Finally, she speaks!
In the cover story of the May 2012 issue of Prevention magazine, Paula Deen opens up for the first time about some of the controversies that have plagued her since she revealed that she had been diagnosed with diabetes in 2008.
She spends some time detailing the light diet that's allowed her to shed some weight in the wake of her diagnosis. She says that she's been focusing on seasonal fruits and vegetables, which allow to eat a lot of volume without consuming that many calories.
Then the interviewer shifts gears and broaches the topic of some of Deen's critics. Deen is not happy with Anthony Bourdain, possibly her most vociferous critic. She says:
And I did hear he was going to break his leg to sell crutches, which I thought was awful, because people out there with diabetes haven’t chosen this. It’s not their fault. So many things play into whether or not you get diabetes. I thought that was very, very cruel. But I really don’t know nor do I care. I don’t know the man. I’ve never shared a meal with him.
Deen is more upbeat, though, when it comes to Kristen Wiig's hilarious depiction of her on "Saturday Night Live." She says she and her husband have been longtime fans of the show, and that the skit made her "just die laughing." She even says that she wants "to be on 'Saturday Night Live' so bad [she] can hardly stand it [...] it would be a hoot." A sort of culinary redux of Sarah Palin's "SNL" guest spot?
Dean also addresses the reasons her appearance on Oprah's Next Chapter didn't include a discussion on her diabetes, as many had hoped it would. "Contractually I could not speak of it until we made the announcement," she explains, though she did warn Oprah before the segment aired.
Deen did not discuss the harassment suit that's been filed against her and her brother. Thank God! If she cleared up every controversy in one fell swoop, we food writers would have nothing to do but twiddle our thumbs and wait for In-N-Out to announce its first East Coast location.