“Hey, y’all! Sorry, I didn’t realize that deep-fried butter-stuffed meatballs with a pina-colada-pork-cracklings-crunch exterior dipped in a whiskey-chocolate Dr. Pepper dipping sauce would or could ever give someone like me the diabetes! Oops, y’all! Sorry. Please enjoy my new Paula Deen whipped-cream flavored insulin poppers. And don’t forget to watch my new Food Network show: Paula Deen’s Savannah-Style Down-Home Diabetes Pancreas-Palooza. Starring my four sons, Bobby, Jamie, Baconface and Chondroid Lipoma.”
Dear Paula Deen,
You’re kind of an asshole.
Listen, it’s not that you get on your show and write your little cookbooks and tell people how to basically make like, Butter Salad or Cookie-Dough-Stuffed-Thanksgiving Turkeys or, I dunno, Sugar-Crammed Sugar-Balls (coincidentally my nickname when I attended the Culinary Institute of America, and by “attended” I mean “hung out by the dumpster eating hot gourmet garbage”). This is America. You’re free to eat and cook however you feel is most appropriate, and instruct your audience to do the same.
On the one hand, you maybe should’ve warned people — like with a pack of cigarettes, a casual, “Hi, y’all, if you go ahead and make my scrumptious French-Fried French Toast with Spackled Goose Grease your heart may explode in your chest” may have been welcome. On the other hand, you know what? We’re supposed to be a smart country. If you’re sitting there telling us how to roll up a pumpkin pie and then barbecue it before slathering it with foie gras and whipped marshmallow frosting, I think we’re all educated enough to know that maybe what you’re selling us is not exactly diet food.
We knew your food wasn’t health food.
You knew your food wasn’t health food.
And now you have diabetes.
Or, more to the point, you’ve had diabetes for three fucking years.
To clarify, that means for three years — over a thousand days — you have been shilling your Microwaved Pork Roll Munchiladas and your Bacon-Gorged Jabba Rolls and your Powdered Sugar South Carolina Soul Food Gummi-Bear Casserole and not once have you said, “Hey y’all, by the way, I totally have diabetes, which is a plague amongst Americans, a plague that for many could’ve been avoided if you chose to avoid making foods like my Lady’s Brunch Burger, a hamburger topped with fried eggs and bacon and shoved unmercifully between two pillowy glazed doughnut buttocks.”
That’s where you get me. That’s what chaps my rosebud, Paula. That you knew you had diabetes and refused to tell anyone. Not even because you didn’t feel like you wanted to out your own medical condition but because, let’s be honest, you didn’t want to lose any money associated with the way you suggest people eat. Not money from your shows, from your cookbooks, from your appearances or your ad revenue.
No, instead you waited to tell people until —
Wait for it.
Waaaait for it.
— until you replaced any potential lost income with a fucking Novo Nordisk pharmaceutical deal. Essentially saying, “Hey, my lifestyle actively causes diabetes, but I didn’t want to tell any of you that while you were still paying me to tell you to eat human infants rolled in Cocoa Puffs and sausage fat, and now by waiting three years and announcing a deal with Big Pharma I’m basically telling you that you can live how you want and eat what you want and by god it’s not going to impact the way any of us do anything because Thank the Baby Jesus for mah diabeedus medication!”
(Next up on her show: Deep-Fried Baby Jesus topped with Pork Jimmies!)
Like Anthony Bourdain said yesterday on Twitter:
“Thinking of getting into the leg-breaking business, so I can profitably sell crutches later.”
You know what Paula really said? Quote for quote?
“I don’t want to spend my life not having good food going into my pie hole. That hole was made for pies.” Now, I’m all for silly statements regarding pies and holes, because, c’mon. Fuck yeah, pie. But here she is, a three-year-diabetic, basically telling you, “Well, just because I have diabetes doesn’t mean I have to change the way I eat.” Yes! Yes it does! That’s the whole fucking point!
