Deen’s news stirs up a little controversy
Celebrity chef Paula Deen, the Southern belle of butter and heavy cream, makes no apologies for waiting three years to disclose she has diabetes while continuing to dish up deep-fried cheesecake and other high-calorie, high-fat recipes on TV.
She said she isn’t changing the comfort cooking that made her a star, though it isn’t clear how much of it she’ll continue to eat while she promotes health-conscious recipes along with a diabetes drug she’s endorsing for a Danish company.
“I’ve always said, ‘Practice moderation, y’all.’ I’ll probably say that a little louder now,” Deen said Tuesday after revealing her diagnosis on NBC’s “Today” show.
Health activists and one fellow chef called her a hypocrite for promoting an unhealthy diet along with a drug to treat its likely effects. Deen added her support of the Novo Nordisk company to a collection of lucrative endorsements that include Smithfield ham and Philadelphia Cream Cheese.
Deen, who will turn 65 on Thursday, said she kept her diagnosis private as she and her family figured out what to do, presumably about her health and a career built solidly on Southern cooking. Among her recipes: deep-fried cheesecake covered in chocolate and powdered sugar, and a quiche that calls for a pound of bacon.
Deen is the pitch person for Novo Nordisk’s new online program, Diabetes in a New Light, which offers tips on food preparation, stress management and working with doctors on treatment. She has contributed diabetes-friendly recipes to the website and takes the company’s drug Victoza, a once-daily noninsulin injection.
Lohan gets an ‘attagirl’ from judge
Actress Lindsay Lohan was all smiles Tuesday as a judge said she could end her nearly five years of constant watch by the courts in March for probation for driving under the influence and shoplifting.
Los Angeles Superior Judge Stephanie Sautner said Lohan had met her required 12 sessions of community service at the L.A. County morgue and mandatory therapy sessions and is on pace to end probation in March if she completes her 60 days of community service.
“She has done it all on schedule,” Sautner said during a hearing. “Keep doing what you are doing. You appear to be doing it well.”
The birthday bunch
Singer-songwriter Bobby Goldsboro is 71. Actor-director Kevin Costner is 57. Country singer Mark Collie is 56. Comedian Dave Attell is 47. Actor Jesse L. Martin is 43. Rock singer Jonathan Davis (Korn) is 41. Actor Jason Segel is 32.