South Mag South Issue 71 | Page 34

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.