That’s the message you should be telling people! Gah! Fuck!
Further, on the subject of why she waited three years, she says: “I made the choice at the time to keep it close to me, to keep it close to my chest. I felt like I had nothing to offer anybody other than the announcement. I wasn’t armed with enough knowledge. I knew when it was time, it would be in God’s time.” Oh. Ohhh. Announcing the diabetes thing late is… God’s fault?
God didn’t give you permission until now? We’re on his time for this kind of shit, are we?
You didn’t wait because of God. Don’t blame this on him. I’m sure he’s up there sitting on his throne made of Dixie cups and human bones and he’s just shaking his head and making frowny-faces.
“BOO, PAULA, BOO,” he’s saying. “YOU HAVE DIABETES BECAUSE YOU FREEBASED HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP. YOU DIDN’T TELL THE HUMAN MOO-HERD BECAUSE YOU DIDN’T WANT TO LOSE ANY ENDORSEMENTS OR GET BOOTED OFF YOUR SHOW. DON’T BLAME ME FOR THIS ONE, YOU PLUMP SNOW-HAIRED SHE-DEVIL. BOOOOOO!”
Man, sometimes it’s fun to write in all caps.
Anyway, Paula Deen, you’re kind of an asshole.
I’m sorry about your diabetes, but, y’know, maybe you should’ve told people sooner.
I hope God takes some of your toes. Just a few of them. As penance.
Feel better!
Love,
Little Chucky Wendig, Age Eight-and-a-Half
P.S., please read this great piece by Andrew Zimmern.
P.P.S. Okay, fine, no, I don’t want God or any other invisible space being to remove her toes.
P.P.P.S. What about just a pinky toe?
P.P.P.P.S. OKAY FINE SORRY JEEZ
LH says:
Word, dawg. I totally agree. Saw her on Dr. Oz talking about it. Get real.
So, yeah. Too bad about the diabeetus, but I guess that pharmaceutical deal will make up for all that. So she’s good to go!
I would have felt a smidgen bad for her–just a smidgen– until I realized it’s all about the $$$. Boo-hoo.
I never was a fan of hers anyway. I try to eat mostly paleo anyway and her shit is just way too Homer Simpson.
But I do have a Paula Deen brand dutch oven. It was a gift. Whatever.
January 18, 2012 — 12:40 AM
Laura says:
Who the fuck is Paula Dean? I would Wiki her but that’s too much effort and it’s all dark. I’ll just go with the Chucky version.
Diabeetus. Heh.
January 18, 2012 — 6:16 AM
Amber J. Gardner says:
I’m so glad I don’t have cable. I’ve never heard of Paula Deen or her show, but that recipe you linked just made me want to gag. Seriously? People make and eat that kind of stuff?
Bleh…
January 18, 2012 — 6:27 AM
Kate Haggard says:
A-fucking-men! [/long, thoughtful, and constructive comment]
January 18, 2012 — 6:27 AM
Abby says:
I said this same thing to my husband last night. (Okay, not the exact same thing, you are more, uh, *eloquent*?) Paula Deen. But you can kind of see Novo Norodisk’s line of thinking. Isn’t it in their best interest to have people keep being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes? Why not create/hire the biggest hypocrite in the food world to promote your drug that you wouldn’t need without people like her in the first place?
January 18, 2012 — 7:26 AM
Matt says:
Kind of an asshole? No. She is an asshole. People like her always have a hidden agenda. Plus (as I believe Mr. Wendig has all ready pointed out) she looks like Kenny Rogers sans beard.
January 18, 2012 — 7:57 AM
Todd Moody says:
It’s hard enough to eat right without the Food Network. Her show is truly food porn. It does soooo look rediculously delicious, makes you wonder if she went down to the crossroads to make a deal.
Way too many people in this country just go to work at a job they can barely tolerate and then come home and watch TV until its time to go to bed and repeat the process. The Food Network is not there for our best interest, it’s there to make money. Until eating right is profitable we won’t see much of that on the boob tube.
