refuses to do any work around the house, but still finds reasons, usually unfounded, to nag Al. Furthermore, she spends far too much money, and frequents several strip clubs; with some even instituting “the Bundy rule” that bans women from meeting dancers in the back rooms because of her. Despite all her faults, as a viewer, it's hard to complain about her behavior, especially since it’s one of most important ingredients in this classic comedy.

The shrill, nagging wife tends to be an unfortunate trope in television. However, Susie manages to be an absolutely hysterical supporting character. She’s prone to fits of shouting and cursing at anyone who crosses her, usually for relatively frivolous reasons. Her most common victim is her husband, Jeff, who is a serial cheater, a fact that makes her demeanor a bit more understandable, if not entirely justified. She’s abusive, she’s mean, and she’s loud, always without fail. As terrible as she may be, her extreme overreactions do provide the series with some of its most memorable moments.

A zombie apocalypse would undoubtedly be a trying experience for anyone, but come on, having an affair with your (presumably) dead husband’s best friend after just a few weeks? When it turns out that Rick is actually alive, Lori spends the rest of her time unable to decide between him and Shane, driving a wedge between them and hurting everyone’s relationship with one another. To her credit, her final moments on the show, when she sacrifices her life for her child’s, does a lot to help redeem her. But while she may have some sympathetic moments, that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be a nightmare to be married to her.

Being Walter White must be more stressful than most of us could even imagine, and his wife definitely doesn’t make that any easier. Throughout the show’s run, viewers were highly critical of Skyler and her decisions, as her default reaction setting seems to be rage. We have to cut her a bit of slack since her husband is a meth cooker. However, she’s rather morally indecisive on the matter, as she is at first disgusted, but then wants in. She’s also not above being manipulative, using her pregnancy to avoid being arrested, and having an affair to spite her husband, whom she eventually comes to despise. Jeez, Walt is no hero, but that’s rough.

Now, it’s perfectly understandable why Betty is a terrible wife. It would be difficult not to be when married to one of TV’s most famous womanizers. Still, she spends the first few seasons of “Mad Men” changing her mind rapidly about whether or not she should stay with Don, to the point where viewers could get whiplash. Oh, and let’s not forget the time she picks up a random guy at a bar WHILE PREGNANT. If you think she’d be any better in her second marriage, you’d be wrong; she eventually cheats on her new husband with Don. You almost have to feel sorry for Betty, as Don basically made her a bad wife. But then again, she was not a great person to begin with… 

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:

- Vera Bates
“Downton Abbey” (2010-15)

- Peggy Blumquist
“Fargo” (2014-)

- Melissa ‘Mrs. Ari’ Gold
“Entourage” (2004-11)

- Lynette Scavo
“Desperate Housewives” (2004-12)

Edie Falco may be the queen of bad TV wives, as she won Emmys for her roles in both “The Sopranos” and “Nurse Jackie.” But she really shines when she takes center stage as this pill-addicted, cheating, lying ER nurse. To her credit, she can lie and scheme her way out of almost any situation. But when it comes down to it, she chooses her addiction over her family. Watching her spiral out of control is a sad and frustrating, but strangely entertaining experience. Don’t worry though, she gets hers when her husband leaves her. Wait...she leaves her husband? For cheating on her? When she did the same thing? Damn it, Jackie.

Do you agree with our list? Who do you think is the worst wife on TV? For more spousal top tens published every day, subscribe to WatchMojo.