(Image Source: pauladeen.com)

BY BREANA JONES

ANCHOR LAUREN ZIMA

The rumors are true. Queen of Southern cooking and lover of all things buttered Paula Deen announced on the Today Show Tuesday she has type 2 diabetes. But some are questioning her timing.

“She waited three years, she’s known about it three years. In the meantime some books have come out with the normal, fatty delicious recipes, right? And then, she’s also now a spokesperson for a drug maker who makes a diabetes drug.”

Indeed, Deen’s diabetes announcement came accompanied with an endorsement deal with for Novo Nordisk ... Huffington Post has the details.

“The [company], which is based in Denmark, manufactures the Type 2 Diabetes drug Victoza, which Deen told USA Today she injects daily.”

Also part of that deal -- Deen is publishing lighter versions of some of her most famous recipes. All this news comes with criticism from health officials and fellow celebrity chefs. Anthony Bourdain has slammed Deen in the past for her unhealthy cooking, and he had plenty to say on Twitter about her announcement.

CNN has more...

“Here’s what Bourdain tweeted to Paula Deen, “Thinking of getting in to the leg breaking business so I can profitably sell crutches later.”

But some say Deen’s not to blame here. On The View, Sherri Shepherd argues Deen’s recipes would be extremely dangerous for diabetics, but Whoopi Goldberg says -- people choose what they eat.

“If you as a diabetic know, you know you’re not supposed to do it. Why then should Paula Deen not put the recipe in there for those of us who are not diabetic and can do it?”

With the announcement, Deen says she’s changing her diet by giving up staples like sweet tea. People reports:

“Also on the chopping block: white products, which she's swapping for wheat grains. ‘I don't eat as much cake as I would like,’ she adds.”

And, Deen has long worked with her sons -- seems they’re making the business of diabetes a family one, too. Bobby Deen’s new show “Not My Mama’s Meals” debuted on the Cooking Channel earlier this month -- in it, he explains healthier versions of his mother’s recipes.