Paula Deen: Do You Really Know Her?

Over the past few years, Paula Deen has become a household name; at least in the South anyways. Her fun-loving, down-to-earth personality is just irresistible. And who can't love that laugh of hers? She brings a smile to the face of most everyone that watches her or has the opportunity to meet her. To most of her viewers and fans she seems like a mother or grandmother. And her down-home cooking reminds us of the good ol' days when families sat at the kitchen table each night and ate a good meal instead of eating take-out in front of the television while watching the evening news and barely talking to one another about their days.

Paula really tells it like it is in her new book It Ain't All About the Cookin'. She shares many secrets about herself that many of us never knew or would have guessed about her. From revealing that she's a smoker to finally talking about her ten year affair with a married man, Paula really lets some of the skeletons out of her closet that she's been hiding for the past few years. She states in the foreword of her new book, "Maybe if you heard the truth about Paula Deen, about the mistakes I made in my life, how bad my judgment's been at times, and how guilty I feel because my mothering wasn't always so wonderful...well, maybe you wouldn't be quite so lovin' to me as you have been. And that would kill me." So it turns out that Paula Deen isn't perfect. She's just like you and me. She's made mistakes. She's done things she's regretted. But despite it all, she's made something of herself. She's made her dreams come true. And she's made a lot of us fall in love with her along the way.

Paula is best known for her Food Network tv show, Paula's Home Cooking, which is now taped in her own kitchen in her home in Savannah, GA. Recently she's also started Paula's Party, another hit show on the Food Network which is also filmed in Savannah at her brother, Bubba's oyster house. She also appeared in the 2005 Paramount Pictures movie Elizabethtown. Paula is the owner of The Lady & Sons restaurant which she opened in 1996 with her sons Jamie and Bobbie. She's written over four cookbooks and also has her own magazine, Cooking with Paula Deen.

Paula definitely has that southern charm we all find comforting in today's fast-paced society. It's nice to be able to 'come home' to someone like her every now and then and remember the good things in life. Paula has said many times that it's not about how good the food is or what it is we're cooking, but that we're spending time with our family and friends. She reminds us of this at the end of each episode of Paula's Home Cooking when she wishes "best dishes, from my kitchen to yours."