I applaud you and others that are trying to get the word out to the masses.
January 18, 2012 — 8:09 AM
Lindsay Mawson says:
I feel my arteries clogging as I read that recipe.
Heard Paula Deen’s name thrown around once or twice, but have never watched her (unless I inadvertently saw her as a guest on another show). Glad my exposure has been minimal.
Loved this post. That’s all I had to say.
January 18, 2012 — 8:30 AM
Jason R says:
Chuck, if I wore a hat, I’d take it off to you right now. This is the kind of honest, straight-talking, calling-it-as-it-is writing that I live for.
My mother has been a Type 2 diabetic for 30-odd years, so I have both an understanding of the problem and a fair chance of getting it myself – which is why I try to eat healthily and not repeat other people’s mistakes. Pretty simple, you’d think.
Maybe you should run a competition to find a special place in Hell for the likes of Paula Deen. Dante had hypocrites struggle under the weight of lead-lined cloaks. How about force-feeding Ms Deen the vomited-up contents of her followers’ stomachs after gorging themselves on her food?
January 18, 2012 — 8:36 AM
Peter Hentges says:
OK, Chuck, I’m going to have to take you to task for this one.
Is Paula Deen an asshole? I don’t know, I’ve never seen her show, read her books, ate the hyperbolic foods you’ve said she touts. Hell, I hadn’t heard of her until a few folks on Twitter started up about her recent revelation about diabetes. So I’ll give you that one, since you’re so much more familiar. Ms. Deen is an asshole.
She waited three years to divulge her private health information in order to keep her job. Now that she has some income security, she’s revealing this private information. Gee, that sounds like terrible person.
Now, about the diabetes. She contracted that because of what she eats, you say? Really. So you’re a doctor, are you? A nutritionist? You’ve read all the scientific studies about the causes of diabetes? You have access to Ms. Deen’s medical history and that of her family?
No? You just inhaled some mass media talking points about flawed studies and regurgitated them back with a little extra profanity to give them that “Wendig” flavor?
Wouldn’t want to check out information from people that actually know what they’re talking about: http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/diabetes-myths/
And in the process you piled on the loathing for fat people. Clap. Clap. Clap. Good show. They never get enough of that from everyone else on the planet.
January 18, 2012 — 8:43 AM
terribleminds says:
@Peter:
As a guy who is overweight, I assure you I am not piling on about fat people. This has nothing to do with her being heavy. I don’t even think she’s all that heavy. Body types are wide and varied and hers is what it is.
I’d suggest that you’re misreading my post.
Let me reframe what she did.
She, as a celebrity chef, put forth recipes that were, at times, egregious in their sugar and fat content. It’s why she’s known for her recipes featuring butter and sugar. Now, I’m not knocking that — hey, I’ve put out recipes like that. Problem is, the kind of cooking she advocates is the kind of cooking that contributes to diabetes —
And yes, I have read about diabetes. Please don’t pander to me. I was pre-diabetic, and I have family members who are diabetic. Friends, too. Let me, in fact, quote from that link you so kindly provided:
Type 1 diabetes is caused by genetics and unknown factors that trigger the onset of the disease; type 2 diabetes is caused by genetics and lifestyle factors. Being overweight does increase your risk for developing type 2 diabetes, and a diet high in calories, whether from sugar or from fat, can contribute to weight gain. If you have a history of diabetes in your family, eating a healthy meal plan and regular exercise are recommended to manage your weight.
So, Deen gets diabetes three years ago, says nothing, actively *hides* the fact (the rumor’s been going around for a while), and then later cashes in on the very phenomenon she did her very small part to sustain? Never mind the fact that celebrity endorsements of pharmaceutical products is in its own way a bit sketchy, here she’s going to grow even more wealthy over other people’s illness.
And all this fails to take into account the other ways she’s an asshole, but the Zimmern link covers that.
