Paula Deen's Sons Were Mad About Pharma Deal, Say Rumors

Paula Deen's diabetes announcement has stirred up anger and loathing from across the food world. For evidence, you don't need to look much further than the comment boards of any story HuffPost Food has posted on the topic.

But the circle of critique seems to get narrower and narrower. First, it was revealed that Paula didn't have the support of fellow celebrity chefs, or even her own publicist. And now rumors say that even Deen's own sons opposed her decision to endorse diabetes drug Victoza.

Allegedly, Deen had been taking a different diabetes medication before she inked her $6 million to rep Victoza, which is injected daily. And the New York Post reports that Bobby and Jamie, the hosts of new Cooking Channel show "Not My Mama's Cooking," were afraid that switching away from her successful treatment to a new one -- just for the sake of a few million dollars -- could endanger their mothers' health.

That's because Victoza, which is manufactured by the pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk, is just one of several high-profile diabetes medications on the market. Today even brought the news that a drug, Bydureon, which has to be injected just once a week, had just been approved for use by the FDA. Like Victoza, it's derived from a hormone found in Gila monsters -- but unlike Victoza, it isn't being endorsed by a famous celebrity chef.

But even if the Victoza deal did set off a Deen family feud, the trio seems to have patched things up. Bobby and Jamie had said at first that they were going to stick by Paula's now-ex publicist Nancy Assuncao, perhaps a show of solidarity with Assuncao's anti-Victoza views. But since then, they have allegedly decided to hire Paula's new publicity firm, the Rose Group in Los Angeles.