Paula Deen

  b. 1947 | American cook/entertainer

At The Bottom

— 1978

The nausea and weakness convinced her she was in fact slowly dying.

Paula Deen was 31 years old and terrified of leaving her Albany, Georgia home; where she had been almost all the time during the last eight years. The problem was getting worse each day.  She was raising two boys, and yet she couldn’t muster the courage to take them to baseball practice.  “Almost every time I had to go outside by myself,” she wrote, “that panic would start in and drop me to my knees.  Couldn’t breathe, couldn’t stop trembling.” The nausea and weakness convinced her she was in fact slowly dying.  Even the thought of leaving her house caused her to sweat and lose feeling in her arms.  She had no name for her sickness, but she knew how to combat its symptoms.  By staying indoors — and by never entertaining the thought of leaving — Paula Deen knew she would be able to breathe easily.