Paula Deen was once one of the biggest names on Food Network, known for her Southern cooking and generous use of butter. Then in 2013, everything came crashing down when legal documents revealed she had admitted to using a racial slur in the past. Within 24 hours, she lost practically every business deal she had. Food Network dropped her show, Walmart and Target ended their partnerships, and pretty much everyone ran for the hills. Now, at 78 years old, Paula is speaking out about what really happened and how she nearly didn’t survive the aftermath.
The scandal that destroyed everything overnight
Back in 2013, Paula Deen was riding high with multiple television shows, cookbook deals, and product lines in major stores across America. Then a former employee at her brother’s restaurant filed a lawsuit claiming discrimination and sexual harassment. During the legal deposition, lawyers asked Paula if she had ever used the N-word, and she answered honestly that yes, she had used it in the past. That admission, once it became public, set off a firestorm that would change her life forever.
The response was swift and brutal. Food Network was the first to cancel her show, and within hours, every major retailer followed suit. Walmart, Target, and other big companies that had carried her products all ended their partnerships. Paula went from being a household name with millions of dollars in deals to having nothing at all. The woman who had built an empire on Southern hospitality found herself completely shut out of the industry she had helped define. She later said she lost every single job she had in just 24 hours.
She almost died from the heartbreak
The emotional toll of losing everything was almost too much for Paula to bear. In a recent interview on Fox and Friends, she opened up about just how dark things got. Paula admitted she thought she was going to die of a broken heart. For someone who had already battled agoraphobia for 20 years earlier in her life, the scandal threatened to push her back into that dark place. Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder where people become afraid to leave their homes or be in situations where they feel trapped.
What saved her was the support of her fans. Paula said that about five and a half to six million people reached out to her on Facebook to show their support. These weren’t just casual fans either, but people who had followed her career for years and didn’t believe the worst about her. She told the Fox host that without those supporters, she wouldn’t have survived. The weight of public judgment combined with losing her entire career could have been fatal, but knowing that millions of people still believed in her gave her a reason to keep going and fight back.
Her sons disagreed about making the documentary
Paula decided to participate in a new documentary called “Canceled: The Paula Deen Story” that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film was directed by Billy Corben, who is known for making hard-hitting documentaries like Cocaine Cowboys. But not everyone in the family thought this was a good idea. Her son Bobby was especially against it from the start. He felt like enough time had passed and they had survived as a family and as a business, so why go through all that pain again?
Bobby made a good point that people had already made up their minds about his mother. The people who loved her would always love her, and the people who hated her weren’t going to change their minds no matter what any documentary showed. But Paula felt differently. She told her sons that the scandal ate at her gut every day because she felt the real story had never been told. Her other son Jamie took a middle ground, saying he didn’t think his mom would get what she wanted from the documentary, but if she wanted to try, he would support her.
The apology video nobody understood
Shortly after the scandal broke, Paula released an apology video that many people found awkward and confusing. She recorded multiple versions, and they were released before her team had even approved them. Paula says she was pressured to make the video by two men in a tall Manhattan building who told her she needed to apologize. The problem was, Paula didn’t really understand what she was supposed to be apologizing for. She had told the truth during her deposition when lawyers asked if she had ever used that word in the past.
The men kept telling her the apology needed to be more heartfelt, but Paula was completely broken at that point and couldn’t think straight. After she tried to record it a second time, they told her that was the best they were going to get from her. The video that eventually came out made her look guilty of something she says she didn’t do. She wasn’t apologizing for being a racist person, because she doesn’t believe she is one. She was just admitting that yes, like many people raised in the South in her generation, she had used that word before, though it hadn’t been part of her vocabulary for many years.
Corporate partners she thought were friends abandoned her
One of the most painful parts of the whole experience was watching companies she had worked with for years drop her immediately. Food Network, Walmart, Target, and all the other retailers who had made millions of dollars off Paula Deen products suddenly acted like they had never known her. Paula called it heart-wrenching because these people knew her personally. They had been in meetings with her, worked on projects together, and built successful partnerships. Yet when the controversy hit, they weren’t willing to stand by her or even wait to hear the full story.
