Michelle Obama (M. Spencer Green/AP Photo)
Paula Deen has spoken for the first time about the so-called “American Grown Food Fight,” her reported beef with Michelle Obama over fatty foods. She exclusively tells The Post she is not trying to “smear” the First Lady as the election swings into gear.
It all began when Obama appeared on butter-slinging chef Deen’s television show, “Paula’s Party,” in 2008, before her husband was elected president. On the show, Obama revealed that she had cooked seafood gumbo for an early date with Barack Obama and that her family absolutely loved shrimp. The two made fried shrimp and French fries and seemed to get along gloriously.
But now the two ladies are promoting very different books — Deen released “Paula Deen’s Southern Cooking Bible” this month and Obama will publish her healthy eating guide “American Grown” in April. According to the National Enquirer, Obama feels sold-out by the fact that Deen referenced her in the “Southern Cooking Bible” and claims that she secretly loves deep-fried Snickers bars, French fries and chicken wings.
Deen even recently told the Washington Examiner, “[Michelle Obama] probably ate more than any other guest I ever had on the show! She kept eating even during commercials. Know what [the Obamas’] favorite foods are? Hot wings.”
She paints a picture of Obama that’s a far cry from the first lady who was photographed holding a worm she pulled from a vegetable garden yesterday.
According to the Enquirer, Obama now regrets going on Deen’s show. “Michelle’s spitting mad,” a source told the paper. “She thinks Paula is trying to smear her and her family just as the 2012 presidential election race swings into gear.”
But Deen denies that Obama is upset with her.
“There’s no truth in the story that Mrs. Obama called me to stop talking about her appearance on my program,” she told Page Six. “We had the best time when she came on the show and I taught her how to make fried shrimp and fries. It was easy to see by her buff arms that the first lady follows a healthy lifestyle. But it didn’t stop her from enjoying the food. Everything in moderation!”
OBAMA NOT KEEPING UP WITH KARDASHIANS
We have a feeling Barack Obama might side with Deen’s love of decadent food over his wife’s dedication to healthy. He not only enjoyed chicken n’ waffles in Los Angeles on Monday, but last night explained that he is worried about the White House getting egged because Michelle Obama is giving out healthy treats for Halloween, rather than chocolate or candy.
“Halloween is coming up. [Michelle has] been giving, for the last few years, the kids fruit and raisins in the bag,” Obama squealed to Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show.” “And I said, ‘The White House is going to get egged if this keeps up.’ We need to throw some candy in there. A couple Reese’s Pieces or something.”