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'''Paula Ann Hiers Deen''' (born January 19, 1947) is an American [[cook (profession)|cook]], former [[cooking show]] host, [[restaurateur]], [[author]], [[actress]] and [[Emmy Award]]-winning [[television personality]]. Deen resides in [[Savannah, Georgia]], where she owns and operates The Lady & Sons restaurant with her sons, [[Jamie Deen|Jamie]] and [[Bobby Deen]]. She has published fourteen [[cookbook]]s. Though married in 2004 to Michael Groover,<ref name="Paula Deen&nbsp;– Biography">[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1508590/bio Paula Deen&nbsp;– Biography]</ref> she uses the [[surname]] Deen, from her first marriage.<ref>{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.bfeedme.com/paula-deen-a-short-history-of-a-fine-woman-chef/ |title=Paula Deen: A Short History of a Fine Woman & Chef&nbsp;— bFeedme: Cooking, Recipe and Food Blog |publisher=bFeedme |date=2006-05-16 |accessdate=2012-03-28}}</ref>
'''Paula Ann Hiers Deen''' (born January 19, 1947) is an American [[cook (profession)|cook]], former [[cooking show]] host, [[restaurateur]], [[author]], [[actress]] and [[Emmy Award]]-winning [[racist]]. Deen resides in [[Savannah, Georgia]], where she owns and operates The Lady & Sons restaurant with her sons, [[Jamie Deen|Jamie]] and [[Bobby Deen]]. She has published fourteen [[cookbook]]s. Though married in 2004 to Michael Groover,<ref name="Paula Deen&nbsp;– Biography">[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1508590/bio Paula Deen&nbsp;– Biography]</ref> she uses the [[surname]] Deen, from her first marriage.<ref>{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.bfeedme.com/paula-deen-a-short-history-of-a-fine-woman-chef/ |title=Paula Deen: A Short History of a Fine Woman & Chef&nbsp;— bFeedme: Cooking, Recipe and Food Blog |publisher=bFeedme |date=2006-05-16 |accessdate=2012-03-28}}</ref>


==Early life==
==Early life==

Revision as of 15:50, 24 June 2013

Paula Deen
Deen (left) in a public service announcement for Civitan International.
Born
Paula Ann Hiers[1]

(1947-01-19) January 19, 1947 (age 77)
Albany, Georgia, U.S.
Culinary career
Cooking styleSouthern
Current restaurant(s)
  • The Lady & Sons Restaurant, Uncle Bubba's Oyster House, Owens Shepard's Finest
Television show(s)
Award(s) won
  • 2007 Emmy for Outstanding Lifestyle Host
Websitewww.pauladeen.com

Paula Ann Hiers Deen (born January 19, 1947) is an American cook, former cooking show host, restaurateur, author, actress and Emmy Award-winning racist. Deen resides in Savannah, Georgia, where she owns and operates The Lady & Sons restaurant with her sons, Jamie and Bobby Deen. She has published fourteen cookbooks. Though married in 2004 to Michael Groover,[2] she uses the surname Deen, from her first marriage.[3]

Early life

Deen was born Paula Ann Hiers in Albany, Georgia,[4] the daughter of Corrie A. (née Paul) and Earl Wayne Hiers, Sr.[5][6] She grew up Baptist, and is still deeply devoted to her faith.[7] Her parents died before she was 23, and an early marriage ended in divorce. In her 20s, Deen suffered from panic attacks and agoraphobia. She then focused on cooking for her family as something she could do without leaving her house.[8] Her grandmother Irene Paul had taught her the hand-me-down art of Southern cooking; one of the only places she felt safe was at her own stove, making thousands of pots of chicken and dumplings.[9] She later moved to Savannah, Georgia, with her sons. In 1989, she divorced her husband, Jimmy Deen, to whom she had been married since 1965.[2] She was left with only $200[4] and money was tight raising both her kids and her younger brother, Earl (“Bubba”). She tried hanging wallpaper, working as a bank teller, selling real estate and insurance.[9] She then started a catering service,[10] making sandwiches and meals, which her sons Jamie and Bobby delivered.