Sorry, Peter, if you don’t like that line of thinking, but that’s where I land on the issue.
But again, let me stress: don’t put words in my mouth. I’m not in any way “piling on” or “loathing” overweight people.
— c.
January 18, 2012 — 8:56 AM
Laura Anne says:
Word, and also word. This isn’t about “piling on” as Peter suggests – it’s about calling bullshit.
I do know who Paula Deen is. I’ve watched the show a few times, and even used a few of her recipes (slightly altered, because I have no desire to die before age 60 of things I can prevent). I’ve also read the criticism of her long before she made her announcement, and shrugged it off because, Jesus, people, if you think this stuff isn’t killing you from the inside, it’s because you’re in bloody-minded denial, that’s all.
[I’m been diagnosed with hyperinsulinemia , so you’re damn right I pay attention to my diet]
But the point isn’t that she shills tasty poison – we’re all alleged adults, we choose what we put in our mouths. The point, as many many folk have pointed out, is that the timing of her announcement – at the exact moment she signs on to shill a treatment for a disease that has established links to a craptastic diet like what she shills — makes her look…bad. Possibly even like an asshole. Certainly it makes her look like someone who chose to hedge her financial bets rather than admit any sort of responsibility for her actions or endorsements.
That’s her call, her choice. But nobody has to respect her for it.
January 18, 2012 — 9:20 AM
terribleminds says:
But the point isn’t that she shills tasty poison – we’re all alleged adults, we choose what we put in our mouths. The point, as many many folk have pointed out, is that the timing of her announcement – at the exact moment she signs on to shill a treatment for a disease that has established links to a craptastic diet like what she shills — makes her look…bad. Possibly even like an asshole. Certainly it makes her look like someone who chose to hedge her financial bets rather than admit any sort of responsibility for her actions or endorsements.
Nailed it!
Well-said.
— c.
January 18, 2012 — 9:22 AM
Nancy Keim Comley says:
Oh dear heavens, you weren’t joking about the Lady’s Brunch Burger.
January 18, 2012 — 9:27 AM
Cathy Olliffe-Webster says:
You’re right and, man oh man, you’re funny.
(Snorting my coffee through my nose at Deep-Fried Baby Jesus topped with Pork Jimmies.)
January 18, 2012 — 9:29 AM
Spidlerc says:
She made deep-fried butter.
On television.
To the cheering of a studio audience.
Does anything else need to be said?
January 18, 2012 — 9:31 AM
terribleminds says:
Hey, I’m definitely a dude who can appreciate some food porn.
But there’s a point when food porn becomes a very slow-mo snuff film.
— c.
January 18, 2012 — 9:34 AM
Peter Hentges says:
I think I’m in agreement with you folks that Ms. Deen’s timing of the announcement of her disease is very much like that of an asshole. Not knowing anything about her, I’m probably more willing to give her the benefit of the doubt on keeping private information that might cause her to lose her job private.
What I’m on about is the hyperbolic phrases like “YOU HAVE DIABETES BECAUSE YOU FREEBASED HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP.” No. No she doesn’t.
Eating a diet high in calories or fats may have caused her to be overweight. Being overweight may have increased her risk for developing her disease. But there is not a direct causation between what she eats and her disease. People who have perfectly healthy diets get diabetes. The vast majority of fat people don’t get diabetes.
So get on with the “Ms. Deen is an asshole because of how she’s handling her business affairs.” Right on.
Lay off the “eating like she does causes diabetes.”
January 18, 2012 — 9:35 AM
terribleminds says:
@Peter:
First, in a number of studies HFCS has been shown to cause actual damage to human cells and tissues and there may be a correlation between it and diabetes. What you eat actually *matters* in regards to diabetes. Whether or not any one food contributes, the result of eating poorly is a significant factor in upping your risk for diabetes (Type 2).
