Wife guy

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On social media, a wife guy is a man whose fame or public persona is substantially tied to content about his wife. [1] The term has also been applied to men who leverage their spouse to enhance social standing or brand themselves as trustworthy or relatable. [2]

Contents

History

18th-century French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, noted as an early wife guy, with his spouse Marie-Anne David - Portrait of Monsieur Lavoisier and His Wife.jpg
18th-century French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, noted as an early wife guy, with his spouse Marie-Anne

The term began circulating online alongside memes about wives, notably a much-parodied "Email to my girlfriend’s husband" in 2016. [3] [4]

Robbie Tripp’s viral 2017 Instagram post praising his spouse led media to dub him the "curvy wife guy," and the label was discussed widely in 2019 coverage across major U.S. outlets. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

Many outlets have traced antecedents for the trope. The Weird Twitter account dril is often cited for satirizing a hapless, off-screen wife character, while a 2022 Slate essay retroactively characterizes Antoine Lavoisier as a prototypical "wife guy" whose public image was shaped with the help of his wife, Marie-Anne. [1] [10] The New Yorker also points to post-women’s liberation literary fiction and film titles such as The Time Traveler's Wife and The Zookeeper’s Wife as extending the trope, and argues that “wife guy” dynamics can erase the wife’s own subjectivity. [6]

Later usage and backlash

In late 2022, the term re-entered mainstream discourse amid several high-profile stories. Time described Ned Fulmer—then a member of YouTube group The Try Guys—as the group’s "wife guy" whose brand centered on public adoration of his spouse, contextualizing his departure from the group after admitting to "a consensual workplace relationship." The article discussed how the episode was compared online to contemporaneous allegations involving Adam Levine and to discourse surrounding comedian John Mulaney. [11] Coverage in Vanity Fair explicitly framed the moment as a cautionary tale for self-described "wife guys." [12]

By mid-2020s commentary, several writers argued that "wife guy" had shifted from tongue-in-cheek descriptor to a more general pejorative for perceived performative spousal devotion. In 2025, The Atlantic described how the label "curdled into the plainly pejorative," while also defending sincere public affection toward one’s spouse. [13]

Assessments

The New York Times compared wife guys to incels, who define themselves by their inability to find a partner, in that wife guys define themselves by having found one, and expect to be congratulated for it. The paper also considered the "wife guy" phenomenon to reflect the changed status of marriage from societal default to personal achievement. [1] Similarly, MEL Magazine wrote that wife guys treated their wives as "legitimizing for a male web celebrity," and as "a measure of the husband’s influence." [14] Some outlets have argued that public figures and politicians often seek to be seen as a wife guy, in order to be seen as trustworthy and non-threatening. [2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hess, Amanda (5 June 2019). "The Age of the Internet 'Wife Guy'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 June 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  2. 1 2 Roberts, Meghan (2022-02-14). "How Enlightenment Wife Guys Paved the Way for Instagram PDA". Slate Magazine. Archived from the original on 2022-07-25. Retrieved 2022-07-25.
  3. "The Wife Email". danleonard.us. 2016-04-05. Retrieved 2025-08-15.
  4. Whyman, Tom. "Anatomy of the Wife Guy". The Outline. Retrieved 2025-08-15.
  5. "'Faux' Male Feminists Draw Ire in Hollywood (Published 2017)". 2017-09-30. Retrieved 2025-08-15.
  6. 1 2 Tolentino, Jia (2019-06-05). "Please, My Wife, She's Very Online". The New Yorker. ISSN   0028-792X . Retrieved 2025-08-15.
  7. Schwedel, Heather. "What Is the "Wife Guy"? At Least Five New Articles Have Answers for You!". Slate Magazine. Archived from the original on 2019-06-11. Retrieved 2025-08-15.
  8. Jennings, Rebecca (2019-05-24). "Two days with Curvy Wife Guy, the most controversial man in body positivity". Vox. Retrieved 2025-08-15.
  9. Brown, Dalvin. "Rise of the 'Wife Guy': Men who post about their partners at the center of a viral trend". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2025-08-15.
  10. Roberts, Meghan (2022-02-14). "How Enlightenment Wife Guys Paved the Way for Instagram PDA". Slate. ISSN   1091-2339 . Retrieved 2025-08-15.
  11. II, Moises Mendez (2022-10-05). "Everything To Know About the Try Guys Drama". TIME. Retrieved 2025-08-15.
  12. Cai, Delia (2022-09-29). "No More Mr. Wife Guy: Lessons From the Try Guys Cheating Scandal". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2025-08-15.
  13. Gordon, Jeremy (2025-06-09). "What's So Shocking About a Man Who Loves His Wife?". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2025-08-15.
  14. Klee, Miles (10 May 2019). "The Never-Ending Saga of the Online Wife". MEL Magazine. Archived from the original on 11 June 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.