Born in Albany, Georgia, Paula Deen was a homemaker and bank teller before entering professional cooking. Both her parents died before she was 19 and an early marriage ended in divorce. Deen claims to have suffered from agoraphobia and would not leave her house. She divorced her first husband in 1989 shortly after moving to Savannah. She was left with only $200 and her two teenage sons.
The Bag Lady:
Paula was considered a good Southern cook, so she started a small catering company called The Bag Lady. She would make sandwiches and other meals, then her sons would deliver the food. Paula avoided going out herself because she suffered from agoraphobia, a fear of public places. Paula believes this fear comes from an incident in which she was held at gunpoint during a bank robbery.The Bag Lady was very successful and soon outgrew her kitchen.
Her Own Place:
Paula was then hired by a Best Western Hotel in Savannah to cook. She worked there five years before opening her own restaurant, The Lady and Sons, in downtown Savannah. Paula was able to overcome her agoraphobia with her constant contact with guests. The restaurant was a success and later moved into a larger building in Savannah’s Historic District.
A Cookbook or Two:
In 1997, Paula self-published her first cookbook, The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cooking (Compare Prices). The book was noticed by a literary agent of a major publishing house, who happened to be dining in the restaurant to escape a thunderstorm. Paula increased her success and national recognition by promoting her book on QVC, where it became one of the best selling cookbooks. She has since written three more cookbooks: The Lady & Sons, Too! : A Whole New Batch of Recipes from Savannah (Compare Prices), The Lady & Sons Just Desserts (Compare Prices), and Paula Deen & Friends: Living It Up, Southern Style (Compare Prices).
Television Star:
Paula began her relationship with the Food Network in 1999 when her friend introduced her to Gordon Elliot. Paula appeared on the show Doorknock Dinners where several episodes were filmed in Savannah. Paula also appeared on Ready, Set, Cook! and finally got her own show in 2003, Paula’s Home Cooking.
Movie Star:
Paula appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 2002. Her appearance brought hundreds of letters from women who took control of their lives after watching Paula tell her story.
A Happy Ending:
In 2004, Paula married Michael Groover, a tugboat captain.
In 2009, the Deen brand underwent further expansion with an added group of quality strategic partners. Wal-mart launched a new, exclusive line of affordable baked goods, while Smithfield, Kaleen, Nitches, Meyer, Universal, B. Lloyd’s, GOBO, Harrah’s, Quality foods, International Greeting and Cooking.com also began new or expanded partnerships in a host of categories. A compete digital relaunch, the expansion of special edition publications featuring both herself and her brand partners also came into play, making sure the Paula Deen name stayed fresh, relevant, and timely with a growing and more diverse consumer
I read an interview with Paula Deen and this is what she had to say about cooking...
Q: What did cooking mean in your family?
A: My grandmother taught me that simple, humble food is number one. It has nothing to do with a fancy restaurant with eight forks and one-by-one-inch servings.
Q: You didn't even start cooking professionally until you were in your 40s. What made you finally take it up?
A: For a lot of years, I was agoraphobic. My kitchen became therapeutic for me. I wasn't into vacuuming or dusting, but I loved that stove.
Q: You had agoraphobia for almost 20 years. What happened?
A: I had a lot of sorrow. I lost my parents when they were young-I was 19 when my mother died at 44. I kept waiting to die after I buried her. I thought I would never see 40. I was very sad, but when I bellied up to my stove, my mind was occupied.
Q: It must have been difficult, raising two sons and not being able to leave the house.
A: It got to the point where I could not take them a mile down the road to guitar practice. I said, "We are going to have to quit this stuff and go back to it later." It was a terrible feeling. But the food that I prepared for them, that was my show of love.
Q: Eventually you started a catering business with them. Now you have the Lady & Sons restaurant in Savannah. What's it like working with your kids?
A: Bobby once said, "The best part is working with family, and the worst part is working with family." You do feel freer to say hurtful things to those who love you unconditionally.
Q: Tell us about your work with Helping Hungry Homes, the charity that fed over a million people across the country last year.
A: My sons and I recently dropped off 25,000 pounds of protein in the Savannah area. The food banks have a hard time getting protein. I never went hungry myself, but [during that difficult time] I was close enough a few times, I could smell it. No one should go through that.
Q: You have a deal with Warner Bros. to do your own talk show pilot. Any dreams of becoming the next Oprah?
A: My aunt Peggy always called me the white Oprah, long before I had a show on the Food Network. I take that as the highest compliment.
Q: Men seem to really respond to you too.
A: The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. I think I clinched the deal with Michael [Groover, her second husband and a tugboat captain] the day I baked him a caramel cake.
Q: You're known for creating guilty pleasures, like a bacon burger served between two doughnuts. Where do you come up with this stuff?
A: It just happens. My friend and I were making burgers one day, and we said, We don't need bread, because we have doughnuts. It blew me away how good it was.
Where there's a will, there's a way!
Check out Mrs. Deen on The FoodNetwork, check your local listings
http://www.pauladeen.com/
http://www.foodnetwork.com/
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