Celebrity chef Paula Deen would be the first to admit that she has her flaws. But even as she was being harshly criticized for her role in scandals involving racist and ethically dubious product endorsements, she always seemed to be able to count on the strength and love of her marriage to tugboat captain Michael Groover. They looked thrilled to be together.
That's why it was so startling to read, this past summer, that their marriage was on the rocks. The National Enquirer reported that Groover was angry to have been dragged into the middle of his wife's racism scandal and was threatening to divorce her.
To make matters worse, the pair allegedly didn't have a pre-nup, so a divorce could cost Deen millions of dollars in additional to untold emotional distress.
But now it seems like either these divorce rumors were false to begin with or Groover has changed his mind once the scandal started to subside.
At the end of last week, Us Weekly reported that a source close to Deen and Groover emphatically denied that they were headed for divorce.
"This story is absolutely not true," the source said. "They have never been closer. Michael adores her and Paula adores him. They are completely fine."
Deen and Groover themselves have not yet commented on the rumors, so it's hard to say for sure which report to trust. But Michael did attend Deen's most high-profile public event since her scandal -- a cooking demonstration in Houston in September -- so it wouldn't be too shocking to learn that all is well in their marriage after all.
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