Hell hath no fury like Midwestern women with Krazy Glue. A married man from Wisconsin who thought he was in for a passionate motel rendezvous with his lover last week instead found himself in a very sticky situation. He was beaten, blindfolded and had his penis glued to his stomach in an assault allegedly carried out by his wife, two mistresses, and another woman who were tired of being played by him. All four women face charges.

Taking extreme measures to get even with a lover isn't anything new. Taking revenge on a romantic partner has turned laypeople into unlikely celebrities and made some celebrities infamous.

Lorena Bobbitt

After an alleged assault by her husband, the Virginia woman sliced off her husband's penis while he slept. Following the impromptu surgery, she hit the road in her car and threw her hubby's snipped-off member out the window.

Oddly enough, her husband, John Bobbitt, was the one to get the last laugh. While his wife was acquitted of the charges of assault by reason of insanity, she was sent to a psychiatric hospital. Mr. Bobbitt's penis was found on the side of the road and reattached, and he was acquitted of the rape charge pressed by his wife. Later, he cashed in on his notoriety with starring roles in the skin flicks John Wayne Bobbitt: Uncut and Frankenpenis .

Nora Ephron

Unlike Ms. Bobbitt, journalist and screenwriter Nora Ephron found the pen was mightier than the sword. When Ms. Ephron discovered her husband Carl Bernstein (the Washington Post reporter of Watergate fame) had been sleeping with Margaret Jay, the wife of the British ambassador, she decided to get even by getting rich. She penned the thinly veiled roman à clef Heartburn about a Washington political columnist who cheats on his writer wife. The success of the book prompted Ms. Ephron to write a screenplay, which was developed into a film of the same name starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson. A humiliated and enraged Mr. Bernstein threatened to sue Ms. Ephron, but never did.

Lisa (Left Eye) Lopes

After Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, late member of R&B group TLC, alleged her boyfriend Andre Rison had been unfaithful and abused her, she decided one night to turn her fiery rage into fiery revenge. A heated argument with the Atlanta Falcons wide receiver in 1994 got much more heated when Ms. Lopes set a fire that destroyed Mr. Rison's $2-million (U.S.) house.

But after the blaze died down, so did Ms. Lopes's anger. When she had her day in court, she arrived holding Mr. Rison's hand. She pleaded guilty to arson and told the court: “If I could turn back the hands of time I would, but I can't.”

In a documentary years later, she said she never meant to burn Mr. Rison's house down. “I was just trying to barbecue his tennis shoes,” she said.

Nick Carter

Baby-faced Backstreet Boy Nick Carter thought he'd hit the jackpot when he won the affections of heiress Paris Hilton, but three months into their relationship his friends told him the woman famous for being famous had another blond on the side: One Tree Hill star Chad Michael Murray. Mr. Carter rallied back by slipping under the sheets with singer Ashlee Simpson – the heiress's rival – who later told Ms. Hilton what happened. When Mr. Carter admitted he'd been unfaithful, Ms. Hilton maintained that she had never cheated.

“I got so burnt over that … with all this swinging and switching. Whatever happened to morals and values?” he said in an interview with the New York Post.

Justin Timberlake

Rumours about cheating swirled when the king and queen of bubblegum pop – Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears – announced their split in 2002.

A few months after the highly publicized breakup, Mr. Timberlake released the Billboard chart-topping single Cry Me a River . The video depicts Mr. Timberlake spying on a look-alike of Ms. Spears in her home. After she leaves the house with another man, Mr. Timberlake breaks in, tapes himself getting frisky with another woman in the bedroom, and leaves the tape playing on the TV for his cheating partner to find when she returns. Mr. Timberlake denied the video was about his ex. When Ms. Spears was asked about the video in an MTV interview, she simply said, “Boys will be boys.”

Tricia Walsh-Smith

Tricia Walsh-Smith has been searching for fame as an actress and recording artist, but her biggest break to date has been her real-life role as a vengeful divorcee.

When her millionaire husband Philip Smith filed for divorce and gave her an eviction notice, she made a YouTube video that generated millions of hits. In it, she described Mr. Smith – 25 years her senior – as a “mean, bad husband.” As the cameras rolled, she called her ex's office and told the receptionist she and Mr. Smith had never had sex, but that she had found a cache of sexual paraphernalia in their apartment.

“Just ask him what he wants me to do with the condoms, the porn movies and the Viagra. We're filming for YouTube,” she instructed the receptionist.

Eminem

If you've ever dated Eminem, take this simple advice: don't ever, ever deny it. The victim of the famously offensive rapper's latest diss is singer Mariah Carey. Ms. Carey had previously dismissed rumours that she'd dated Eminem and tickled the bear by dressing in drag for the video for her single Obsessed , which Eminem claims to be a parody of him.

He brought out the big guns last week to fire back at Ms. Carey and her husband, Nick Cannon, with the lewd and misogynistic track The Warning .

In it, he threatens to release phone messages Ms. Carey left on his voice mail if she continues to deny their relationship. He then describes explicit details from his alleged sexual history with Ms. Carey and says he isn't afraid to go further: “But if I'm embarrassing me, I'm embarrassing you and don't you dare say it isn't true/As long as the song's getting airplay I'm dissing you.”

Getting unstuck

It's hard to avoid the numerous warnings on a Krazy Glue package that say the product can bond to skin and cause irritation. But if you ever find yourself blindfolded and at the mercy of someone armed with the impossibly strong substance, worry not – there is a way to get unstuck.

The manufacturer recommends soaking the area in nail polish remover or acetone, and then peeling or rolling – but not pulling – the skin apart. Those solvents could burn the delicate regions of the body.