Meet Michael Groover
Michael Groover is the husband of celebrity chef Paula Deen! We’ve known Deen for her art of Southern cooking and also from that nasty 2013 controversy where Deen admitted to the use of the “N word.” Now we’ll be getting to know a whole new side of her as she will be competing in the upcoming season of DWTS.
Deen’s success story made her one of the most important faces in the cooking business. The queen of Southern cuisine is best known for her Food Network shows, including Paula’s Home Cooking, Paula’s Party and Paula’s Best Dishes.
After a few guest appearances on Food Network shows, she landed her own show in 2002. She has also written several books on Southern cooking, as well as a memoir, and has started her own magazine,Cooking with Paula Deen. In 2007, Deen won a Daytime Emmy Award for outstanding lifestyle host.
Paula was previously married to first husband, Jimmy Deen from 1965–1989. She is the mother of two sons from her first marriage; Robert Earl “Bobby” and James Linton “Jamie” Deen–both are also big names in the cooking world and run along with their mother, The Lady & Sons restaurant in Savannah, Georgia.
Michael Groover and Paula met 13-years-ago and have bee married for 11-years.
Born in 1956, Michael Anthony Groover –a tugboat captain –tied the knot to Deen, who is 9-years his senior, in 2004. The nuptials took place at Bethesda Academy in Savannah and it was televised in a Food Network show in 2004. According to “My Delicious Life with Paula Deen” published in 2009, Michael Groover has his own line of coffees.
2013 wasn’t really a good year for Paula, she not only was sued alleging racial and sexual discrimination but her marriage also faced hard times. The then 66-year-old stated in her deposition that she had used the “N-word” at times. In the end both sides agreed to dismiss the lawsuit “without any award of costs or fees to any party”. By then, Paula had been the target of major backlash and was even dropped by some of her sponsors.
In November 2013, it was reported Michael Groover possibly walking out on her after she confronted him for cheating rumors. Paula was allegedly alerted by a friend who told her Michael Groover had been seeing another woman for over a year. When confronted about his alleged mistress, he adamantly denied it.
According to the Enquirer, the mistress is a ‘sexy middle-age brunette’ who lives nearby and has known Groover and his family for years.
Michael Groover stormed out of their Savannah, Georgia home but returned sometime later to swear his innocence.
The couple have stayed together but divorce rumors have been circulating as recently as last June. Their current status is not exactly known, think we’ll be seeing much of Michele Groover around the sets of DWTS this season?
