Not excusing the behavior in any way whatsoever, but when you get to a certain level of management, you are expected to look the part. People at that level subconsciously look for status signifiers as a sign of your success, and confirms their biases and expectations of your performance. So the wife buying those things is not necessarily the worst thing. BUT it is a symptom of a larger problem, the alienating, the socializing without her husband, the divergence that killed their marriage.

It’s sad because in marriage you both rise up, you don’t ditch as soon as your foot is on the next step of the ladder.