I’ve been fascinated by the reactions from friends, celebrities, and other coastal liberals to Paula Deen, ever since her announcement that she has Type 2 Diabetes and is endorsing a medication to treat it. 

There seem to be two general responses to this:

1) That’s too bad—hope she uses her platform for good!

versus: 

2) That fat fuck finally got what she deserved. How dare she make us sick and profit from it?

Oh dear. I have sooo many thoughts, and they’re after the jump if you care. 

The short story is this: I think we should simmer down and give her a chance. Let’s wait one year and see what she does with her insanely huge, baby-Oprah platform.

I for one haven’t learned so much about diabetes since Stacey McGill in The Baby Sitters Club got it. And I think this news has the potential to be the greatest thing that ever happened to diabetes awareness. It’s already been a freaking free PSA for the ADA. 

But OMG why are people so hateful? 

Paula Deen is, after all, a senior citizen who announced that she has a a life-threatening disease, one that afflicts 27% of adults over age 65, and 26 million Americans. 

She is a human being. 

Who is sick. 

And of course her announcement was tacky. 

I’m not wild about the choice to announce her diagnosis while also basically saying, “Good news! I’ve found a way to make money from this! And the answer is PILLS!”  

Tacky, yes. But the woman needs to manage her disease somehow. I don’t have enough information about her situation or the MD degree to know if this strategy is best, better than say “spinach!” And even if I did, it’s not my place to judge her personal choices. (I mean, of course I’d still judge, but it wouldn’t be cool.)

It’s not about the butter.  

I used to be a snob about Paula Deen, before I became a total fan and what I realized is that people don’t love her because she says it’s Ok to eat fatty food. 

What Paula Deen tells the world through her success is, “Hey, no matter where you are in life, it’s not too late to start over.” She was orphaned in her early twenties, flat broke through her 40s, and a single mom with agoraphobia for most of her adult life. Then, despite these obstacles and lack of connections, she *still* rose, phoenix-life, and created a wildly successful business.

Why is anyone surprised that a celebrity chef isn’t a picture of health? 

In a list of jobs with unhealthy lifestyles, like being a truck driver or a rock star, being a celebrity chef has to be the worst on a waistline, cholesterol levels, and blood pressure. They are literally paid to eat, cook, and obsess about good food all day. 

When I worked in TV production, which mind you was only for 9 months of my life, I was so chubby! 20 pounds heavier than I am today! The schedule was brutal and there was a craft services table, which was basically a stash of crappy processed food. It was always there, and always incredibly well-stocked. And because I never got enough sleep, I could never control myself around it.

I think it’s cool she was honest.

Frank Bruni put it really well in his column this week when he said, “the people who invite us to wallow in food seldom warn us to beware.”  It’s so true; we have no idea what skinny chefs actually eat when the cameras are off, or how many of these personalities are diabetic or pre-diabetic or have other unhealthy conditions.

So many fat chefs—whose specialties inevitably involve meat and butters and sugar and who I don’t want to name because that seems harsh and rude—are probably staring down a similar fate. The vitriol against Paula Deen only makes it harder for them to be frank about it.

And of course she hid her disease! 

I’m blown away by people who harp on this—as if it’s the kicker that proves she’s evil. Do they really feel like chefs owe us their medical history? I don’t think anyone must disclose this to me, except maybe my future husband, because our lives are legally entwined.

And if you’d worked hard to create a business and had hundreds of people whose paychecks were linked to your success, wouldn’t you wait awhile to learn more about your disease and think strategically (and yes, even opportunistically) about how you wanted to announce this to the world? 

She didn’t give America diabetes. 

If you’re going to say that Paula Deen made America sick, then by extension, I hope you’re ready to blame every chef and cookbook author and half the food bloggers in America, except for a handful of healthy ones. 

There’s no rational basis for this. Science has not yet isolated the cause of diabetes down to just one variable, let alone proven that variable to be Paula Deen. Even Type 2, which is often thought of as “lifestyle-induced,” is still linked to genetics.

Have any of her haters even read her latest cookbook?

I don’t think anyone who criticized Paula Deen’s cooking has read her latest tome, Southern Cooking Bible. I own a signed copy, and there are 54 recipes for vegetables. 

This could be the best thing that ever happened to diabetes. 

If I’ve learned one thing from becoming a Paula Deen fan girl, it’s this; when Paula Deen says something, even if it’s a silly cheer about a cruise, lots of people listen.  

Perhaps some of her fans are among the 79 million Americans who are prediabetic? As she herself said on the Today show when she announced this, “I’ve always said, “Practice moderation, y’all. I’ll probably say that a little louder.”

So, let’s listen.

When my friend Darrel and I were talking about this (debating, actually), the one thing we agreed upon was this: time will tell how she handles this, and how to judge her. (Actually, I think this was Darrel’s idea and I’ve gone and made it a thesis of this post. Thanks, D!) He offered five years, and he’s being totally generous. Let’s start with one year.

Let’s wait and see.