Lady & Sons restaurant in Savannah, Georgia

Restaurants

Deen's home business, The Bag Lady, soon outgrew her kitchen. She first moved into the Best Western on Savannah's southside on Abercorn Street in 1991 with a restaurant called The Lady. In January 1996,[citation needed] Deen opened her restaurant, The Lady & Sons, in downtown Savannah, on West Congress Street. Within a few years, the restaurant moved to the old White Hardware building on Whitaker. USA Today named The Lady & Sons the "International Meal of the Year" in 1999. The specialty is a buffet, which typically includes sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese, deep-fried Twinkies, fried chicken, cheesy meatloaf, greens, beans, and creamed corn. Every meal is served with a garlic cheese biscuit and a hoecake. Her sons are also involved in managing the restaurant, which is popular with tourists visiting Savannah.[11]

In 2008, Deen opened another restaurant, the Paula Deen Buffet, at Harrah's Tunica Casino in Tunica County, Mississippi.[12] It has an entrance facade modeled on Deen's home in Savannah and features Southern cooking.[13]

In September 2009, Deen announced a new dessert line to be sold at Walmart including signature pies Apple Crunch Top, Dark Rum Pecan, Old Fashioned Fudge and Gooey Butter Cake bars.[14]

In addition to these, Deen currently has Uncle Bubba's Oyster House in Savannah, Georgia, Paula Deen Buffet at Horseshoe Southern Indiana in Elizabeth, Indiana, Paula Deen's Kitchen in Harrah's Cherokee in Cherokee, North Carolina, and Paula Deen's Kitchen in Harrah's Joliet in Joliet, Illinois.[15]

Books and magazines

In 1997, Deen self-published The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cooking and The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cooking 2. Both cookbooks featured traditional Southern recipes.[16] She has since published two more, written with Martha Nesbit. Deen has appeared on QVC and on The Oprah Winfrey Show (first in 2002, twice in 2007 and once in 2010). Her life story is featured in Extraordinary Comebacks: 201 Inspiring Stories of Courage, Triumph, and Success (2007, Sourcebooks).

In April 2007, Simon & Schuster published Deen's memoir, It Ain't All About the Cookin'. She launched a lifestyle magazine called Cooking with Paula Deen in November 2005,[17] which claimed a circulation of 7.5 million in March, 2009.[18]

Food Network and other television

Deen's relationship with Food Network began in 1999, when her friend Erin Lewis introduced her to Gordon Elliott, who then introduced her to her current agent, Artist's Agency owner Barry Weiner.[19] Elliott took her through the city for a series of Doorknock Dinners episodes. She also appeared on Ready, Set, Cook!. Deen was invited to shoot a pilot named Afternoon Tea in early 2001. The network liked it, and eventually gave Deen her own show, Paula's Home Cooking, which premiered in November 2002. Paula's Home Cooking was originally taped in Millbrook, New York at the home of Gordon Elliott, the show's executive producer.[20][21] Deen mentioned in an on the March 13, 2006, edition of The Daily Buzz that the next batch of episodes of her show would be taped at her home in Savannah, Georgia. According to the first of those episodes, actual production at her new Savannah home began in November 2005.

Deen throwing out the first pitch at a Washington Nationals baseball game in Washington, D.C.

