Paula Deen’s empire crashed last year after she allegedly made a racially charged comment.

While her livelihood is seeming to bounce back, her advisors have urged her to cut all ties with her brother if she wants to succeed.

Paula and her brother Bubba Hiers co-own Uncle Bubba’s Oyster House, a popular restaurant in Savanah, Georgia. Last year, a former employee of the restaurant sued Paula for reportedly using the N-word. Hiers was also mentioned in the suit for allegedly using racial slurs, watching pornography and drinking on the job, and making sexual advances.

Paula’s advisors have urged her to distance herself from her brother and close the restaurant. While Deen finally did make the ultimate decision to lock the doors on Uncle Bubba’s Oyster House, she remains firm in saying that she will stand by her brother and will continue to include him in the future plans for the restaurant.

“Paula’s advisers had urged her to start afresh by closing the restaurant and putting Bubba out to pasture, but she’s sticking by him,” a source, close to Deen, told the National Enquirer. “She’s keeping Bubba as a partner in new plans for the restaurant property as well as including him in her other businesses. It would have been a perfect time to cut Bubba lose after the restaurant closed, but Paula just can’t do it. And if he messes up again and drags Paula into another lawsuit, it could crush her career for good.”

According to the Deen family spokesman Jaret Keller, they decided to close the restaurant “in order to explore development options for the waterfront property on which the restaurant is located. At this point, no specific plans have been announced and a range of uses are under consideration in order to realize the highest and best use for the property,” Keller said in a written statement.

Deen and Hiers also included a message on the restaurant’s official webpage that read: “Thank you for 10 great years. Uncle Bubba’s is now closed.”

Image via Unclebubbas.com