5 celebrities with a reputation for being rude to waitstaff: from Meghan Markle’s need for privacy when first dating Prince Harry, to James Corden, Anna Wintour and poor tipper Tiger Woods
- Markle and Wintour were both named and shamed by maitre d’ Michael Cecchi-Azzolina for diva behaviour at Le Coucou, while Corden was called ‘a tiny Cretin of a man’ by Balthazar’s Keith McNally
- Tiger Woods would reportedly make his date do all the tipping, and was seen re-pocketing US$5 left for a waitress after realising he’d already tipped her – while playing a US$10,000 hand of blackjack
They may have millions in the bank – and have almost certainly had their fair share of freebies thanks to their fame – but some stars aren’t as generous as you might expect.
Still, in the era of social media, it’s more likely than ever that bad tippers will be exposed by disgruntled servers, and celebs who are rude to waitstaff are being called out too.
These stars are all alleged to be the worst offenders …
1. Tiger Woods
In 2011, the Miami New Times put together its list of the Top Ten Cheapest Celebrity Tippers – with Tiger Woods sitting pretty in the top spot. The newspaper reported an incident in which Woods – while playing a US$10,000 hand of blackjack, no less – “pulled a mulligan on a US$5 tip, re-pocketing the money meant for a waitress after realising he had tipped her earlier in the evening”.
Per the same outlet, another woman reported that she’d had to pay all the tips whenever they would go out together. Mindy Lawton, a restaurant hostess who had a 14-month affair with Woods, also told Vanity Fair in 2010 that her co-workers had complained the golfing legend was a bad tipper too.
2. James Corden
Restaurateur Keith McNally called Corden “a tiny Cretin of a man” and “the most abusive customer to my Balthazar servers since the restaurant opened 25 years ago” on his Instagram account. Corden allegedly “began yelling like crazy to the server: ‘You can’t do your job!’” – after his wife’s omelette order came out incorrectly. Corden apologised publicly for his “unnecessary” behaviour, as reported in US Weekly, and McNally wrote in a follow-up post on Instagram, “All is forgiven.”
3. Jeremy Piven
