Was repelling wife with revolting skin like a kipper (6)
I believe the answer is:
asleep
'like a kipper' is the definition.
(like someone sleeping)
'was repelling wife with revolting skin' is the wordplay.
'repelling' indicates named letters should be taken away.
'wife' becomes 'w'.
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'revolting' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'skin' becomes 'peel' ('peel' can be a synonym of 'skin'**).
'was' with 'w' taken out is 'as'.
'peel' in reverse letter order is 'leep'.
'as'+'leep'='ASLEEP'
(Other definitions for asleep that I've seen before include "In the Land of Nod" , "Out for the count" , "Dormant; inattentive" , "out like a light?" , "Napping" .)