How Paula Deen Achieved a Net Worth of $14 Million
Paula Deen is a celebrity chef, cookbook author, restaurateur, and television personality from Georgia, and she is usually associate with southern food. She has enjoyed careers in both the food industry and the entertainment industry, both of which have contributed to her financial success. It is estimated that Paula Deen’s net worth is $14 million, and here is how she achieved her wealth.
Paula Deen’s Early Life
Paula Deen was born in Albany, Georgia, on January 19, 1947, and her maiden name was Hiers. Deen experiences a difficult period in her life during her early 20s because both her parents die before she was 23. She began to suffer from mental health issues, including agoraphobia and panic attacks. Deen’s grandmother taught her about Southern cooking, and Deen found that the only time she felt safe and happy was when she was at her stove cooking food for her family. After moving to Savannah, Deen and her first husband divorced. She became a single mother to two sons, and she was also raising her younger brother. To make ends meet, she worked in several different roles before starting a catering company, and her sons delivered the food.
Her Career as a Restaurateur
Paul Deen began her culinary career with her catering service ‘The Bag Lady,’ which she ran from her own kitchen. However, as the business expanded, it outgrew her kitchen. In 1991, she opened her first restaurant, ‘The Lady,’ in the Best Western on Abercorn Street. Five years later, she opened her second restaurant in downtown Savannah called ‘The Lady & Sons.’ A few years later, the award-winning restaurant moved to the old White Hardware building, and the restaurant became famous for its Southern buffets. Both of Deen’s sons are involved in the restaurant’s management.
At one time, Deen also owned four casino buffets. However, they were rebranded in 2013 following Deen’s removal from the Food Network. She also co-owned Uncle Bubba’s Oyster House in Savannah, although the restaurant closed in 2014. It later reopened as Paula Deen’s Creek House in 2017, and it is a joint venture between Deen and her sons. Paula Deen opened Paula Deen’s Family Kitchen in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, in 2015. Two years later, she opened another branch of this restaurant in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Deen went on to open two further Paul Deen’s Kitchen locations in Texas, one in Dallas and another in San Antonio. However, both restaurants were closed by August 2019. In addition to her restaurants, Paula Deen also launched a line of desserts, including a range of her signature pies. The dessert line was sold at Walmart.
Paul Deen’s Cookbooks
During her career, Paula Deen has published 15 cookbooks. Her first cookbook was ‘The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook,’ which she self-published in 1997. She went on to self-publish a second cookbook, ‘The Lady & Sons, Too! A Whole New Batch of Recipes from Savannah’ in the same year. In addition to her cookbooks, Paula Deen also launched her own food magazine called ‘Cooking with Paula Deen.’ She also published her memoir ‘It Ain’t All About the Cookin’ in 2007.
Her Television Career
Paula Deen first appeared on the television network in 1999. She first appeared in several episodes of ‘Doorknock Dinners’ and also appeared on ‘Ready, Set, Cook!’ The Food Network invited Deen to make a pilot of ‘Afternoon Tea’ in 2001. It led to Deen being given her own show ‘Paula’s Home Cooking,’ which aired for the first time in 2002. Since then, Deen has had two further Food Network shows; ‘Paula’s Best Dishes’ and Paula’s Party.’ Unfortunately, the Food Network dropped Paula Deen in 2013, after she admitted using racial slurs on a social media post.
While this was a setback in her career, Deen did not let it keep her down. After apologizing for her comments, she announced that she would launch her own network that allows viewers to learn about southern cooking using computers, tablets, and smartphones. She launched the network on Roku in 2015. A year later, she launched the syndicated TV show ‘Positively Paula.’ As well as appearing on her own television shows, she also appears on many other cooking programs. For example, she has made guest appearances on MasterChef USA. She is also one of the regular celebrity chefs that appears on Evine, a home shopping network. When she appears on Evine, she sells various merchandise, including food products, kitchen appliances, and clothing.
Other Ventures
Although Deen’s career has focused on the food industry, she has also got involved with many other ventures. In 2005, Paul Deen made her film debut in the romantic tragicomedy film ‘Elizabethtown’, which starred Kirsten Dunst and Orlando Bloom. Deen was also a contestant in season 21 of ‘Dancing with the Stars’ in 2015. She was partnered with professional dancer Louis van Amstel. Her time on the show was short-lived, as the pair were eliminated in the fourth week of the televised dancing competition.
Paula Deen’s Net Worth
According to The Richest, Paula Deen’s Net Worth is $14 million. She has predominantly made her money from various roles relating to the food industry, including as a restaurateur with a chain of restaurants, a celebrity chef with her own network, and a cookbook writer. However, she has also made some money from various other ventures, including appearing on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ and appearing in the film ‘Elizabethtown.’
Her Personal Life
Paul Deen has been married twice. She was first married to Jimmy Dean, and from this marriage, they had two sons, Jamie and Bobby Deen. Throughout her career, Paula Deen has worked closely with her sons. Since 2004, she has been married to Michael Groover, who is a tugboat captain in the Port of Savannah, Georgia. Like Deen, Groover also has two children from a previous marriage.
