Through the wringer

This is inspired by an article about Taylor Swift, which contains the following:

So Taylor Swift may not be dealing with hampering toils of life — coming up with rent or job hunting in this economy like the rest of us — but where amore and being a mega-star is concerned, she has been through the ringer.

A person hasn't been "through the ringer." He or she has been "through the wringer." Probably younger people don't know what a wringer is. Here's a picture of what the phrase means, from Sleep and Salami.

When I was four or five I was helping my mother do the laundry (except we called it "doing the wash") and when I poked something into the wringer and my little hand followed the article of clothing right through. Having had that experience, it annoys me to see "through the ringer," as if there were something bell-like about it.