Paula Deen Makes Return to “Today” To Announce New Network

It’s no secret that 2013 was a really tough year for Paula Deen, and this morning (September 23) the southern cook showed up at “Today” with her two sons.

After sitting through a retrospective of the past fifteen months, Deen declared, "I looked at none of it, Matt, because I didn't recognize that woman. That was a woman in trauma, in, I would say shock, trying to understand what had happened.”

“The cold, hard fact, Matt, is I probably should not have been here. I probably should have been at home, maybe even under the care of a doctor," she added.

Paula also chatted about the companies that distanced themselves from her at the time- "I did understand, but I have to say, it took me a while because I was confused as to the length of time since those words had been part of a language. I had a hard time understanding because it had been 30 years.”

“I had to go home, sit on my sofa and get off the merry-go-round. I had to remove myself and sit quietly so I that I could think and see things from all angles."

Interestingly enough, the fact that Deen’s racial discrimination lawsuit had been dropped didn’t get nearly the media attention as the lawsuit itself. "The statement that was released at the end got almost no attention. The statement was very powerful and very different."

Furthermore, Paula explained that she’s launching the Paula Deen Network, with all of her shows from the Food Network as well as new content and a very special project- “We are working on a documentary because I feel like everybody needs to know the entire story. We're doing a documentary that will be on the Paula Deen Network. But, as I was saying, I learned so much when I sat quietly with my own thoughts. The most powerful thing—and I thought I knew it, because I've talked about it before—is the power of words. I don't care how old they are. Words are so powerful. They can hurt. They can make people happy. Well, my words hurt people. They disappointed people. And frankly, I disappointed myself. And for that, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry for the hurt that I've caused people. Because it went deep. It went deep. People lost their jobs. It went deep into corporate America. I'm here to make people happy, not to bring sadness."