President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, shared a video of her with disgraced restaurateur and celebrity chef Paula Deen, but all anyone is talking about is an unfortunate wardrobe failure.
The unexpected duo appearing in a shocking clip on Instagram is something no one saw on their bingo card. The post’s caption read, “rise & shine,” along with a rooster emoji and sun emoji, but it wasn’t the rooster doing a “cock-a-doodle-doo.”
As the clip made the rounds, the internet zoomed in on tiny details and started whispering about age-related health changes for the 78-year-old — the same kind of senior-citizen surprises that often get joked about when it comes to Donald Trump these days.
The 78-year-old cook has been making a very slow comeback after her career took a major hit over explosive allegations and accusations that she stole recipes from other Southern black chefs. Therefore, Deen’s recent interviews and partnerships with Fox News, as well as her now being cozy moments with Trump’s family, have viewers more confused about her motives.
The clip, taken from her talk show, “My View with Lara Trump,” opens inside a chef’s kitchen as Lara, the wife of the president’s son Eric Trump, turns to her guest and casually asks, “Where are we going, Paula?” in footage dated Nov. 18 — a seemingly light moment that quickly set the tone for what viewers saw next.
“We’re goin’ to my chicken coop,” replies Deen. “I asked for 10 little girl chickens, and I walked out there one afternoon, and I heard ‘ack, ack ack.'”
She went on to say that she named her favorite one after the late stand-up comedian Phyllis Diller, until they heard it “cock-a-doodle-doo.” She changed the name to Phyl instead before eventually changing the name to Diller’s husband, Fang.
As Deen cracked jokes about cock-a-doodle-doos and roosters, some viewers admitted their attention wandered to a conspicuous outline along one side of her pants — a detail that quickly became hard to unsee, especially for the same crowd that’s already infamous for speculating about Trump’s own wardrobe slip-ups.
The chatter only escalated after Trump shared multiple photos from the visit on Instagram, including one angle critics immediately flagged as doing Deen no favors at all.
Folks zoomed in on the bulging Deen and had some ideas about what was causing the issue. One wondered if she was wearing a “Diaper?”
The remark prompted another user to reply, “I didn’t want to say it — but someone has to style her around that [sic] issues – loose pleated trousers/skirts!!!!!”
Another fan replied, “I noticed too,” which prompted one fan to add, “and it appears to be full of [stuff].”
One fan noted Deen’s penchant for the N-word. “Oh I know why you like her! You both drop N bombs.”
In 2013, Deen admitted she had used the word in the past while being sued for racial discrimination. The celebrity chef’s description of how she wanted her Black employees to dress was also revealed.
“Well what I would really like is a bunch of little [N-Word] to wear long-sleeve white shirts, black shorts and black bow ties, you know in the Shirley Temple days, they used to tap dance around,” laughed Deen in an NBC interview. “Now that would be a true Southern wedding, wouldn’t it? But we can’t do that because the media would be on me about that.”
Deen apologized at the time, but she later admitted that she was forced to do so. “They made me. They brought me to New York. These two men, I couldn’t tell you who they were.”
this week ten years ago, paula deen was dropped by more than a dozen companies after admitting to using the n-word and asking black employees to dress up as slaves: pic.twitter.com/QskHpDQgsn
— popculturediedin2009 (@pcd2009) July 18, 2023
The now-78-year-old lost several endorsement deals over the reveal, and her show on the Food Network was canceled. Deen’s documentary, “Canceled: The Paula Deen Story,” details the scandal.
The documentary revisits the scandal that ended Deen’s TV career more than a decade ago, which erupted after a 2013 deposition revealed she had repeatedly used the N-word.
The testimony came from a discrimination and gender-based harassment lawsuit filed by her former restaurant manager, Lisa Jackson, against Deen, her brother Earl “Bubba” Hiers, and their business entities tied to Uncle Bubba’s Seafood and Oyster House. In the deposition, Jackson said she handled food and service for Hiers’ 2007 wedding and recalled Deen requesting a “true Southern-style wedding” before discussing what the servers should wear.
Earlier this year, Deen closed two of her oldest restaurants in Georgia without much notice given to her staff. Plans to reopen have yet to be revealed.
