15 Celebs Who Treat Their Employees Badly

Working for your favorite star might be a dream for some people, but for others, it can be a real nightmare. After all, regular bosses can be jerks, so there's no reason why celebrities can't be too! While the majority of stars save their best smiles for the cameras, some of them turn into someone totally different when they think no one's watching! Luckily for us, curious fans, scorned former personal assistants and other celebrity employees have come out with their side of the story regarding their old bosses. And the details definitely aren't pretty. Some stars feel entitled to treat their staff as less than human by making rude comments, not paying them and even engaging in domestic abuse. Waiting staff can also see the ugly side of the rich and famous, and the tiny tips they leave. We're now going to think twice before bowing down to any of the following celebs!

15 Anna Wintour

Not much has been stated explicitly about the way Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour treats the people who work for her, but a lot has certainly been implied! To get a glimpse of Anna's alleged attitude toward her personal assistant, you only need to watch the movie The Devil Wears Prada. The villain boss, Miranda Priestly, is, of course, fictional, but the author of the book on which the film was based, Lauren Weisberger, worked as a junior assistant for Wintour. Hmm, what does that tell us? She's since said that the list of demands made by the editor in the novel is made up of both fact and fiction, the inspiration coming from what she endured early in her career. We don't know exactly which of the demands were actually made by Wintour, but we certainly hope they didn't include forcing Weisberger to get her hands on the new Harry Potter book before publication!

14 Catherine Zeta-Jones

We don't exactly know how Catherine Zeta-Jones treats “the help” in her life, but if the way she's reportedly treated waiting staff is anything to go by, it isn't good! It's generally been said that Zeta-Jones's demeanor isn't pleasant when she's eating out, and she's unfriendly to the servers. A testimony from a waiter who was working in a popular New York City restaurant said that the actress won't smile or even make eye contact when she's interacting with hospitality staff, and she's a total nightmare if they ask any follow-up questions for clarification. So you know, you better just guess how she likes her steak cooked! It's also been reported that she once insisted that she be brought a salad that was no longer being made in a certain restaurant. And after all that, it's been said that the tip she leaves is somewhere between eight and ten percent. Yikes!

13 Katie Couric

Journalist Katie Couric is well-known for the way she questions celebrities during her interviews. But apparently, she's not the most pleasant person to work with, and that has mostly been kept a secret. Once, an editor added the word "sputum" to one of her scripts, and she didn't like it so she just casually slapped him. That's the stuff that you cough up when you're sick, so yes, it's kind of gross, but not slap-worthy gross! Of the incident where she continuously whacked the guy on the arm, she said, “I sort of slapped him around.” This sounds like it started off as a bit of a joke, but was still a firm warning to not add unpleasant words into her script. Gosh, we can only imagine the kind of person you'd have to be to think it's okay to slap your editor… even when they make a change you don't agree with!

12 Gordon Ramsay

Does this really surprise anyone? If you've ever seen any of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay's TV shows, you know that he has a thing for treating everybody badly, including the hospitality staff and customers at his restaurants, and not to mention the poor souls who are training under him. When we say badly, we mean coming up with swear words you didn't even know existed, throwing people out of the kitchen, and putting bread on each side of a person's face to liken them to a “moron sandwich”. We had desperately hoped this behavior was just to up the ratings on his shows since everybody loves a bit of drama, but former contestants and other colleagues have come forward to state that that is really the true Gordon Ramsay. He's reportedly tricked vegetarians into eating meat, and expressed his dislike for female employees because “they only work three weeks a month.” GTFO.

11 Ellen DeGeneres

We still have trouble coming to terms with this one, and are hoping that what's been said about the talk show host's behavior towards her own staff isn't true at all! But since we're just reporting the facts, it's our sad duty to tell you that a few former employees of Ellen's TV show have stated that she's not anywhere near as nice as she seems on television. She's portrayed as being all that is kind, generous and right with the world, but these staff members maintain that she is actually a mean person. They reportedly claim that “Ellen has an ugly, dark side and a temper like you wouldn't believe.” This is just heart-breaking, and we hope that there's been some misunderstanding! Remember when Ellen cried about the dog who was taken away from one of the families she was helping on live television? That doesn't sound mean at all!

10 Rihanna

On one hand, we were expecting this one, and on the other, we weren't. It's clear that Rihanna has a strong personality and is kind of a sass queen, but at the same time, footage of her interacting with fans and her own family members shows that she's a genuine person with a huge heart who likes to swear a lot. What's so wrong with that?! One of her alleged staff members has come forward to vouch for the sassy side of Rihanna and states that she's been an absolute nightmare to work for since she broke up with Chris Brown. She's said that RiRi makes all kinds of ridiculous demands, is always under the influence of one substance or another and has a total disregard for basic manners. In other words, the words "thank you" and "please" are foreign to her. We hope that the down-to-earth family girl is still in there somewhere!

9 Tiger Woods

Okay, so we knew that golfer Tiger Woods's morals weren't that strong when he was revealed to be cheating on his then-wife with a whole bunch of different women. Since falling out with his former golf coach, Hank Haney, a few details about Woods's personality and etiquette around others have been released to the world. The angry former coach has stated that Woods was a total jerk. He'd do things like force everyone he was dining with to leave the restaurant when he felt like it, whether they were ready or not. Now that's just rude! Imagine not getting to finish your burger because the diva you're dining with wants to leave. Haney also said that Woods had a reputation for tipping notoriously small amounts after eating out and sometimes he wouldn't even tip at all. That's despicable at the best of times, but especially when you have around half a billion in your account.