Second, obviously no one believes she actually freebased HFCS. It’s not even in most of her recipes. I also assume people understand that God is not yelling at her in all caps. If you’re not comfortable with hyperbole or metaphor for the purposes of being humorous or making a point, I might suggest finding another blog to read. That’s sorta how we roll here at terribleminds.
— c.
January 18, 2012 — 9:47 AM
Tracey Hansen says:
I also think America should be smart enough to know what to eat and how much of it to eat. I just lost 35lbs. It was my fault for shoving my own pie hole with actual pie. PD’s food is a once-in-a-while treat and not a three squares a day lifestyle and I really WANT to give credit to Americans for knowing that…but the sad truth is that many don’t.
What gets me is that she could have done a lot of good for a lot of people coming out three years ago with her diagnosis. And with a new a plan for her life consisting of the proper meds and a new diet of butter/cream/bacon substitutions and extreme moderation, that you too can become healthier…
But she dropped the bacon wrapped ball on this one.
-WTYM
January 18, 2012 — 9:36 AM
Laura Anne says:
Peter – having diabetes was not going to make her lose her job. If it were, she wouldn’t have said anything even now (ratings will make her lose her job, and we all know the majority of people who watch will continue to watch).
It might cut into her numerous food-related endorsements and brand products, however. And that’s a significant chunk of cash.
January 18, 2012 — 9:38 AM
Anthony says:
Ive watched her show for years and loved every single one until I cut cable a year ago. So why all the animosity towards her now? So what if she just signed with a large pharmaceutical company to hawk diabetes medication. What all the hatred for the her based on the kind of food she has cooked publicly for years.?
She’s never pushed as a diet plan or the way you should eat all the time. If that were the case, then yes, there would be some justified indignation felt by those following said plan.
Can’t we all just go back to fighting OPA and PIPA instead of people because of their health and careers?
January 18, 2012 — 10:22 AM
Tim Casey says:
I so agree, my mother has type two, and has had to battle her meds and diet for years. She is a fan of Paula, just the crassness of thinking about money and not people. Paula doesn’t have enough money now?
That good ole down home ATM is churning out the bucks, I think this will become one of the best stories of 2012.
January 18, 2012 — 10:44 AM
Andrew says:
Cheers Chuck. I always enjoy your words on food, and I while I always cringe at your over-the-top hyperbole, my thoughts are provoked and that is a wonderful thing.
Paula Deen has always grossed me out. The food she makes has never really appealed to me at all. I imagine I can understand though how it appeals to many people. After all its generally simple, yet extremely decadent food. Something that used to be the exclusive domain of festivals, fairs, holidays and special occasions.
Normalizing that kind of excessively decadent food to the everyday has always seemed rather egregious to me. And I think that chefs have a unique responsibility to teach non-chefs about the quality, care for and selection of food. It is in my mind fundamental to the role. And as a chef on television I feel that is more important than say for the local chef at a restaurant down the corner.
By that measure, I have never found Paula Deen to be someone worth listening to for advice and ideas for cooking.
That said, there is a fundamental part of me that gets rubbed the wrong way when folks get overly focused on diet as the cause of all ills. Especially, the “Americans and their diets of blah-ty blah-ty blah…” arguments.
While I certainly don’t discount the role of having a quality diet, I feel its become a scapegoat used to ignore what I feel are the larger contributors to our culture’s health problems and so called obesity epidemic.
Contributors I would list as including; urban/town planning, architecture, the automotive and an inability to react to changes in the work environment over the past 100 years.
January 18, 2012 — 10:55 AM
Ethan Skemp says:
I knew she was an asshole when I saw her shilling for Smithfield. The asshole confirmation crystallized with this — not protecting her job with lack of information, but her empire. Seriously, if you can’t buy groceries without a magazine cover in the checkout isle showing this woman shoving a giant bowl of macaroni and cheese or whatever the hell at the camera, we are not talking about someone who is living paycheck to paycheck.
January 18, 2012 — 10:59 AM
Peter Hentges says:
@Chuck
Yeah, I’m down with the evil of HFCS. No argument there.
