Fallen Food network star PAULA DEEN is cooking up a comeback, but friends fear her badboy brother could wreck plans to rebuild her business empire.
The allegedly deplorable behavior of Earl “Bubba” Hiers triggered the lawsuit that forced Paula to admit that she’d used the "N-word", setting off the scandal that cost her three TV shows and a fortune in lost endorsement deals.
The silver-haired diva of southern-fried cooking has bounced back thanks to a private investment firm that’s given her a cash infusion of up to $100 million.
But sources warn that Hiers – who was accused of boozing on the job, using racial slurs and watching pornography on computers at Uncle Bubba’s Oyster House, which he co-owned with Paula – could ruin her career revival.