Photo: urbanbuzz, Lev Radin / Shutterstock & TikTok
The tip was subpar, but at least Paltrow lectured the server about the evils of Diet Coke. It's something!
By John Sundholm — Written on Apr 10, 2023
There were many absurd moments during the Gwyneth Paltrow skiing accident trial between the actress and retired optometrist Terry Sanderson after their 2016 collision at Utah's plus Deer Valley ski resort. That whole interrogation about Taylor Swift was certainly a highlight.
But no moment seemed quite so silly and beside-the-point as Kristin VanOrman's line of questioning about Paltrow's tipping habits.
"I'm assuming—and you're under oath here," VanOrman said to Paltrow, "that you're a good tipper." Paltrow, through laughter, replied emphatically, "Yes."
But Paltrow isn't exactly known for being pleasant to wait on. And if a veteran New York City restaurant server on TikTok has anything to say about it, Paltrow might just be staring down a perjury charge for claiming otherwise.
A former restaurant server says Gwyneth Paltrow is not a good tipper and a 'wretched' customer.
Like many performers, actor and TV host Krista Lepore has done her time in the New York City restaurant trenches, which means she's seen some things. Lepore says she has waited on everyone from Jake Gyllenhaal to Rudy Giuliani to MSNBC's Ari Melber and members of the Royal Family.
Lepore has also waited on the infamously surly Jennifer Lopez—so she knows from difficult customers. But Lepore says even J.Lo was no match for Gwyneth Paltrow.
The server says Gwyneth Paltrow berated her for refilling her friend's Diet Coke.
Lepore's encounter with Paltrow happened at a famous Michelin-starred New York restaurant known for its celebrity clientele.
Lepore says Paltrow came in with three friends, one of whom "like myself, is a Diet Coke addict... a man after my own heart." So she kept refilling his Diet Coke over and over again automatically, as was the restaurant's drink policy. All went well for the first three refills, but the fourth caused all kinds of drama—not from the man actually drinking them, but from Paltrow.
"The fourth time I brought this over, she proceeds to yell at me," Lepore said. "'Stop bringing him soda!' reprimanding me." Lepore gamely tried to laugh the outburst off, "because we're all caught off guard," including Paltrow's guests.
But Paltrow was allegedly unfazed. "He doesn't need any more soda!" she allegedly yelled at Lepore. The man in question was "horrified, his eyes are real wide, he's, like, frozen," as were the other two women dining with them.
According to Lepore, Paltrow quickly filled the shocked pause with a "monologue about how horrible soda is for you and the chemicals and everything that it does for you in the body." Of course, as the founder and CEO of Goop, her lifestyle brand and empire based almost entirely on high-end, wildly expensive pseudoscience, this sort of thing was right on brand for Paltrow. What happened next though... not so much.
The server says Paltrow then began drinking alcohol even though she was pregnant with her son Moses Martin.
"She was in her third trimester," Lepore said, "because about two weeks after she left the restaurant is when they had announced she had given birth." Paltrow, who is currently dating television writer Brad Falchuk, shares daughter Apple, 18, and Moses, 17, with her ex-husband, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin.
Lepore says that while Paltrow was yelling at her about the toxicity of Diet Coke, "she reaches over her left shoulder, grabs the bottle of sake that I put in the ice bin, tops herself off, puts it back, and just proceeds to keep yelling at me."
As Lepore points out, many doctors believe a bit of alcohol is no big deal during the late stages of pregnancy. But still, what Lepore called "the hypocrisy that soda is bad, but alcohol while pregnant is good" is pretty eyebrow-raising. As Lepore bitingly put it, "Drinking alcohol while pregnant? Totally fine and healthy. Drinking Diet Coke? Not healthy at all. Got it."
"She was still married to Chris Martin at this time," Lepore says, "so she paid with his credit card and tipped 15%."
20% is of course considered the standard tipping amount, despite what the more miserly among us might tell you. But if you've spent half the night screaming at your server for, you know, doing her job? Well 15% is downright insulting.
So there you have it. Gwyneth Paltrow is not a good tipper, actually. She may have been found innocent in her skiing accident, but she perjured herself in the process, and this grave crime shall not stand. Throw the book at her! Justice must be served!
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.