I’ll remind you that correlation does not equal causation. Yes, everyone should eat a healthy diet. But when people like Wimbledon champions and Olympic runners get diabetes, we can rule out a healthy diet as a sure way to avoid it.
And yes, I get the hyperbole, metaphor, and profanity that make up the Jenny Say Qua of terribleminds. I think it works most of the time. Seeing directed at a fat woman with a disease she’ll be living with the rest of her life seemed a little over the line. Touched a nerve.
So I said my piece. We’ve fairly cheerfully disagreed on some points. I think we’re probably pretty close on our general feelings about the whole thing.
Bro hug?
January 18, 2012 — 11:05 AM
Samuel says:
Don’t worry about her toes falling off. I’m sure some kidney stones are in her near future, and those will be penance enough.
Maybe she can strike a big pharm deal for those too.
I’m surprised people have come in here trying to be argumentative, taking things so serious. The internet’s main purpose is to rip on people shamelessly. Yes, yes it is.
Poor eating has everything to do with getting adult onset type 2 Diabeetus.
People who say otherwise might also suggest that smoking doesn’t actually cause cancer either, just because occasionally someone gets lung cancer that didn’t smoke.
Frankly, any blog where we can ridicule Diabeetus, kidney stones, cancer, Big Pharm, and trailer trash all at once is okie-dokie in my book.
Now, where’s my doughnut buttocks?
January 18, 2012 — 11:05 AM
Samuel says:
and frankly the image of Paula Deen freebasing HFCS is the funniest damn thing I have contemplated in ages.
But then again, I have very little conscience or ethics.
January 18, 2012 — 11:07 AM
Athena Grayson says:
25,800,000 people have type 2 diabetes in the US today. 25,799,999 of them have to pay for their own medication either from an insurance policy or, for about 2.2 million of them, full price and out of their own pocket. Only one of them is a spokes-piehole.
The gracious thing to do would be to use that piehole of hers for something useful, like advocating responsible disease management while she’s raking it in.
January 18, 2012 — 1:22 PM
Jennifer says:
You win the Internet today, Chuck.
Maybe she could do some advertising for Quaker Oatmeal to redeem herself?
January 18, 2012 — 1:53 PM
Julia says:
Preach it, brother.
January 18, 2012 — 3:20 PM
dave says:
Umadbro? I <3 nerd rage.
January 18, 2012 — 6:02 PM
Ellie Ann says:
heh, so if a person working for the porn industry advertises Viagra, does that make them wrong? You know, since prolonged porn use is proven to cause reduced libido and erectile dysfunction?
She sure was moronic about it, what with the God-timing reference, and claiming that diabetics don’t have to change what they eat (heck, they don’t have to change anything if they don’t want to…just depends how long they want to live).
Is she a good role model? Meh, who cares. Aren’t we kinda past looking to celebrities as being good role models? Would anyone like to be on that kind of pedestal?
p.s. your food references are hilarious.
January 18, 2012 — 6:08 PM
Christopher Meyer says:
Her restaurant in Savannah, Georgia is butt :/ (Sweet Melissa’s Pizza across the street is 1000% better).
But yes, that’s pretty douche-baggish. But on the flip side it’s the individual’s decision to look at Paula Dean’s food and say, “I’m not going to cook or eat that. I’m going to cook and eat healthy from the start. And If I don’t know how to eat healthy I’m going to work very hard at finding out how.”
Ultimately it’s individual responsibility. I can say that because for a while I fell off the healthy train and got nasty-fat. I’m back on now (deadlift 315lbs and run like a cheetah, what what!!) but I blame no one else for my eating habits (good or bad) except: me. I have to have the discipline to say, “No Reese’s Peanut Butter Cheesecake tonight. No I cannot haz cheezburgerz.” No one else. Just me.