Since then, Deen has been given two more Food Network shows, Paula's Party and Paula's Best Dishes.[22] Paula's Party premiered on the Food Network in 2006 and Paula's Best Dishes debuted on June 8, 2008.[23]

A televised biography of Deen was aired on an episode of the Food Network's Chefography program, in March 2006.[24]

On June 21, 2013, due to a controversy regarding Deen’s admission that she had used racial slurs during deposition for a lawsuit, The Food Network announced they will not renew her contract.[25]

Personal life

In 2004, Deen married Michael Groover (born 1956), a tugboat captain in the Port of Savannah, Georgia.[26] Groover has two children from a previous marriage. The wedding was featured in a Food Network show in 2004. Their wedding took place at Bethesda Academy in Savannah.[27] Paula is a supporter of Bethesda Academy, and asked Old Savannah Tours to donate $1 to the organization for each ticket purchased for the Paula Deen Store ticket sale.[27] In January 2012, she announced she has had type 2 diabetes for the last three years.[28]

Other work

Deen made her film debut in Elizabethtown, starring Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst in 2005. She played the aunt of Bloom's character, and her cooking was featured. A Food Network special, Paula Goes Hollywood, aired in conjunction with the film's premiere.[29]

Awards and honors

In June 2007, Deen won a Daytime Emmy Awards (Outstanding Lifestyle Host) for Paula's Home Cooking.[30] In October 2010, she was selected as the Grand Marshal of the Tournament of Roses Parade, and presided over the 2011 Rose Parade before the Rose Bowl Game on January 1, 2011.[31]

Criticism

Deen has faced extensive criticism for the high amounts of fat, salt, and sugar in her recipes.[32] She faced particularly strong objections with the release of Lunch-Box Set, a cookbook aimed at children, with Barbara Walters saying of the book, "You tell kids to have cheesecake for breakfast. You tell them to have chocolate cake and meatloaf for lunch. And french fries. Doesn't it bother you that you're adding to this?"[33] Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain commented in 2011 that he "would think twice before telling an already obese nation that it's OK to eat food that is killing us."[34]

On January 17, 2012, Deen announced that she had been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes three years before, a disease for which a high-calorie diet is a major contributing factor.[35][36] It was also disclosed that Deen is a paid spokesperson for the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, whose main export is insulin.[36] She was called a hypocrite for continuing to promote her high-sugar diet while only disclosing her medical condition when it benefitted her in representing the drug company to market their diabetes management program.[37]

A former employee, Lisa Jackson, alleged in a lawsuit that "In the presence of Ms. Jackson and Uncle Bubba's restaurant manager and a vendor, Bubba Hiers stated they should send President Obama to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico so he could n***er-rig it."[38][relevant?]

According to the court documents, the plaintiff stated that she was appointed by Deen to handle the catering and staff for Bubba's wedding in 2007, and she asked Deen what the servers should wear; "Well what I would really like is a bunch of little n***ers to wear long-sleeve white shirts, black shorts and black bow ties, you know in the Shirley Temple days, they used to tap dance around," the plaintiff alleged Deen told her. "Now, that would be a true Southern wedding wouldn't it? But we can't do that because the media would be on me about that."[38]

In her deposition for the suit, Deen stated that she has used the "N Word" at times, saying "Yes, of course." [39] As a result of the controversy, Food Network announced that it would not renew her contract when it expires at the end of June 2013.[40]

Filmography

Year Title Role
2002–2013 Paula's Home Cooking (television) Host
2005 Elizabethtown Aunt Dora
2006–2008 Paula's Party (television) Host
2006 Chefography (television) Subject
2008–2013 Paula's Best Dishes (television) Host
2009 Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List (television) Guest star
2009 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (television) Guest star
2011 Top Chef (television) Guest judge
2012 Oprah's Next Chapter Subject
2012 Who Do You Think You Are? (television) Subject
2012 MasterChef (television) Guest judge