8 Lea Michele

Lea Michele might be known as Glee's sweetheart, but she has a horrible reputation among hospitality staff, and has them cringing when they see her walking through the door! It's been alleged that Michele actually harassed a waiter once by chastising him and telling him he had no idea what he was talking about. Obviously, we weren't there, but in our experience, the customer or diner is very nearly always wrong, so he probably did know exactly what he was talking about! Michele reportedly made fun of him when he tried to explain the ingredients in the dish, and then complained about him to more than one manager. This was a time when Michele was actually dining with her family, and reportedly sent her father to knock on the kitchen window and see when the food was coming. Look, we all feel like doing that when we're hungry, but you never actually do it!

7 Jennifer Lopez

Rumors about Jennifer Lopez's diva-like attitude have circulated for years, and have been supported by the testimonies of serving staff who've had the “honor” of waiting on her, and former members of her personal team. Among other incidents, J.LO has been accused of getting a hotel maid fired for asking for her autograph, being rude to a flight attendant, and putting loads of pressure on her personal assistant. Reported duties included anything she needed you to do at the minute, whether that was cooking, cleaning or scheduling. The job is supposed to be twelve-hour days and six-day weeks, and any candidate who is thinking of working for Jen needs to remain graceful under pressure, and also needs to have a pretty thick skin. Geez, doesn't that just sound like the job from heaven?! Jen always seems down-to-earth and friendly in interviews, but if this information is accurate, she'd be a pain to work for!

6 Lady Gaga

This one came as a total shock because Lady Gaga is widely known to be the non-judgmental, open-minded and accepting Mother of Monsters. But one of her former personal employees seems to think otherwise! Gaga was sued for $400,000 in unpaid overtime by her former personal assistant but settled the matter out of court. Not only did she not get paid what she'd earned, but the assistant has discussed some of the deeds she had to do for Gaga, which seem kind of excessive. She had to handle around twenty bags of luggage at the same time, handle all the singer's communications, and she was on call at every moment of every day. The assistant even had to sleep in Gaga's bed so she could tend to her throughout the night, and she wasn't given breaks for food or sleep. In her defense, Gaga said, “… I'm the queen of the universe every day.”

5 Usher

Singer Usher may always have a place in the heart of his fans due to his sheer talent at making music (and dancing to it!), but he definitely doesn't have a place in the heart of some of the staff he's encountered over the years. He's definitely been accused of pulling the old celebrity card to get around the law! Before he was twenty-one, he reportedly tried to use his celebrity status to force a bartender to sell him alcohol. It's also been stated that he returned to the exact same establishment years later and left behind his autograph instead of a tip… ugh! This might not seem like something that's as bad as abusing or harassing staff, but tips are important. People kind of rely on them to feed themselves and their families, you know? The audacity to deny somebody that when you can totally afford it is nothing short of disgusting.

4 Kendall Jenner

Somebody else who reportedly has trouble remembering to pay what's owed is reality TV star and model, Kendall Jenner. An incident reportedly took place between Jenner and a server at Mercer Kitchen one night when Jenner asked for a cocktail and was denied her request. Mind you, she was underage at the time, so this is the same treatment anybody else would get. But the model wasn't happy with this, so she stormed out of the restaurant without paying her bill. Um? The server chased her onto the street and requested the money (props to them because other people might have been too intimidated!). At this, Jenner reportedly threw some cash in the server's face and pranced off. That is a tanty if ever we've seen it, and a sign of somebody who can't stand to be treated like a human because they're used to getting what they want at all times.

3 Madonna

The Queen of Pop has been caught out being rude to interviewers and fans, even telling her audiences to shut up, so this doesn't come as a heart-stopping surprise. Madonna has made more than one of her former members of staff unhappy, and they aren't shy about dishing the deets to the world! Her former nanny took to Facebook to let everyone know that she was over dealing with the singer's ridiculous demands, though we don't know exactly what these were. A source has stated that as a person, Madge is totally overbearing and forces her staff to be available 24/7. This is what probably led to Madonna's week from hell in 2009 when five staff members abandoned her within seven days. Around the same time, one chauffeur, two nannies, and two personal assistants walked out on the star, and we're guessing her demands and expectations had something to do with it!

2 Lindsay Lohan

Everybody's favorite red-head doesn't sound like she's the best person to work for. A lot of these poor mistreated staff members keep working for her anyway, so like Madonna's team, when they actually leave you, know that things are really bad. Lindsay Lohan has lost more than one member of her staff, as two of her personal assistants quit within months of each other. They have since described the lifestyle of working for Lohan as “exhausting”, and she has reportedly been angry at employees for not wanting to appear on camera with her. Lohan has also gotten rid of assistants in the past for no longer being able to afford them, despite having them stick around through all her tough times. We suppose this is better than keeping them on without paying them like some stars do, but it's still a hard blow to somebody who's dedicated a lot of time to you in the past!

1 Naomi Campbell

This might be the most famous case of a celebrity boss from hell, but it's too intense to not include at the top of this list! Actual domestic violence against staff is a whole other matter entirely, and Naomi Campbell has been found guilty as charged. Supermodel Naomi Campbell settled out of court with her housekeeper who she allegedly hit because the woman couldn't find her favorite pair of Stella McCartney jeans. The housekeeper labeled Campbell as a “violent super-bigot” and also stated that she used to make fun of her broken English since her native language was Romanian. Campbell's also hit a maid over the head with a cell phone, hurled horrific verbal abuse at airline staff for not being able to locate her bags, and spat at police officers. Despite this, Campbell maintains that she never wants to be alone in a room with somebody again, because she's a target. Right.