It’s a really sad social norm in the USA for people to blame EVERY-GODDAMN-THING-ELSE for their weight except their own choices. But if we want to change it, we as individuals have to start with ourselves.
January 18, 2012 — 7:26 PM
Tanya says:
OMG! That was the best, most hilarious post I’ve ever seen….and I’ve been ranting on FB about her. This is awesome and must be shared 🙂
January 18, 2012 — 9:20 PM
Jen says:
“My pie hole is for pies”
Oh, Paula Deen. I don’t want to think about your holes.
That, and I tend to be very impatient when people make obviously damaging to others and self-beneficial decisions, and then throw “God” into it to make people back off. Nope, Paula, you’d best own that. Just like you owned that lasagna + garlic bread sandwich I watched you eat and now see in my dreams. Scarier than Cthulhu, y’all.
January 18, 2012 — 9:50 PM
Kim Lee says:
While there isn’t necessarily definitive proof that being overweight or eating the kind of diet that Deen promotes will definitely cause diabetes, I think a lot of the outrage is over how she portrays this persona, has branded herself, as a down-home southern gal and eats the kinds of food that she cooks likely on a regular basis and that she’s basically saying, it’s all good people, you shouldn’t have to change your diet, just take medication.
Well, I’m pretty sure endocrinologists all over are just going nuts over that. Medications can only approximate what your body is supposed to do naturally, and if you have diabetes, the kind of food that Paula Deen promotes will lead to poor control of your blood sugars. And that poor control of blood sugars is 100% shown to cause or at least contribute to: Kidney failiure, hypertension, atherosclerosis, increases your risk of stroke and heart attack, poor wound healing which often leads to amputations, and blindness. (I can go into why taking insulin and eating high carb/high fat diet messes up with blood sugar regulation, but I won’t)
Certainly this doesn’t mean that all people with diabetes will have these issues if they are able to control their disease with diet and medication. There are also some people who unfortunately have a very hard time controlling their blood sugars despite diet and medication. So we’re not trying to blame people for their illnesses.
But what Paula Deen is saying, is you don’t need to take control of your own health, because medication will do it for you. She isn’t a medical professional, but she IS a public figure. It’s how she makes money and is able to afford her medication! So she DOES have some responsibility in being open and honest with people and encourage people to do their best to take responsibility for their health, especially if they have a chronic illness. All the better if she uses some of her fame and money to help fund research for a cure, and/or provide support, and medication for people who can’t afford it.
That’s what a decent human being would do.
January 18, 2012 — 10:22 PM
PatriciaW says:
As much as I have enjoyed Paula Deen’s shows, and on occasion, one of her less crazy recipes, I have to agree with 1,000%. This whole thing smells. First of all, to those who follow the Food Network, this was the worst kept secret. I heard about it via the blogosphere last fall. So me thinks it was not only that she has now solidified her income coming and going, but that she was going to be outed in a major way. The announcement and her comments are insincere at best, deceptive and self-serving at worst. Can’t say I’ll continue to be much of a fan.
January 19, 2012 — 10:56 AM
Salome says:
It didn’t initially bother me that she had a deal with a pharmaceutical company. But then I realized that she’s not planning to change anything. And, you know, I do understand that food is this super personal thing for everyone. It’s freaking hard to change your eating habits. And possibly even harder for someone whose work involves making that food and showing others how to make it. So, I’m not so troubled by that. We’re all flawed in some way. But what does bother me is that she appears to be trying to sell the idea that you don’t have to change your eating habits. You can just keep eating that way and everything will be fine. Here’s a pill.
She’s not alone in thinking that. But it’s a little like getting addicted to bee stings when you’re allergic tothem and just popping an epi pen or something. At some point, this plan is going to fail. And something’s going to go horribly wrong with your body. And as we don’t have time machines, there won’t be anything you can do about it.
So I’m not okay with her being out there spreading that word to other diabetics who are already having a hard time managing their food intake.