Her son Bobby had to remind her during the interview that these corporate partners were never really her friends to begin with. They were business relationships, and businesses protect themselves first. But for Paula, who had built her brand on genuine Southern hospitality and treating people like family, the betrayal cut deep. She admits she doesn’t spend much time on the internet or social media, which is probably for the best. Not seeing all the negative comments and hot takes about her situation helped protect her mental health during an impossible time.
Her restaurant that started it all closed down
Earlier this year, Paula announced that she would be closing The Lady & Sons, her famous restaurant in Savannah, Georgia. This was the place where her career really took off, where she built her reputation for Southern cooking before Food Network came calling. The restaurant had become a tourist destination, with people traveling from all over the country to eat Paula’s cooking. But after the scandal, things were never quite the same, even though the restaurant stayed open for another 12 years.
The closure of The Lady & Sons felt like the final chapter of her old life coming to an end. Bobby pointed out that they hadn’t lost everything, they still had restaurants and other business ventures running successfully. But for Paula, losing that original restaurant represented something bigger. It was where she had proved to the world that a woman who had suffered from agoraphobia and struggled to support her family could build something amazing. Closing it meant accepting that the empire she had built in her previous life was really and truly over.
What actually happened during that deposition
The lawsuit that started everything was filed by a white woman who worked at Paula’s brother Bubba’s restaurant. She claimed there was racial discrimination and sexual harassment happening at the restaurant. During Paula’s deposition, the plaintiff’s lawyers asked her directly if she had ever used the N-word. Paula answered honestly, saying “yes, of course” she had, explaining that she was 65 years old at the time and had been raised in the South. But she also made it clear that the word had been out of her family’s vocabulary for a long time.
Paula told the lawyers that her oldest grandchild wouldn’t even know what that word meant if someone said it to him. She says her father taught her as a teenager never to be mean or rude to anyone, and that’s how she tried to live her life. The racial discrimination part of the lawsuit was eventually dismissed because the judge said the plaintiff, who was white, had no legal standing to claim racial discrimination. The rest of the lawsuit about sexual harassment was withdrawn, and legal experts believe there was a settlement, though the details were never made public.
She says she still isn’t okay inside
Even though her family and remaining business ventures survived the scandal, Paula admits she’s not okay emotionally. When her son Bobby tried to point out all the positive things they still have, including their family being intact and their businesses continuing to operate, Paula pointed to her chest and said she’s not okay in there. She won’t feel right until both sides of the story get out and people understand what really happened. For 12 years, she’s been carrying this weight around, feeling like the world judged her based on incomplete information.
Her son Jamie said he doesn’t know if the documentary will give his mother what she needs. He told her from the beginning that he wasn’t sure she’d get her peace from this film, but if she wanted to try, he would support her. Paula says she wants her soul back. That’s a pretty heavy statement from someone who has spent over a decade being defined by the worst moment of her public life. The question is whether any documentary, no matter how fair or complete, can actually give her that sense of redemption she’s looking for.
The documentary aims to show the full story
“Canceled: The Paula Deen Story” isn’t just Paula telling her side of things. Director Billy Corben is known for digging deep and finding the truth, even when it’s uncomfortable. Jamie Deen gave him two videotapes that were over 25 years old with no idea what was on them, telling the director to use anything he wanted. That shows a lot of trust in someone making a documentary about one of the most controversial moments in food television history. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and is currently looking for distribution.
According to the festival’s description, the documentary explores what it means when we build up celebrities and then tear them down. It promises to show perspectives and details that complicate anyone’s quick judgment about what happened. The film includes interviews with Paula and her sons, along with other people who were involved in the situation. Bobby Deen admitted there was huge risk in participating because a good documentarian will search for every person and every piece of evidence to find the truth. But Paula felt she had waited long enough for someone with the right credentials to tell her story properly.
Paula Deen’s story shows how quickly someone can go from the top to the bottom in our current world. Whether the documentary will change anyone’s mind about what happened 12 years ago remains to be seen. But for Paula, getting the chance to finally present what she believes is the complete truth has been worth the risk of reliving one of the most painful periods of her life. She’s been largely absent from television since 2013, making only occasional appearances, and clearly still carries deep wounds from losing the career she had built over decades.
