Paula Deen is an American chef and television cooking host. Deen announced that she had type 2 diabetes in 2012, although she was diagnosed in 2009.
After setting up her first restaurant, The Lady, in 1991, Deen was eventually given her own show by the Food Network in 2002 called Paula’s Home Cooking.
The show, which ran until 2013, earned Deen a Daytime Emmy award for Outstanding Lifestyle Host in 2007, while she also opened further restaurants across the United States.
Diet controversy
Deen has been criticised for the ingredients used in her cooking, which include high levels of salt, butter, fat and sugar in meals such as “Sausage Pancake Egg Sandwiches”.
She continued to advocate these high-fat meals before publicly acknowledging her diabetes, when she also announced she was a paid spokesperson for Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk.
Deen promotes their drug Victoza, which she has also admitted to taking. Following her diagnosis, she cut out sweet tea, which according to her own recipe contains just under a tablespoon of sugar
