From left: Bobby Deen, Paula Deen and Jamie Deen of "Canceled: The Paula Deen Story" pose in the Getty Images Portrait Studio presented by IMDb and IMDbPro during the Toronto Film Festival at InterContinental Toronto Centre on Sept. 7. Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for IMDb Share on Facebook Share on X Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Print the Article Post a Comment The story of Paula Deen has been long known even to casual television fans. A rags-to-riches cooking-show star, Deen was at the height of her powers in 2013 when it all blew up in her face. After building an impossibly large retail, publishing and cable TV empire, the butter-heavy Southern-cooking guru became embroiled in controversy when she told lawyers in a discrimination-lawsuit deposition (filed by an employee at her brother's restaurant) that "yes, of course," she had used the N-word in the past. Before long, Deen's empire had crumbled, with everyone from Walmart to Food Network jumping ship. Related Stories Movies 'Good Fortune' Review: Keanu Reeves Plays an Inept Guardian Angel in Aziz Ansari's Alternately Fun and Clunky Satire Movies David Mackenzie and Aaron Taylor-Johnson on How 'Fuze' Is "Unrepentantly" Entertaining (The racial discrimination part of the lawsuit, which alleged that Deen and her brother Bubba had discriminated against Black employees and made racist comments, was dismissed because the judge said the plaintiff, who was white, had no standing; the rest of the lawsuit, including alleged sexual harassment by Bubba, would end up being withdrawn in what legal experts believe was a settlement.) At 78, Deen is back and looking for redemption. She and her two sons/business partners, Jamie and Bobby, participated in a new documentary with Billy Corben, the veteran director (Cocaine Cowboys), in which Deen seeks to explain her views and why she feels she got a raw deal as she alleged that the plaintiff's claims of racist behavior were invented. Canceled: The Paula Deen Story had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday as it seeks distribution. On Sunday, Paula, Jamie and Bobby Deen sat down at festival hotel with The Hollywood Reporter. The trio had a few things to say. So I get the sense one of you was less excited about this film than the others. BOBBY DEEN I'm excited for it and I thought it was a terrible idea from the beginning. I mean, honestly. It just felt like a lot of time had passed. I didn't see the reason to go back and over it and rehash it. Because we had survived it. As a family, we had survived it. Our business had survived it. We had taken the hit and we'd done it. In the moment it was really super-painful and I just didn't want to go through the pain again and I was hoping to protect my mom from that pain again. I just thought, "Why?" Like, people have already made up their minds so there's no point trying to convince them? BOBBY DEEN That's it. People believe what they want to to believe and the people who don't like you already don't like you and they won't like you no matter what the film looks like at the end. The people that do love you are always going to be with you and they always have been. PAULA DEEN Son, this is something that ate at my gut every day. I would have been fine had the whole story been told - had the real story been told. They took this woman [the plaintiff], who is a known liar, they took her word and ran with it, and no one every investigated any further. I was not going to be happy until the world saw the truth. And you felt that from 2013 until now that story hasn't gotten out? PAULA DEEN I forever had my antennas up looking for the right people. I had gotten a couple of [documentary] offers before, but they were not who I wanted to be associated with, they didn't have the clout that I felt this film deserved. When I was told that we were trying to get Billy as the director, we were so excited. BOBBY DEEN There's just a lot of risk here - a ton of risk here. Because a good documentarian is going to search for every person he can find and every thing he can find, for the truth of the matter. There's just a risk involved. To the reputation of the business - ? PAULA DEEN We lost it all. BOBBY DEEN I disagree with that. I mean, you did Dancing With the Stars, you still have restaurants open - BOBBY DEENMom, I'm sorry to correct you. We have not lost it all. By far. Our family is intact. We're alive. This was 2013, a long time ago. And our beautiful business has thrived and survived this whole time. We have beautiful families. We have far from lost everything. Far from it. PAULA DEEN Son, when I say I lost everything, within 24 hours I lost every job I had. Food Network was first to jump off, then Walmart, Target. ... It was just everybody. BOBBY DEEN Oh, I'm aware. Seeing those friends and allies leave must have been heart-wrenching. PAU