Celebrity News November 24, 2009
Paula Deen: Recovery From Ham Throw 'Like a Miracle'
Paula Deen tells "Extra" she's "fine" after inadvertently getting hit in the face by a ham while at a food drive in Atlanta Monday morning.
"I got in the way of the hog," the celeb chef jokes to "Extra." "I didn't even bruise or swell. It's like a miracle!"
Deen admits she "would be lying if I said it didn't hurt."
But she has no hard feelings for the man who tossed the ham. (And she thinks "it's funny how things end up on YouTube.")
"It was the guy's first day. I went to toss a ham like a football," she says. "He didn't know how I normally do things, and I guess he got excited and got caught up in the moment because as I turned around to get more hams off the truck, this guy yells... and I turn around just in time to catch the ham in my face!"
Deen wasn't hurt too badly.
"It's funny. They got ice immediately on it. I really thought my nose was broken, but all I have is a little, tiny red spot," she says. "It could have been bad, but it's alright."
The meat thrower "felt so bad," Deen adds. "I felt probably worse for him than for myself being his first day on the job. [But] accidents just happen. That's why they're called accidents. The doctor checked it and she said I was fine. I didn't even go the hospital."
Deen didn't let the snafu keep her from her goal of distributing enough hams (with Smithville Foods) to food banks to feed over 20 million over the next three years.
"When it catches your blind side, you're so startled -- but like I said, it's going to take a little bit more than a pig in the face to slow me down because we got people at the food banks that we're trying to get food out for Thanksgiving," she says. "We got so much going on. I swear, I'm so proud to be 62 and employed."
To see more of "Extra's" interview with Deen, tune in tonight!