Paula Deen

Paula Ann Hiers Deen (born January 19, 1947) is an American chef, cookbook author, and TV personality. Deen resides in Savannah, Georgia, where she owns and operates The Lady & Sons restaurant and Paula Deen's Creek House with her sons, Jamie and Bobby Deen. She has published fifteen cookbooks. Early life 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. Prior to her father's death, Paula, aged 18, married Jimmy Deen and in 1967 they had their first son James ("Jamie"), and in 1970 a second son Robert ("Bobby") was born. In her 20s, Deen suffered from depression and agoraphobia and began to spend more time preparing food for her family, as it was something she could do without leaving her house. Deen's cooking style had been informed by her grandmother Irene Paul, who had taught her the art of Southern cooking that Deen described as “real farmhouse cooking, the kind that takes all day”. In 1989, Deen and her husband Jimmy divorced. Needing to support herself, her two sons, and her younger brother Earl ("Bubba"), Deen tried various enterprises before starting a catering service that she called The Bag Lady, making lunches for office workers, which her sons Jamie and Bobby delivered. Restaurants 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 January 1996, after five years at the Best Western, Deen, together with her sons Jamie and Bobby, opened their own 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. Deen also opened four casino buffets; they were at Harrah's Casino Tunica in Mississippi, Harrah's Cherokee casino in North Carolina, Horseshoe Southern Indiana, and Harrah's Joliet in Illinois. They were rebranded in 2013 shortly after Deen was removed from the Food Network. In addition to these, Deen co-owned Uncle Bubba's Oyster House in Savannah, Georgia. The restaurant closed in April 2014 and reopened in June 2017 as Paula Deen's Creek House. In 2015, Deen opened Paula Deen's Family Kitchen in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and in June 2017, opened another in the city of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina at Broadway at the Beach.