In her long-awaited appearance on the TODAY show Wednesday, celeb chef Paula Deen lied about the amount of times she's said the N-word, telling Matt Lauer she's only said it once -- after admitting to using it multiple times in the deposition she gave in an ongoing lawsuit with an ex-employee.

On TODAY, she told Lauer the sole time she uttered the phrase was after she was robbed at gunpoint in 1986.