Paula Deen

About

Paula Ann Hiers Deen (born January 19, 1947) is an American chef, cookbook author, and TV personality. Deen resides in Savannah, Georgia. She has published fifteen cookbooks and owned and operated The Lady & Sons restaurant with her sons, Jamie and Bobby Deen, until its closure in 2025.

Deen was born Paula Ann Hiers in Albany, Georgia, the daughter of Corrie A. Hiers (née Paul) and Earl Wayne Hiers Sr. Her great-great-great grandfather, John Batts, was a wealthy politician and planter who owned a large plantation near Smithville, Georgia. 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…