JOIN USIn the bizarre case, Leicester-based Dalwara Singh, secretly laced his wife's food and drink with the drug between November last year and January, which caused her to sprout hair on her face and back and made her skin itchy and spotty.
Singh has been banned from seeing his wife, reports from Leicester said.
When the wife said she needed to see a doctor, Singh told her she was worrying over nothing.
At the Leicester Crown Court yesterday, Singh admitted administering a poison or noxious substance with intent to injure, aggrieve or annoy.
Singh was given a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to attend a domestic abuse programme.
He was also made the subject of a restraining order, banning contact with his estranged wife other than through solicitors or social services.
After several weeks of secretly feeding the steroid to his wife, he was eventually caught when their teenage daughter heard him grinding a pestle and mortar in the bedroom.
The wife then found the steroids in a locked cupboard and called the police, the reports said.
Giving Singh a suspended jail sentence, Judge Ebraham Mooncey said he had escaped prison by the skin of his teeth.
Judge Mooncey said "You may have been doing it to make her give up her job, gain weight and stay indoors – and make her want you and rely on you.
"It was a well-planned exercise and you say you gave her the steroids at least four or five times.
It's had a terrible effect on her, causing long-term emotional harm."
The couple had been married for 17 years and have a son and a daughter, aged 15 and 16.
Caroline Bray, prosecuting lawyer, said Singh gave his wife the drugs to keep her at home.
She said: "He wanted to stop her from going out for walks, because he wanted her to be at home to cook for him and look after the children.
"He said he didn't consider the side effects and intended to stop."
The court was also told that Singh had been verbally and physically abusive to his wife in the past.
David Martin-Sperry, lawyer for Singh, said his client was "deeply embarrassed and ashamed".
He told the court: "It's a truly bizarre case. It was done surreptitiously, but it's different from administering strychnine or some such poison.
"He moved out of the family home, although continues to pay the bills, and now finds himself living alone with limited access to his children."