When did Robert Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith date? Former restaurateur claims the latter was "incredibly rude" to restaurant staff

Former restaurateur Keith McNally has recalled Patti Smith and her former partner, Robert Mapplethorpe's alleged behavior towards the restaurant staff in the 70s. McNally mentioned that the former couple frequently dined at a restaurant where he worked in New York at that time.

An excerpt of Keith McNally's memoir, titled I Regret Almost Everything, was published on New York Magazine's Grub Street on April 17, where he wrote about Patti Smith, Robert Mapplethorpe, and their friend Sam Wagstaff being frequent visitors to a NYC restaurant called One Fifth.

McNally was a manager there in the 1970s and observed the ex-couple's behavior.

"On nights when Wagstaff wasn’t at the table, Smith and Mapplethorpe could be very difficult to wait on. Smith, unfortunately, was incredibly rude to the servers. It’s impossible for me to listen to a Patti Smith song today without remembering her reducing a waitress to tears because she forgot to put bread on the table," McNally claimed in his memoir.

However, Keith McNally mentioned that Robert Mapplethorpe was not as rude to the staff as his then-girlfriend. He added:

"Although Mapplethorpe, with his tough-boy leather jacket image, could be terse with the servers, he never tried to belittle them the way Smith did."

Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe were in a romantic relationship from 1967 to 1972, as detailed in Smith's book, Just Kids. The two lived together in New York City during this time. Mapplethorpe passed away in 1989 after a battle with AIDS.

For those uninformed, Keith McNally's memoir will be released on May 6, 2025. The former restaurateur owns multiple dining outlets across NYC, including Balthazar, Pastis, and Minetta Tavern.

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Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe's relationship over the years, explored

Patti Smith Group Portraits In Copenhagen - Source: Getty

In her 2010 memoir, Just Kids, singer Patti Smith recalled her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. The two were involved in a romantic relationship between 1967 and 1972, per the memoir.

Smith first met 21-year-old Robert Mapplethorpe on July 3, 1967, when she was 20 years old and arrived in New York City as an aspiring musician. The singer recalled staying up late together in the photographer's apartment in Hall Street in Brooklyn.

However, in the early days of their friendship, the two were so poor that they mostly lived on the streets.

In her memoir, Patti Smith described Mapplethorpe as a "Hippie shepherd boy" with dark curly hair. She described her pairing with the photographer as two-of-a-kind, as both shared the same passion for music, art, culture, and religion, and "fulfilled a role for each other."

In an interview with NPR's Deborah Amos after the publication of Just Kids, Patti Smith recalled the first time she met Robert Mapplethorpe.

The photographer guided her to her apartment in New York City and left before they met again after a few days. She described the encounter in vivid detail in her memoir.

"As it says in the book, we woke up knowing that we were no longer alone. I said, 'You should take your own photographs.' I didn't mean for him to become a photographer. Once he started taking pictures, he just fell in love with photography," Smith recalled.

Robert Mapplethorpe notably took the cover photograph for Smith's first studio album, Horses, which was released in 1975. The singer recalled the iconic image and said in her interview:

"The only rule we had was, Robert told me if I wore a white shirt, not to wear a dirty one. I got my favorite ribbon and my favorite jacket, and he took about 12 pictures. By the eighth one he said, 'I got it.' I never see me. I see us."

Robert Mapplethorpe - Source: Getty

Patti Smith added that when she met Mapplethorpe as a young woman, they were both "uninformed." She also noted this as a reason to name her memoir Just Kids, as it took them time to become "who they evolved into."

Their romantic relationship ended after Robert Mapplethorpe decided to leave New York to explore his sexuality, as recalled by Smith in her book. The photographer returned to the city with a boyfriend.

"I knew that I could never have a relationship with him the way that he would with a male. But of course as time went by, I realized that what Robert and I had, no one else would have, male or female," the singer told NPR.

The photographer passed away in 1989 after battling AIDS. Patti Smith mentioned that her longtime friend's death was "very painful" for her. However, they remained close until Mapplethorpe's last days.

Smith also recalled that she promised Mapplethorpe she would "write their story" on the day he breathed his last. It took her 10 years, but the singer kept her promise.

Just Kids is available across bookstores worldwide and online.