Celebs Who Worked At Hooters
The Hooters restaurant chain has been known for its wings, beer, and curvaceous waitresses since 1983. Wearing fitted white tank tops emblazoned with the company's owl logo, the waitstaff has become more popular than the food, so it's no surprise that it's a coveted gig for those who aren't opposed to working in a "breastaurant."
Even a few celebrities have bussed tables in a pair of Hooters' iconic teeny-tiny orange shorts before making a name for themselves in Hollywood. Like whoo? We'll tell you.
Naya Rivera has 'nightmares' about the job
Long before she was harmonizing on the hit TV show Glee, Naya Rivera was serving up cheese sticks and fried pickles at Hooters. Unlike some of the other celebs on our list, she doesn't glamorize her past occupation at all. "I have nightmares about that job, period," she told Allure
It takes guts to walk around in a barely-there outfit while serving up burgers and fries to the restaurant's predominately male clientele. Rivera admitted she was "always self-conscious" while on the job. She said she was so hard on herself, that she wasn't even finding joy in her day-to-day life. "It just got to be too much, so I shelved [the job]," she said.
Vienna Girardi was an all-star employee
On Season 14 of The Bachelor, the world was introduced to the bubbly and beautiful Vienna Girardi. She stole bachelor Jake Pavelka's heart, and he presented her with his final rose and a marriage proposal — albeit their engagement was short-lived, according to E! News.
Three years before she embarked on her reality TV journey, Girardi was just your typical Florida girl trying to make ends meet while working at Hooters. According to Us Weekly, she was an aspiring lingerie model at the time, so we're assuming she felt comfortable taking orders in next to nothing.
Come to find out, Girardi took her job at the restaurant very seriously. A former coworker told Us Weekly she did "all the bikini contests and decorated a float for the big Hooters parade."
Leeann Tweeden was among the best in the biz
We're sure you recognize Leeann Tweeden from being a Playboy fitness model and for her numerous television appearances. She was once a co-host on Fox Sports Networks' The Best Damn Sports Show Period, and she made headlines when she accused former U.S. Senator Al Franken of forcibly kissing her backstage at a show for military personnel. But that's a story for another day.
After graduating from high school, she moved to Hollywood to chase her dream of becoming a supermodel. To pass the time and pay the bills, she waited tables at Hooters and was eventually promoted to become a model for corporate and "one of the top Hooters girls of all time," at least, according to her Playboy bio.
Katrina Darrell got canned
Katrina Darrell became known as "Bikini Girl" when she showed up to a 2009 American Idol audition donning nothing other than an itsy bitsy, teeny-weeny string bikini. She wowed the judges but wasn't victorious on the show. Regardless, viewers remained fascinated by her voice ... and her bod. As the press poked around for more info, Radar Online uncovered her less than stellar past work history.
According to Radar, Darrell worked as a greeter at a Hooters in California but was fired for "leaving repeatedly during the middle of a shift." Darrell had allegedly clocked out early to attend an audition. "All Katrina ever talked about was becoming famous," one of her friends told the site. "Her one aim in life was to make it in Hollywood."
Nicole Curtis hustled as a Hooters girl
Nicole Curtis became an HGTV star when her show, Rehab Addict, made its debut in 2010. She's proven personable on the small screen, is pretty crafty with a power drill, and can restore an old home like nobody's business, but her journey to television success started from a more humble beginning.
In her memoir, Better Than New: Lessons I've Learned from Saving Old Homes (and How They Saved Me) (via People), Curtis says she skipped out on college, moved to Tampa, Fla. with a boyfriend, and served hot wings at a local Hooters. "I just had lunch with one of my original Hooters girls from Tampa," Curtis told People. "She just laughed and said, 'You were always the responsible one. We'd all be out and you'd be up at 8 in the morning cleaning houses, always making the most of your time.'"
Brittany Oldehoff loves her Hooters 'family'
Brittany Oldehoff became the fourth runner-up at the Miss USA pageant in 2014, but long before she was battling for the crown and dazzling pageant judges, she was working as a waitress for the iconic eatery.
"I was a Hooters Girl when I was 18, very briefly before I started modeling," Oldehoff told Fox News. Though her stint was brief, she's still involved with the business. Oldehoff even made an appearance as a judge at Hooters' 21st anniversary swimsuit pageant. "It really is a big family and any time they ask me to help, I will always 100 percent say yes because the Hooters family is such a strong bond," she said. "Everybody is really close and it's a really good environment to be involved in."
And to the haters who look down on women who choose to work there, Oldehoff had this to say: "I've worked with girls who became doctors, nurses, lawyers, and judges — everything you can think of. A lot of the girls who've worked here are in college trying to get by, pay their rent, and pursue something big. The Hooters family supports all of that."
Hooters made Jerri Manthey a 'mini-celebrity'
In the early '90s, long before Jerri Manthey competed on Survivor: The Australian Outback, she worked at various Hooters restaurants, including locations in Alabama, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, according to her official website. Her time as a waitress wasn't short of controversy, which isn't surprising considering her reputation for being a drama queen and villainess on Survivor.
According to the National Enquirer, she even "hooked up" with actor Lou Diamond Phillips (star of La Bamba) at a Hooters — or more specifically, in a Volkswagen Beetle "while a crowd looked on." Seriously.
"They were attracted to each other right from the get-go," said Eric Probst, her former restaurant manager. He claims Manthey and her sister, who also worked at Hooters, were "mini-celebrities" in Huntsville, Ala. "Everybody in town knew who they were. They'd get invited to openings, they'd get paid to do promotions and they were allowed into nightclubs free."
Hugh Hefner forced Holly Madison to quit
In 2000, Holly Madison was just another college coed and aspiring actress trying to make it big in Los Angeles. To support herself, she got a job at Hooters in Santa Monica. That gig opened some doors, she told BuzzFeed, including a chance meeting with Playboy mogul Hugh Hefner.
According to Madison, a friend of Hefner's was a customer at the restaurant, and he asked her if she wanted to attend a party at the Playboy Mansion. That initial invitation turned into weekly pool parties, and a year later, when a spot as one of Hefner's multiple girlfriends opened up, Madison landed the part and moved into the mansion.
Her big move into to the palatial pad in 2001 wasn't the opportunity she'd hoped for, so she continued to work at Hooters to earn extra money and to feel connected with the world outside the Playboy mansion. "It was just a dumb waitressing job, but after I was pressured to give that job up, I really felt cut off from the outside world. And cut off from any independence I had," she told BuzzFeed.
Amy Adams still thinks it was a 'great job'
When people look at the Oscar-nominated star of Junebug and American Hustle, they see a glamorous Hollywood leading lady, so you may be a bit taken aback to learn that Amy Adams was a Hooters girl before she made it big.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Adams said "it was a great job out of high school and I was a hostess at first, and then I waited tables for a while, and it was great. It was a great way for me to earn money for college."
As for the uniform? "Well I was like 18," she said, "so everybody has the body at 18."
Samantha Burke may never wait a table again
Samantha Burke's life did a complete 180 when she had a fling with actor Jude Law and gave birth to The Talented Mr. Ripley star's fourth child, Sophia, in 2009. Before she became a high-profile baby mama, Burke was donning a pair of bright orange shorts at a Pensacola Beach, Fla. Hooters, reported TMZ.
After a DNA test confirmed Law was the father of her child, he was reportedly forced to cough up about $9,000 a month in child support. Call it a hunch, but we wouldn't be surprised if Burke put in her two weeks notice soon after that child support judgement was finalized.