Pharrell recalls getting fired thrice from 'first and only' job at McDonalds

Pharrell Williams might be a global music powerhouse today, but he started out just like everyone else with a humble, hourly-wage job in fast food.

Before topping the charts, the Grammy winner got his start — and a quick end — at McDonald’s, a job he was fired from not once but three times.

Speaking to BBC Radio 2 via Billboard, Pharrell revealed that his love for the Golden Arches was outmatched only by his love for McNuggets, which got him into some sticky situations.

“McDonald’s was my first and only job,” the now 51-year-old music mogul shared. “I got fired three times. I was eating the chicken nuggets.”

His first two dismissals? Pure laziness, he admitted. But the final straw came when management caught him in the act. “The third was like, ‘What are you doing? You’re just sitting there eating nuggets?’” he joked.

His time in fast food may have been short-lived, but Pharrell’s music career took off soon after. Teaming up with Chad Hugo in the ’90s, Pharrell formed The Neptunes, a production duo that set the music scene ablaze. In 1999, he launched the band N.E.R.D., later creating mega-hits like Happy, which stayed at No. 1 for 10 weeks in 2014. 

Now, with countless awards and a net worth in the hundreds of millions, Pharrell’s nugget-loving days are just a tasty memory on his road to fame.