Is Paula Deen Truly Broke? Her Flamboyant Tour Of Her Georgia Home Is Fishy

Go broke or go home? Paula Deen recently made headlines when she announced in August 2025 that she was closing both of her Savannah restaurants, including her flagship restaurant, The Lady & Sons, and her casual fried chicken eatery, The Chicken Box. "Hey, y'all, my sons and I made the heartfelt decision that Thursday, July 31st, was the last day of service for The Lady & Sons and The Chicken Box," she revealed in statements on her official website and her Facebook account. Deen thanked her patrons for "all the great memories" and their "loyalty over the past 36 years." She also explained that she and her sons would be shifting all of their efforts to their four Paula Deen's Family Kitchen restaurants located in Pigeon Forge, Myrtle Beach, Nashville, and Branson. As one can imagine, the sudden closure of both Savannah restaurants prompted many to wonder what in the Georgia Fried Catfish was going on over in Deen's neck of the woods? Could it be that she was truly broke?

However, merely 19 days after announcing the abrupt closing of her Savannah eateries, Deen gave "Fox & Friends" host Steve Doocy a televised tour of her reported $8.4 million Georgian mansion that implied the Queen of Southern cuisine was still living life high on the hog. As noted by Realtor.com, the Southern farmhouse-style property boasts 14 bedrooms, 11.5 bathrooms, waterfront views, a dock, and a detached garage that rivals the square footage of some people's entire homes. "Big boys have big toys. And he's got a GTO," the cookbook author and television personality joked about her supersized garage. Make no mistake, folks, Deen is still VERY rich, and it looks like she's vying for a comeback!

As you may recall, Paula Deen has enjoyed a staggering transformation to fame and success. Fresh off a divorce, Deen managed to turn her small in-home catering business, The Bag Lady, into a full-fledged restaurant. Then, in 1999, the Food Network came calling, eventually offering Deen her very own show, "Paula's Home Cooking." Nearly overnight, Deen had become a full-fledged brand, complete with her own restaurants, cookbooks, magazines, food items, cookware, kitchen tools, clothing, home goods, furniture, and even her own line of butter. (Never mind her Type 2 Diabetes diagnosis.) As reported by ABC News, Deen's net worth was estimated to be at a lofty $17 million in 2013. Cha-ching!

Alas, that all threatened to come crashing down the same year when she was sued by a former employee, who claimed that she had been the victim of sexual harassment and racial discrimination at the hands of both Deen and Deen's brother, restaurant manager Bubba Hiers. Things only went from bad to worse for Deen when the National Enquirer published a recorded deposition of Deen wherein she had admitted to using a racist slur in the past (via Eater). Shortly after, Deen was dropped by the Food Network, and all of her businesses plunged into a massive freefall. In short: her million-dollar empire was cooked.

But here comes the real scoop! Following Deen's flamboyant tour of her luxurious property with "Fox & Friends" Steve Doocy, she invited the host in for a second segment wherein she fried him up a piping hot pan of ice cream french toast, all while teasing her upcoming documentary "Canceled: The Paula Deen Story." The documentary is set to premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September. "I thought I was going to die of a broken heart," she said about the difficult period in her life amid the scandal that ruined her Food Network career. So, uh, yeah, perhaps the "everything's better with butter" baker really doesn't have time to run her Savannah restaurants anymore. She's too busy making all new money moves in the film industry!