References

  1. ^ The Bay Area Reporter Online | Southern hospitality
  2. ^ a b Paula Deen – Biography
  3. ^ "Paula Deen: A Short History of a Fine Woman & Chef — bFeedme: Cooking, Recipe and Food Blog". bFeedme. 2006-05-16. Retrieved 2012-03-28.
  4. ^ a b "Paula Deen Biography". TV Guide. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
  5. ^ Stated on Who Do You Think You Are?, May 18, 2012
  6. ^ "Books : Uncle Bubba's Savannah Seafood : Excerpts". Books.simonandschuster.com. Retrieved 2012-10-27.
  7. ^ Paula Deen. "Faith, Family and Friends: Famous chef Paula Deen talks about the simple blessings in her life". Guideposts.
  8. ^ Julia Moskin (February 28, 2007). "From Phobia To Fame: A Southern Cook's Memoir". The New York Times.
  9. ^ a b "Paula Deen: True Grit | SUCCESS Magazine | What Achievers Read". Success.com. Retrieved 2012-10-27.
  10. ^ The Lady & Sons – Paula Deen – Home Cooking, Fried Chicken, Collard Greens & Fried Tomatoes – Savannah, Georgia[dead link]
  11. ^ "Savvy Cooking » Rags to Riches: Paula's Home Cooking Recipes". Cooking.savvy-cafe.com. 2008-03-27. Retrieved 2012-03-28. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)[dead link]
  12. ^ Biggs, Jennifer (May 24, 2008). "Paula Deen's new buffet in Tunica serves food and family as its main courses". The Commercial Appeal. Retrieved 2012-03-28.
  13. ^ "Tunica Attractions at Harrah's Tunica. Paula Deen's Buffet"[dead link]
  14. ^ "Paula Deen Serves Up New Affordable, Quality Baked Goods Line For Walmart" (Press release). Paula Deen. September 1, 2009.
  15. ^ url=http://www.pauladeen.com/restaurants
  16. ^ Food Timeline: history notes – pie
  17. ^ Paula Deen Magazine to Debut – Business Wire
  18. ^ Paula Deen at Universal – Furniture Today Magazine[dead link]
  19. ^ SECOND HELPINGS: 33 Minutes With Paula Deen
  20. ^ "Taste: Deen of the kitchen". Sptimes.com. Retrieved 2012-03-28.
  21. ^ Cowen, Diane (2006-03-19). "Meet Savannah's Biggest Star | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2012-03-28.
  22. ^ "Articles". Cooking with Paula Deen. Retrieved 2012-03-28.
  23. ^ Paula's Best Dishes (2008)
  24. ^ "Chef-O-Graphy" Paula Deen (2006)
  25. ^ "Paula Deen Canned: Food Network 'Will Not Renew' Chef's Contract Amid Racism Row". Mediaite. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  26. ^ Paula Deen Biography – Celebrity Chef Bio
  27. ^ a b Paula Deen: Our famous 'Lady" Savannah Morning News, March 25, 2010
  28. ^ Alison Schwartz (January 17, 2012). "Paula Deen: I Have Type 2 Diabetes". People.
  29. ^ TV : Food Network Specials : Paula Goes to Hollywood : Food Network[dead link]
  30. ^ "The Emmy Awards – Winners of The Creative Arts Entertainment emmy awards". Emmyonline.org. Retrieved 2012-03-28.
  31. ^ Chef Paula Deen Named Rose Parade Grand Marshal, AP via ABC News, October 26, 2010
  32. ^ Pirello, Christina (November 17, 2011). "How Can Paula Deen Sleep at Night?". The Huffington Post.
  33. ^ "Barbara Walters Says Paula Deen Makes Kids Fat". Parent Dish.
  34. ^ Dish[dead link]
  35. ^ "Type 2 diabetes — risk factors". NIH. Excess body weight...
  36. ^ a b Vicki Hyman (January 17, 2012). "Paula Deen reveals diabetes diagnosis, won't give up butter". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
  37. ^ Star-Ledger Editorial Board (January 17, 2012). "Paula Deen's Type 2 diabetes revelation unsurprising, but hypocritical". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
  38. ^ a b "Paula Deen 'N Word' Lawsuit Reveals Racial Slur Against President Obama". March 6, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
  39. ^ Celeb chef Paula Deen admits using 'N word' - CNN.com
  40. ^ Lynch, Rene (June 21, 2013). "Paula Deen fired by Food Network over use of racial epithet". Los Angeles Times.
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