Jun 27, 2013 · Celebrity chef Paula Deen’s tearful interview on NBC’s “Today” show Wednesday morning doesn’t ... The lawyer later asked if she was aware her …
May 15, 2018 · PBS Hires Paula Deen’s Former Lawyer in Legal Battle With Tavis Smiley (Exclusive) Grace Speights, an employment litigation specialist, represented the celebrity chef in her 2013 sexual and racial...
Jun 19, 2013 · Deen’s lawyer has called the allegations false. Southern TV personality and chef Paula Deen is the author of more than a dozen cookbooks and the owner of The Lady and Sons, a …
Jul 25, 2013 · Robert Patillo, a lawyer for the coalition, visited Savannah in June and July to interview Ms. Deen’s restaurant employees, including Mrs. Charles, who still works at the Lady & Sons. The 20 or so...
Happy Birthday, Paula Deen. Paula Deen’s longtime publicist has quit, stating that she “strongly disagrees” with Deen’s choice to represent Novo Nordisk. Paula Deen’s two sons were ...
In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct scandal, women and men alike have been more vocal about speaking out against unwanted sexual advances and contact. The accusations have been many, and the reaction and fallout has been swift across the industry.
After a break of several months, the second half of “Leverage: Redemption” Season One launched on IMDb TV last week, led by a delightful Christmas episode — “The Bucket Job” — that finds the Leverage team diverging from their usual “con-the-bad-guys” MO in order to give a kindly librarian a make-a-wish gift of a fictional spy adventure.
Paula Deen's fall from grace began in January 2012 when she publicly revealed that she had Type 2 diabetes, confirming longtime rumors.
Later that year, Lisa Jackson, a former manager at one of Paula Deen's restaurants, filed a $1.2 million lawsuit against Deen and her brother Bubba Hiers, claiming racial discrimination and sexual harassment. Radar reported several grievances listed in the lawsuit. In one, Jackson claimed she was put in charge of catering Hiers' 2007 wedding.
Attorneys questioned Paula Deen in a three-hour deposition that was later made public, per Eater. In the deposition, when asked if she had ever said the N-word, Deen said, "Yes, of course." Specifically, she said it happened when she worked at a bank and a Black bank robber put a gun against her head.
Once the deposition made the news, the fallout was swift and unforgiving. On June 21, 2013, The New York Times reported that the Food Network announced it would not renew Paula Deen's contract when it expired at the end of that month. That same day, Deen failed to show up for an interview on The Today Show, citing exhaustion.
After she lost everything, we didn't hear much from Paula Deen. Uncle Bubba's, the Deen restaurant at the center of the discrimination lawsuit, abruptly closed in April 2014. Savannah Morning News reported that employees were given no notice of the closure, and showed up that day to learn they no longer had a job.
Although she largely disappeared from the public eye, Paula Deen has slowly been trying to work her way back into Americans' hearts. In 2015, fresh off the I Love Lucy debacle, she competed on ABC's Dancing With the Stars, where she placed ninth.
Deen was born Paula Ann Hiers in Albany, Georgia, the daughter of Corrie A. Hiers (née Paul) and Earl Wayne Hiers, Sr. Deen was 19 when her father died unexpectedly aged 40, and her mother died four years later aged 44.
Following the success of Deen's home–based business she took over the restaurant in the Best Western, Abercorn Street, Savannah in 1991 and called it The Lady.
In 1997, Deen self-published The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook and The Lady & Sons, Too! A Whole New Batch of Recipes from Savannah . Both cookbooks featured traditional Southern recipes. She has since published two more, written with Martha Nesbit.
Deen's relationship with Food Network began in 1999, when a friend introduced her to Gordon Elliott. Elliott took her through the city for a series of Doorknock Dinners episodes. Deen was invited to shoot a pilot named Afternoon Tea in early 2001.
In 2004, Deen married Michael Groover (born 1956), a tugboat captain in the Port of Savannah, Georgia. Deen has two children from a previous marriage, as does Groover. The wedding was featured in a Food Network show in 2004 and took place at Bethesda Academy in Savannah.
Deen made her film debut in Elizabethtown (2005), starring Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst. 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.
In June 2007, Deen won a Daytime Emmy Award (Outstanding Lifestyle Host) for Paula's Home Cooking. 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.