PAULA’S MISSING INGREDIENT: CASH
Disgraced TV chef flops like bad soufflé
BUDGET-BUSTING celeb chef Paula Deen needs to tighten her belt before she goes broke, insiders dish! Sources reveal the notorious cook has faced a major cash crunch since she was roasted for spouting racial slurs and canned from the Food Network. “Paula was living high on the hog for years, spending thousands a month on jewelry, clothes, private jets and art, but she’s had to scale way back on that extravagant lifestyle,” spills an insider, who says since losing her TV show Deen’s “restaurants aren’t exactly booming.” Sources say Paula, 75, has finally off-loaded Riverbend, her five-acre French Caribbean-style waterfront estate in Georgia, though she had to slice her original $12.5 million asking price. The Queen of Southern Cuisine and second hubby Michael Groover hunkered down in her son Bobby’s guesthouse for a year while trying to sell Riverbend and whip their current home into shape — while mourning her brother Bubba’s August 2019 death from pancreatic cancer. “It’s been tough no matter how you cut it,” notes the insider. “Paula and Michael are living in a more modest house in Savannah, which needed some fixing up. Meanwhile, she’s working furiously on her cooking podcast and a new cookbook.” Despite her struggles, “Paula still spoils her grandkids, but she’s not blowing wads of cash on things she doesn’t need,” continues the insider. “She can’t afford it if she wants to leave anything to her sons, stepkids and grandchildren.
“She’s had to come to terms with the fact that, despite apologizing for her past behavior, the Food Network isn’t taking her back. She’s feeling the pinch and is learning the hard way how to be frugal.”