# Wife Guys Wife Guys are men online who build a public persona around their wives, posting about them so devotedly or dramatically that observers turn each new example into a joke. The archetype crystallized on Twitter in the late 2010s after Robbie Tripp's Curvy Wife post, the ProJared scandal, and Shonduras' Cliff Wife video. ## Overview Wife Guys are men who make themselves internet-famous through things involving their wives, whether about their wives' bodies, dramatic incidents involving them, or scandals that expose their carefully curated devotion[2]. The character type sits at an awkward intersection of sincerity and self-promotion, with each new Wife Guy usually getting mocked once observers spot the pattern. By May 2019 the archetype was defined enough that a Twitter user could post 'Today is another Wife Day on Twitter' and readers knew what that meant[2]. The Outline's Tom Whyman argued that being a Wife Guy was less about who you married than about what he called a 'Wife Event,' something a man did online that pivoted on a wife, whether his own or someone else's[3]. The label was applied backwards to earlier viral moments, turning each new incident into another entry in an ongoing character catalog[4]. ## How It Spread On July 30, 2017, author Robbie Tripp posted an Instagram tribute to his wife Sarah Tripp, a fashion blogger who ran Sassy Red Lipstick, praising her 'curvy' body and his own attraction to women outside conventional beauty standards[4]. BuzzFeed wrote up the post approvingly, but Twitter turned on Tripp, with users mocking the low bar of a man being applauded for finding his own wife attractive[4]. Tripp went on to monetize the viral fame with sponsorships and even a music video where he rapped about 'curvy' women, which confirmed his role as 'Curvy Wife Guy'[4]. In August 2017, Twitter user @i_zzzzzz observed that 'the best days on the internet are the ones where you can refer to the wife guy and everyone knows who you're talking about'[3]. The character multiplied in 2019. On February 23, 2019, the person behind the popular Twitter account @ElleOhHell revealed he was a man who had been posing as a female comedian, using photos of his wife as his avatar, and that the couple was divorcing[4]. In wife guy shorthand this became 'Fake Wife'[4]. Around the same period, YouTuber ProJared (Jared Knabenbauer) was accused by his wife Heidi O'Ferrall of cheating with fellow YouTuber Holly Conrad and of soliciting nudes from fans, an episode the lexicon labeled 'Elf Wife' for O'Ferrall's cosplay work[2]. The archetype hit its peak on May 23, 2019, when Snapchat-turned-YouTube personality Shaun McBride (Shonduras) uploaded 'JENNY FELL OFF THE TRAIL,' a video showing his wife Jenny tumbling roughly 14 feet down a Hawaii hiking path[2]. The dramatic cut and tearful reflection prompted mass mockery, and Twitter user @boring_as_heck posted, 'Today is another Wife Day on Twitter. In this case it's the classic Cliff Wife'[2]. New York Magazine covered the incident and formally added Cliff Wife Guy to the growing roster[2]. ## How to Use Wife Guy is less a template you post yourself than a label observers stick on you afterward. Someone typically becomes a Wife Guy after a Wife Event, Tom Whyman's term for something a man does online that pivots on his wife or another man's wife[3]. Common conventions include earnest posts praising a spouse's appearance, dramatic clips featuring a spouse in some kind of peril, or scandals that expose the gap between a curated marriage brand and reality[2]. The joke often lands when observers add a defining prefix, as in Curvy Wife Guy, Cliff Wife Guy, Elf Wife Guy, or Fake Wife Guy[4]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Wife Guys? Wife Guys are men who become internet-famous by posting about their wives so intensely or strangely that observers spot the pattern and turn them into a joke[2]. ### Where did Wife Guys come from? The label came out of Weird Twitter in the mid-2010s, drawing on Borat's 'my wife' catchphrase and the 2016 @MarkusJ email, and got its clearest example in Robbie Tripp's 2017 'curvy wife' Instagram post[3]. ### What does Wife Guys mean? It describes an online character type: a husband whose public persona is built around a 'Wife Event' or ongoing devotion posts about his spouse[3]. ### How do you use Wife Guys? You usually do not apply the label to yourself; observers apply it after you commit a Wife Event, often with a defining prefix like Cliff Wife or Elf Wife[2]. ### Is Wife Guys still popular? The archetype peaked in 2019 with the Cliff Wife, ProJared, and @ElleOhHell moments and is still used as a reference point when new examples appear[2]. ### Who is the Curvy Wife Guy? Author Robbie Tripp, who posted a viral July 30, 2017 Instagram tribute praising the 'curvy' body of his wife Sarah Tripp and later cut a music video on the same theme[4]. ### What is a Wife Event? The Outline's Tom Whyman defined it as something a man does online that involves a wife, whether his own or someone else's, and which is enough to make him famous for it[3]. ### Who is Cliff Wife Guy? Snapchat and YouTube creator Shaun McBride, known as Shonduras, whose May 23, 2019 video 'JENNY FELL OFF THE TRAIL' documented his wife Jenny's roughly 14-foot fall on a Hawaii hike[2]. ### What was the ProJared 'Elf Wife' scandal? In 2019 YouTuber Jared Knabenbauer was accused by his wife Heidi O'Ferrall of cheating with YouTuber Holly Conrad and soliciting nudes from fans, and the lexicon nicknamed the episode 'Elf Wife' after O'Ferrall's cosplay work[2]. ### What was the @ElleOhHell 'Fake Wife' reveal? On February 23, 2019, the person running the popular @ElleOhHell Twitter account, thought to be a woman with over 23,000 followers, revealed he was a man using photos of his wife as his avatar and that the couple was divorcing[4]. ### What was the 'Don't e-mail my wife' garage door? A June 2013 Reddit post showed an Illinois garage spray-painted in red with 'Don't e-mail my wife!!!!' and 'stop now,' which the Daily Mail wrote up and later writers cited as an early Wife Guy artifact[5]. ## References 1. [https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/please-my-wife-shes-very-online]() 2. [https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/05/cliff-wife-vs-curvy-wife-online-wife-guys-explained.html]() 3. [https://theoutline.com/post/7426/the-wife-guy]() 4. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/wife-guys]() 5. [https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2371254/Dont-e-mail-wife---Scorned-husband-spray-paints-furious-message-mans-garage-door.html]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/wife-guys Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library