January 19, 2012 — 5:59 PM
Tee says:
I’m wondering if this announcement isn’t blatantly timed with the launch of her son’s new show where he, get this, will take his mama’s recipes and give them a healthy spin. Being southern myself and being raised by a woman whose cooking makes Deen look like a fry cook on day two at the Waffle House, (and who recently discovered she too has diabetes), I’m ashamed of Deen. A-freakin-shamed. Now she’s spinning this with the whole “I tell my audience, always, everything in moderation,” but come on! Hundreds and hundreds of butter/sugar/creme/carb/fried somethingortheother protein, even in moderation, with make you sick…sick enough that your toes will fall off on their own with no help from the Big Guy. Anyway, that’s what I think, y’all.
January 20, 2012 — 12:20 AM
Erin says:
I am sorry but if you didn’t know that deep fried butter with powdered sugar and cherry pie filling on top was bad for you without having someone tell you than that is your own stupidity. Who cares if she didn’t tell anyone she had diabetes for 3 years. She has a right to keep that to her self and still cook sugar laden desserts. Why Anthony Bourdain has an issue with her I will never understand. I love the man’s show but he is a bit uppity. This is simply an issue of making nothing into something. My grandma has diabetes and still makes pie. Is everyone ashamed of her? Get a life people.
January 20, 2012 — 11:31 PM
Marie Loughin says:
Hadn’t even heard of Paula Dean until now, so I had a look at her website. Chuck, for once you’re not exaggerating! In the first recipe I checked out, she recommends frying bacon in butter. And then she adds pork sausage! How redundant is that?! Here’s the proof:
http://bit.ly/zHNZS0
My arteries hardened a little just reading the recipe.
January 22, 2012 — 10:42 AM
mythago says:
Also, seriously, fuck Novo Nordisk:
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-06-10/news/bs-md-factor-vii-20110610_1_factor-vii-novoseven-novo-nordisk
January 22, 2012 — 5:43 PM
Mel says:
“I felt like I had nothing to offer anybody other than the announcement.”
That’s the part that convinces me Paula Deen is kind of an asshole. She felt like she had nothing to offer besides the announcement? She has a popular cooking show! Who in all of North America is better positioned to teach people how to manage their diabetes with changes to their diets? Seriously, who?
January 22, 2012 — 5:48 PM
Jessica ( frellathon ) says:
It totally makes me love Anthony Bourdain even more.
January 23, 2012 — 5:35 AM
Amy says:
I agree and just want to thank you for making me laugh so hard at work my boss came out to see ifi was okay.
January 24, 2012 — 3:31 PM
Christine says:
I fail to understand, and probably always will, why people think that famous people are obligated to disclose their medical histories. Seriously. We have laws that protect that information because it so personal, private and can be used against an individual.
Sadly, people feel they are entitled to dictate the lives of the famous. The same thing was done to Freddy Mercury. He was bisexual and led an extremely high-risk lifestyle. He contracted HIV and died of an AIDS-related disease. He was virtually crucified by gay-rights groups for keeping his illness a secret and not using his impending painful death to raise money. Jesus, Mary and Joseph. He was a man, not a telethon.
I’m sorry (well, not really), but who the fuck are they to decide how a person lives or dies and who the hell died and made them a god worthy of vilifying someone for keeping their private health information private? Or even more importantly, who were they to demand that he turn his death into a side-show fundraiser instead of letting him die with his dignity intact?
Paula Deen kept her diabetes to herself. Big fucking deal. How could anyone with half a brain not realize that her food was obscenely unhealthy? She ate sticks of butter for crying out loud. She wasn’t on the streets twisting arms, forcing people to suck down fried Twinkies. She isn’t obligated to teach anyone anything just because she has diabetes. She isn’t obligated to share her medical history.
Frankly, anyone so stupid that they didn’t realize the food she cooked was a heart attack on a plate really ought not to be breeding anyway.
Butter: Chlorine for the Gene Pool.
January 27, 2012 — 10:36 PM