In June 2013, Paula Deen was the queen of Southern cooking on television. By the end of that same month, she had lost her Food Network contract, her retail deals with Walmart and Target, her book publisher, and her reputation. The fallout was swift, brutal, and almost total. But Paula Deen didn’t disappear. What she did next — and where she stands now, more than a decade later — is a story that’s way more complicated than the headlines ever made it seem.
The Lawsuit That Started Everything
The whole thing traces back to 2012, when a former general manager named Lisa Jackson filed a $1.2 million lawsuit against Deen and her brother, Bubba Hiers. Jackson had worked at Uncle Bubba’s Seafood and Oyster House in Savannah, Georgia, and she alleged sexual harassment and racial discrimination at the restaurant. Jackson, who is white, claimed that Deen and Hiers made racist comments about Black employees and created a hostile work environment. A judge eventually threw out the race-discrimination claims, and the sexual discrimination claims led to a dismissal deal where both sides walked away without any costs or fees awarded. But by then, the damage was already done — and it was massive.
The Deposition That Went Public
On May 17, 2013, Deen sat for a video deposition as part of the lawsuit. When asked if she had ever used the N-word, Deen answered, “Yes, of course.” That deposition was made public on June 19, 2013, and within days, her world collapsed. Food Network announced on June 21 that it would not renew her contract. Walmart and Target pulled her merchandise from shelves. Her publisher canceled five contracted cookbooks. QVC and JCPenney also cut ties. In the span of about a week, Deen went from one of the most recognized faces in food to a pariah.
The Apology Videos Made Things Worse
Deen tried to get ahead of it with two emotional apology videos. They did not go well. She came across as out of touch and defensive rather than genuinely remorseful. Then came a June 26 appearance on the Today show where she said, “If there’s anyone out there that has never said something that they wish they could take back, then please pick up that stone and throw it at my head so hard it kills me.” The defensive tone only poured gasoline on the fire. Instead of calming things down, it convinced more people she just didn’t get it.
Her Family Circled the Wagons
While corporate sponsors ran for the exits, Deen’s sons Jamie and Bobby stood by her. Bobby went on CNN and called his mother “one of the most compassionate, good-hearted, empathetic people that you’d ever meet.” He described the whole situation as character assassination that started as extortion. The family’s loyalty was one of the few constants during those chaotic weeks. And the public was more divided than the media coverage suggested — over 500,000 fans joined a “We Support Paula Deen” Facebook page, and Deen later said roughly 5 to 6 million people reached out on social media to support her.
A $100 Million Bet on a Comeback
About a year after the scandal, Deen launched the Paula Deen Network, a subscription-based online video platform that cost $9.99 a month. It had no sponsors and no advertising — all the revenue came from subscribers. The financial muscle behind it was Najafi Companies, a Phoenix-based private equity firm that reportedly invested $100 million to buy a majority share of Paula Deen Ventures. They acquired the rights to all of Deen’s old Food Network shows and featured them in a “Vintage Paula” section. The site launched with over 100 original clips, and Deen’s team planned to post at least 20 new clips every week. Deen also hit the road with a 20-city food tour to promote the new venture and court subscribers directly.
The Cookbook Sales That Defied Logic
Here’s the twist nobody saw coming: the scandal actually boosted her cookbook sales. When the news broke, supporters rushed to buy her books as a form of solidarity. Her publisher had dropped her, but demand for her existing titles skyrocketed. She eventually found her way back into print, publishing “Paula Deen Cuts the Fat” in 2015 and continuing with books focused on baking and air-frying. Her 2023 release, “Love and Best Dishes,” proved she still had an audience willing to buy what she was selling. Her lifestyle magazine, Cooking With Paula Deen, also remained in circulation throughout the entire post-scandal period.
Dancing With the Stars and Slow Steps Back Into the Spotlight
In 2015, Deen appeared as a contestant on Dancing With the Stars — a move that put her back on network television for the first time since the scandal. The following year, she landed a syndicated show called Positively Paula. She also appeared on MasterChef and continued building her YouTube presence, which has grown to over 585,000 subscribers. None of these were anywhere close to her Food Network peak, but they kept her name in circulation and gave her loyal fanbase a way to stay connected. She also launched a Roku channel and started appearing on Fox Nation with a show called At Home With Paula Deen.
Her Restaurant Empire Shrank Dramatically
Deen’s restaurants were once the foundation of her fame. The Lady & Sons in Savannah was the restaurant that got her noticed by Food Network in the first place, leading to her first cookbook in 1998 and everything that followed. But in July 2025, the family announced that The Lady & Sons and The Chicken Box (a Southern-style chicken takeout spot she opened in 2023) were both closing for good. An Instagram post on August 1 showed the shuttered property with the words “Blessed to Serve” and the dates “1989–2025.” Separately, her chain Paula Deen’s Family Kitchen expanded quickly after opening in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, in 2015, but multiple locations closed — San Antonio after just over a year, plus spots in Destin and Panama City, Florida. At last count, the chain had four locations, none of them in Savannah.
The Documentary She Swore She’d Never Make
In September 2025, “Canceled: The Paula Deen Story” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. It was directed by Billy Corben, best known for the “Cocaine Cowboys” franchise and the 2022 Hulu documentary “God Forbid.” Corben got interested after spending time with Deen and her sons in Savannah in April 2024. The moment that convinced him to make the film happened during a car ride — he asked Bobby if they should do a documentary, and Bobby’s initial denial turned into a raw, 20-minute emotional breakdown in the backseat, with Paula crying and Jamie playing peacemaker. “For the next 20 minutes, it was the greatest documentary I’ve never made,” Corben told Business Insider. Bobby and Jamie were both initially against the idea, with Bobby calling it “a terrible idea.”
What Deen Says Actually Happened
In the documentary, Deen provides context she says was missing from the 2013 coverage. She claims the last time she used the racial slur was in 1987, when she was working as a bank teller in Georgia. A man named Eugene Thomas King Jr. robbed the bank at gunpoint, and Deen says she used the word when recounting the incident to her then-husband Jimmy Deen afterward. King was later convicted for the robbery and actually apologized to Deen in a 2013 interview with Inside Edition. Deen has consistently maintained she never used the language at any restaurant she owned or operated. Legal experts in the documentary argued that the deposition question was irrelevant to the actual lawsuit. Director Corben described Deen with a word she apparently uses about herself a lot: “naïve.”
She’s Still Not Over It
More than a decade later, the wound is still raw. In a 2025 interview, Deen said plainly: “I’m not OK in here,” pointing to her chest. “I’m not OK in here. Until both sides get out, the whole entire dirty truth.” She told The Hollywood Reporter that watching her allies abandon her during the fallout was “heart-wrenching” — “Because these people knew me. But they weren’t willing to buck the ink.” She said that when the documentary is done and she’s laid to rest someday, she doesn’t want her tombstone to read, “Here lies the body of a racist.” Corben said Deen isn’t chasing a return to her early 2000s level of fame. She just wants people to hear her side of the story.
Where Paula Deen Stands Now
At 79 years old, Deen is still married to her second husband Michael Groover — they celebrated their 21st anniversary in March 2025. She has 11 grandchildren. Her net worth is estimated at about $14 million, which is a far cry from her peak of $17 million a year in earnings but still a comfortable place to land after what happened. Retail giants Walmart and Target still don’t appear to stock her products. She has never returned to Food Network. But she still has her YouTube channel, her Fox Nation show, her remaining Family Kitchen restaurants, and a magazine that’s still in circulation. Whether you think she got what she deserved or got railroaded by cancel culture, one thing is clear: Paula Deen never went away. She just got a lot quieter about it.
