James Corden's restaurateur nemesis claims he had whirlwind romance with Diane Sawyer in bizarre post

Daily Mail​

28-05-2025

British restaurateur Keith McNally shared a bizarre social media post claiming that he had a 'whirlwind love affair' with famed television journalist, Diane Sawyer.
His rep has since clarified that the allegations are 'not true' to Page Six after he initially joked 'what happened in London [between them] STAYS in London.'
On Wednesday, the I Regret Almost Everything author, who famously banned James Corden from celebrity hotspot Balthazar, claimed Sawyer 'was the first American' he 'ever slept with.'
'I had dinner last night at Diane Sawyer's apartment. It was an anniversary of sorts,' he alleged. 'Diane and I had first met in London 53 years ago TO THE DAY. (May the 27th 1972.) I was 20 at the time and had just returned to London after having lived in Afghanistan, India and Kathmandu. Diane was living in Washington DC but had come to London for a ten day vacation with a couple of girlfriends.'
He continued: 'We met at the theatre. By chance, we were sitting next to each other at a production of Tom Stoppard's play Jumpers. I was alone and Diane was with her two girlfriends.'
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McNally then recalled Diane asking to 'borrow' his theatre program and asking his thoughts on the play during intermission.
Before the play began, he said Diane asked if she could 'borrow' his theatre program and, during intermission, asked him what he thought of the play.
'The play was too intellectual for me and I hadn't understood a word, but pretended to know it backwards,' he wrote. 'One of Diane's friends mentioned that I'd got the characters mixed up and I blushed and felt like an idiot.'
McNally proceeded to reveal that Sawyer, who he described as 'stunningly attractive' and a few years older than him, took pity on him 'and said something to make' him feel 'better' about himself.
'When the play ended, Diane asked me if I wanted to join them for dinner. I really wanted to join them but couldn't afford it and hesitated. Understanding my predicament, Diane lied and said the dinner was already paid for,' he detailed in his post.
He concluded the post by writing: 'Diane and I had a whirlwind love affair. It only lasted a week but we became best friends for life. Even though I'm really happy that we're best friends I sometimes wonder what would have happened if we'd stayed together.'
Shortly after the post began to make headlines, McNally's rep confirmed to Page Six that his story was completely fictitious.
The alleged encounter would have been 14 years before she met her longtime husband Mike Nichols, who passed away in 2014.
At that time, McNally was also single and had yet to marry.
DailyMail.com has reached out to McNally and Sawyer's representatives, but have not heard back, at this time.
In October 2022, McNally made headlines after banning Corden from his restaurant.
At the time, he claimed on Instagram that the talk show host had been rude to his staff several times: berating them over a hair in his food and demanding free drinks during the summer.
Additionally, James had allegedly furiously reprimanded the waiters over an omelet he was unhappy with.
The first incident in June allegedly came after the comedian found a hair in his meal.
According to staff, who were 'very apologetic,' the star allegedly declared: 'Get us another round of drinks this second. And also take care of all of our drinks so far. This way I [won't] write any nasty reviews in yelp or anything like that.'
McNally said that in October, there was more trouble when Corden came in for brunch with his wife Julia Carey and complained about 'a little bit of egg white' in her egg yolk omelet.
He then allegedly began 'yelling like crazy' when they made a new one but served it with fries instead of a salad.
The post claimed James told the server: 'You can't do your job! You can't do your job! Maybe I should go into the kitchen and cook the omelet myself.'
The couple received a free glass of Champagne and apologies, but the server 'was very shaken.'
Four hours after announcing the ban to his 87,000 Instagram followers, McNally promptly reversed it, saying he had received a call from Corden apologizing.
In a later post, the fiery restaurateur admitted that he felt 'really sorry' for Corden.
McNally detailed the incident in his memoir, which was released earlier this month.
'By exposing Corden's abuse, it appeared as though I was defending a principle, when all I was doing was seeking the approval of my young Balthazar staff,' he said.
McNally continued: 'Corden called me four times the day the post came out, each time asking me to please delete it. On the last call he sounded desperate.'
'Relishing my hold over someone so famous, I told him I wouldn't delete it. Like a little dictator, I was intoxicated with the power I'd received.'
Strangely though, Keith has confessed that he didn't see the incident unfold with his own eyes and instead had posted on behalf of his staff members' accounts.
'For someone who's hyperconscious of humiliation since suffering a stroke, it now seems monstrous that I didn't consider the humiliation I was subjecting Corden to,' he added.
'Especially as I hadn't personally seen the incident I so vividly described on Instagram.
'I'm not suggesting Corden didn't deserve the backlash from my post. (The b------ probably did.)
'I'm just saying I didn't see the incident I wrote about that, to some degree, jeopardized his career.'
Balthazar, located at 80 Spring Street in the SoHo area of Manhattan, has become wildly popular over the last two decades.
It has been visited by a slew of A-list names including Anna Wintour, Zoey Deutch, Sienna Miller, Jared Leto, Mary-Kate Olsen, Tom Hiddleston, and Meryl Streep - to name a few.