Why Did Paula Deen Lose Her Show? Her Racism Scandal Explained

The rise and fall of Paula Deen is being brought back into the spotlight.

During the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, director Billy Corben introduced a new documentary surrounding the controversial TV personality.

Titled Canceled: The Paula Deen Story, the project looked back on the former Food Network star’s rise to fame, to the moment she was fired in 2013 as a result of her admission to using a racial slur in a sworn deposition.

After “extensive” interviews with the cookbook author, Corben hopes to share a new perspective on the scandal that made front-page headlines in 2013.

“There’s a word she uses to describe herself a lot,” Corben told People in September 2025. “It’s only in the doc once or twice, but if you go across her era of stardom, ‘naïve.’ She refers to herself as naïve. I think that’s a very fair and accurate and polite description.”

Keep reading to look back on Deen’s public scandal and how she’s trying to move forward:

Why Was Paula Deen Sued?

In 2013, the Georgia native was sued for $1.2 million by her Savannah restaurant’s former general manager, Lisa Jackson, who claimed the Food Network star made racist remarks.

In a deposition, Jackson’s attorney asked Deen if she’d ever used the N-word. “Yes, of course,” the Paula’s Best Dishes host replied.

Both parties eventually agreed to drop the case “without any award of costs or fees to any party.”

“I am confident that those who truly know how I live my life know that I believe in kindness and fairness for everyone,” Deen said in a statement after the lawsuit was dropped. “Moving forward, my team and I are working to review the workplace environment issues that were raised in this matter and to retool all of my business operations. I look forward to getting back to doing what I love.”

Jackson, for her part, said in a statement to Us that she was confident Deen would keep her word and address the concerns that had been brought up by her lawsuit. She described Deen as a “woman of compassion” and said she wished the entire family “all the best.”

Why Did Paula Deen Use the N-Word?

In Canceled: The Paula Deen Story, viewers had the chance to learn more about Deen’s deposition.

Under questioning, Deen replied in the affirmative when asked whether she had ever used the N-word in her life. She said it happened in 1987 when she worked as a bank teller in Georgia. She recalled a Black man coming in and robbing the bank with a gun.

After the incident, she went home to her then-husband, Jimmy Deen, and used the slur in her retelling of the events.

The convicted bank robber was tracked down and interviewed by Inside Edition in 2013 and apologized to Deen for causing her harm.

What Did Paula Deen Lose After Her Scandal?

At the height of her career, Deen was everywhere with various Food Network shows and products available at QVC, Walmart, Target, JCPenney and other major retail stores.

At the time of the documentary’s release, Deen had not returned to The Food Network or picked up any of her lost endorsements.

Is Paula Deen Still Married?

Deen was married to her first husband from 1965 to 1989. She remains married to her second husband, Michael Groover. The pair recently celebrated two decades of marriage.

“Happy 21st anniversary to the man that always puts a smile on my face!” she wrote via Instagram in March 2025. “I always thought our wedding would be the happiest day of my life, but each day with you gets better and better.”

What Is Paula Deen Doing Today?

Although Deen’s career may look different from what it was in the early 2000s, she has returned to doing what she loves – cooking. Her YouTube page has more than 585,000 subscribers and allows fans to learn tasty recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert.

She also continues to share recipes and family updates on her various social media pages.