Which Real Housewife Has the Worst Husband?

Father’s Day is upon us, and to celebrate we decided to reflect on the men of the Real Housewives franchises. While some husbands have proven to be devoted, loving men supporting their wives’ desire for fame (looking at you, Mauricio and Ken), others (neigh, almost all) real husbands are scamming, machismo-ridden, unfaithful little worms.

The husbands on this list rank among the worst for different reasons. One left his sick wife after the show; one may have had an alleged texting affair with another housewife, and then went to prison; one is Michael Darby.

In fact, we had a plethora of awful spouses to choose from. What about Dennis, Porsha’s “hot dog king” fiancé who cheated on her while pregnant? Didn’t make the cut. Tom, of Luann’s very brief marriage fame, caught making out with another woman at a bar? In the Housewives world, that is pretty much expected. What about all the husbands responsible for messy divorces, like Bethenny’s ex, Jason, or Michael Wainstein (of RHONY one-season-wonder, Jules)? PLEASE! A messy divorce does not put you in the top five here.

There is, however, one terrible husband scandal that is still unfolding—Tom Girardi, who only appeared on the show as an avuncular, steadfast much older husband to Erika Jayne, seems to be allegedly responsible for the worst scam Housewives has ever seen. But is he still as bad as Michael Darby?

Just how villainous is Ashley’s spouse on Real Housewives of Potomac? Well, he allegedly (and the emphasis really is on “allegedly”) had a lover found on Grindr, has a penchant for grabbin’ butts (including Andy Cohen’s), said he would perform sexual acts on another cast husband, cut off Ashley’s mother financially—because he disapproved of her partner!—convinced Ashley to go reconnect with her birth father, and was caught in a hotel room in his underpants with another woman. Again, allegedly.

Wow, that’s a lot. But is it as bad as Joe Giudice going to prison, getting deported, and starting a brawl at a christening? Let’s find out.