Bobby
Deen
LIFESTYLE CHANGE
COMES CLEAN
HE’S POSITIONED HIMSELF AS THE FIRST FAMILY
OF SOUTHERN FOOD’S RESIDENT HEALTH NUT. BUT
IT WASN’T ALWAYS THAT WAY. FOR BOBBY DEEN,
THE LONG ROAD BACK FROM ADDICTION AND
OVEREATING BEGAN WITHIN.
PHOTOGRAPHS
by C E D R I C S M I T H
S T O R Y by J U S T I N J A R R E T T
Behind a non-descript door on the back side
of the Victor B. Jenkins Memorial Boys Club
on the south side of Savannah lies a secret
sanctuary. Bobby Deen sits on a weight bench
and shares the myriad ways this place and
everything that went into creating it have saved
him from himself.
The haven is small and unassuming, a gym
not much larger than your average bedroom. An
odd mix of varying articles of clothing adorn the
towering walls, high above the power racks and
full-length mirrors more typical of such a space.
Each represents someone who helped make this
place a reality by influencing Sam Carter, the
larger-than-life personal trainer who has made a
name in Savannah and beyond.
One of the outfits represents Bobby, though
he doesn’t seem convinced he deserves to be
recognized in such a place of honor. Today,
Bobby is happily married, wildly successful, and
in the best shape of his life. But it has been quite
a journey to get there.
34
S OUT H M AGA ZI NE.C OM
“I’m infinitely better for the people around
me,” the 47-year-old celebrity chef says. “If I
were left to my own devices, I would be an utter
failure.”
Bobby Deen recalls vividly the day that
changed everything. Sam Carter strolled into
The Lady & Sons after church, a mountain of a
man dressed to the nines. A mutual friend had
sent him to meet Bobby, who casually mentioned
a desire to get back in shape.
“I was deep in the restaurant business and
not really paying any attention to my physical
self at all,” Bobby recalls. “Sam came in and fixed
himself a plate and shook my hand and said, ‘I’ll
see you tomorrow. We start tomorrow.’ “
When tomorrow came, Bobby reported to the
gym late in the evening, after the dinner rush at
the restaurant. He could barely do one pull-up,
but in Carter’s presence he found something he
had been craving. Looking back, he recognizes it
as the positive reinforcement from a male role
model that he often lacked growing up with a
“hopeless alcoholic” father who was emotionally
distant.
He couldn’t wait to get back to the gym the
next day.
“I couldn’t not be around the guy,” Bobby
says, looking at Carter with something
resembling reverence. “Once I got a taste of
him, it was like, holy cow, this is what I need.
My life has changed for the better because of
that energy.”
When the Deen family moved to Savannah
in 1988, Bobby was a high school senior, and he
was less than thrilled about leaving his friends
just three months before graduation.
“One hundred percent misery,” he recalls.
“I was so angry with my parents. And in my
misery, I just started eating.”
His weight ballooned to 220 pounds, and
taking it off wasn’t easy after his parents
divorced and he and his brother, Jamie, started
a catering service with their now-famous
mother, Paula.