Ten worst wives in movie history

Ginger in Casino
Not only was Ginger (played superbly by Sharon Stone) a philanderer, sleeping with her husband’s closest business associate, she was also a gambler and a drug addict who mingled with Mafia mobsters and tied her own daughter to her bed so she could go clubbing in Las Vegas. Frankly, Ginger was every husband’s worst nightmare.

Jane Smith in Mr & Mrs Smith
Pity poor John Smith (Brad Pitt). Shouting “honey I’m home!” on his return from the office he was as likely to get his butt-kicked as a kiss on the cheek from his deadly assassin wife, Jane (Angelina Jolie). Open the oven in Jane’s kitchen and you were more likely to find a couple of loaded snub-nosed revolvers than a roast chicken.

Jenny in Forest Gump
Heartless Jenny drifts in and out of Forest’s life for forty years, finally turning up on his doorstep seeking refuge with a son she claims is his – but only after Forest has made his fortune and Jenny has made a complete mess of her life. She dies shortly after, leaving Forest to bring up Forest Junior on his own.

Avery in Jerry Maguire
When Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) tries to dump his hot-headed wife, Avery (Kelly Preston), it could hardly go worse. “There is a sensitivity thing that some people have – I don’t have it,” she tells him, before punching him in the face, kneeing him in the groin and branding him a loser.

Lori in Total Recall
No one plays the wife from hell like Sharon Stone. Here she is yet again, this time slashing, punching and kicking husband Douglas Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) around their kitchen when he realises she is working for the shady organization sent to kill him. “Consider that a divorce,” he quips when, later in the film, he puts a bullet in her head.

Abby in Butterfly On A Wheel
(Spoiler alert here) When you find out your other half is having an affair, there are more rational things to do than team up with the cuckolded partner of his mistress and plot the mock abduction of your child. Abby (Maria Bello) should have copied Jerry Maguire’s wife and booted her cheating spouse in the nuts. Much simpler for everyone.

Cora in the Postman Always Rings Twice
Cora (a young Jessica Lange) seduces a drifter (Jack Nicholson) and convinces him to murder her Greek husband. Not because he’s been using her as a punchbag or behaving like Ryan Giggs on Viagra (or even because he smells like feta cheese), but because he’s old and, well, a bit boring. Which is a bit extreme, no?

Sheba Hart in Notes On A Scandal
It’s one thing to cheat on your husband, but doing it with an under-age pupil at the school where you work as a teacher is quite another. The self-centred Sheba (Cate Blanchett) pours humiliation on her older husband, who is eventually left to care for their daughter and disabled son on his own.

Suzanne in To Die For
Suzanne (Nicole Kidman) sets her sights on becoming a world-famous TV anchorwoman, but her husband Larry (Matt Dillon) doesn’t share her lofty ambitions. When Larry starts to talk about starting a family, Suzanne, wanting nothing to stand in the way of her career, enlists a bunch of teenagers to kill him.

Diana in Indecent Proposal
Diana (Demi Moore) slept with another guy for money. Yes, it was a whopping million dollars, and yes the guy was Robert Redford. But it’s still basically prostitution. Enough said.