Donnie Wahlberg Left Waitress Crying with His Tip & Note — 7 Celebrities Whose Tipping Habits Stood Out

• Donnie Wahlberg once brought a waitress to tears after dining in the restaurant where she worked and leaving her a tip.
• Inspired by Wahlberg's gesture, Tom Selleck did something similar when he ate at a restaurant in New York City.
• Many other celebrities made headlines for their tipping habits, some more generous than others.

When celebrities dine in restaurants, they immediately draw attention. Some even make headlines for how they conduct themselves, the way they treat the waitstaff, or how much they tip.

Through the years, stories from random people have emerged, revealing the dining and tipping habits of some celebrities. Many stood out as being extremely generous, while others were deemed stingy. Here are some of the celebrities who made news.

1. Donnie Wahlberg

In 2020, there was a challenge sweeping the world called the "Tip Challenge," where people were urged to tip significantly more than the standard. One of the first celebs to take on the challenge was Donnie Wahlberg.

The New Kids On The Block alum and his wife, Jenny McCarthy, stopped at an IHOP on January 1, 2020. The couple's cheque totaled $78.45, but Wahlberg left a whopping tip of $2,020 to reflect the new year. He wrote a note for his female server on the receipt, wishing her a Happy New Year, and added "2020 Tip Challenge" at the bottom.

Wahlberg's server was a young woman named Bethany Provencher, who opened up about the encounter after. She shared:

"I just started crying. I couldn't believe it. I mean, who does that? God put him there for a reason for me, and I know that. It's the greatest thing to ever happen in my life."

2. Tom Selleck

By November 2020, the tip challenge became popular among celebrities and laypeople. Among those who followed Wahlberg's lead was his"Blue Bloods" co-star, Tom Selleck.

When Selleck learned about Wahlberg's generosity, he took on the challenge at Elio's restaurant in New York. Selleck racked up a $204.68 bill at the restaurant and tipped likewise tipped $2,020, hoping for a better 2020.

Various other people also participated in the 2020 tip challenge worldwide, but as the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world, there were few opportunities to exhibit these acts of kindness.

3. Michael Jordan

While many celebrities have used their fortune to bestow gifts of kindness upon others, some are not as generous. Once, when Michael Jordan was in Las Vegas with Wayne Gretzky, he tipped a waitress a $5 gambling chip for bringing him a beverage.

When Gretzky saw what Jordan had done, he took the $5 chip back from the waitress and gave her one of Jordan's $100 chips, then he told the basketball legend:

"That's how we tip in Las Vegas, Michael."

4. Julia Roberts

While Jordan famously tipped too low, superstar Julia Roberts is known to always tip 100% of her cheque. However, there have been reports that while Roberts is a generous tipper, she had been rude to waitstaff.

Julianna Margulies, who starred in "The Good Wife," told David Letterman in 2010 that she had once worked in a restaurant where famous people often ate. One of the stars she encountered while working there was Roberts and she revealed it wasn't a pleasant encounter.

Years later, Margulies told Roberts she had waited on her once. Roberts asked if she had been horrible, and Margulies responded, "Kind of." Roberts admitted she was young then, as she and Margulies were only 23 at the time of the encounter. She apologized to Margulies for her behavior and bought her former server dinner.

5. Wanda Sykes

In America, tipping is customary, but in some countries like France, customers are not required to tip the waitstaff. This was something Wanda Sykes could not get used to.

Sykes and her wife took a trip to France almost a decade ago to visit her wife's home country. While they were there, Sykes said she found it difficult to understand that her wife would leave only a couple of coins for the server when they left the restaurant. As such, Sykes always found a reason to return to the restaurant so she could tip their server more. She joked:

"And then I go back and throw one of those pretty little blue fives down."

The pretty blue fives Sykes was referring to were the five euro notes in France. Sykes admitted that the five euro bill was equivalent to around $100 back then. She confessed it made her feel better.

6. Kendall Jenner

While Sykes is so used to tipping generously, Kendall Jenner was publicly called out for not tipping her server at all. The eldest Jenner sister was in a bar called Baby's All Right in New York when she reportedly left without leaving a tip after settling her $24 bill.

The reality star allegedly signed the receipt but left the tip portion blank. Her server snapped a photo of the receipt and posted it online with the caption:

"Don't forget to tip your bartender."

Many who saw the post thought it was awful of Jenner to skip the tip even though she had so much money, and others shared that even though they considered themselves broke, they always tipped their servers.

7. Keanu Reeves

Jenner's stinginess in tipping is a stark contrast to Keanu Reeves' generosity. According to a server, who would often wait on Reeves and his "Thumbsucker" co-star Vincent D'Onofrio at a restaurant they visited multiple times while filming, Reeves would always tip generously. a

The server said Reeves would usually just smoke but hardly eat, sitting on the patio area with D'Onofrio. The actors would oblige fans with pictures racked up large tabs, and in the end, the server said Reeves would always tip 30-50%.

When Richard Gere Was Mistaken for a Homeless Man

While many celebrities have shown kindness to those less fortunate than them, some celebrities were also recipients of such kindness from strangers.

Once, while Richard Gere was filming "Time Out of Mind," where he portrayed a homeless man, he was on the streets dressed for the part, wearing grimy clothes, and holding a bottle of beer concealed by a paper bag.

As the actor rifled through garbage, he caught the attention of a French tourist, Karine Gombeau, who approached him and offered him her leftover pizza.

As Gombeau handed the pizza over to Gere, she said, "Je suis désolée (I am sorry), but the pizza is cold," and Gere graciously accepted the pizza, saying, "God bless you."

Gombeau said she felt compelled to help as she felt terrible that she would waste food when someone else had nothing. What a lovely story of genuine human kindness!