Celebrated author Terry McMillan (53) is making a public spectacle of the breakdown of her marriage. It began when she filed divorce papers that read like a script for the follow-up to her bestselling novel How Stella Got Her Groove Back.
It turns out Jonathan Plummer (30), the Jamaican boy toy who helped her “get her groove back,” is gay. He “did it” with her only for a green card. Indeed, this would have been an interesting plot twist in a new novel. But this is McMillan making a mockery of her real life.
Terry McMillan airs dirty laundry
Hers is a sad, sappy story. And perhaps my gender precludes me from relating to the trauma this failed relationship caused McMillan. But I can’t resist ridiculing her. That’s why I published “How Stella Got Her Groove Back? Apparently, by Faking It with a Gay Boy Toy” on June 30, 2005.
And she seems hellbent on providing more fodder for ridicule. Only this could explain her appearance on Oprah on Wednesday.
The fury she unleashed indicated that she is very much a woman scorned. But, McMillan’s reputation suffered a fatal blow when Plummer entered into evidence phone messages she left for him after she filed for divorce. It would be an understatement to say they made this reputedly strong Black woman look like a desperately seeking doormat.
McMillan attempted to compensate for her lack of persuasive evidence with moral indignation. Instead, she ended up sitting and fuming with clearly combustible resentment.
From groove thing to cautionary tale
McMillan is hardly the first woman to be used like this. But, as I asserted in that previous article, she’s hardly blameless.
Yet I wonder why this erstwhile intelligent woman didn’t see the wisdom in financing a quiet divorce settlement. Plummer would have been happy to disappear with his cash, green card, and ironclad NDA. And, instead of sitting on Oprah’s couch, she could’ve dealt with her emotional distress in private therapy.
As things stand, airing her dirty laundry is causing irreparable harm to her personal integrity and professional reputation. She seemed to think rank homophobia would soothe her bruised ego.
The recordings of her berating Plummer as a “fucking fag” attest to this. The deluded self-flattering inherent in doing this is that no “real man” would ever reject her. And yes, she dug her hole deeper by reassuring Oprah that some of her best friends are gay.
Oprah should know better
That said, Oprah had to know she was playing more Jerry Springer than Judge Judy. As I said, McMillan was seething with combustible resentment. And most viewers were probably just waiting for her to go off.
In short, Oprah inviting her on this show was like a bartender inviting an alcoholic to happy hour. After all, McMillan had already made a spectacle of herself on the Tavis Smiley Show in July.
Even so, Oprah got her to confess that she invited Plummer to her home – just days before the taping of this show. McMillan thought she was making sense when she said she only invited Plummer for a bath. Er, that is, because she has a really big tub, whereas he has none. Again, this is after scolding him for betraying her by coming out as gay.
That’s why it was disappointing to see Oprah use McMillan as ratings fodder. And she only reinforced her mercenary intent by plugging the fact that she has bought the rights to McMillan’s latest book, The Interruption of Everything. Ka-Ching! Ka-Ching!
Epilogue
Oprah asked Plummer why he thought he deserved a financial settlement. Remarkably, that startled him. But it also showed his ingenuousness. Yet Oprah invoked the girl code by declaring she would find Plummer more sympathetic if he were not demanding millions from McMillan.
Never mind that McMillan is on record boasting about plucking Plummer from Jamaica as a groovy 20-year-old boy. She even admits that he gave her at least four years of wedded bliss. That is before they descended into this current state of marital purgatory.
Moreover, Plummer was more than incidental to McMillan being able to make millions off his life story. So, notwithstanding any prenuptial agreement, I wish McMillan had the maturity, class, and kind-heartedness to give him a fair share. But she’s a woman scorned. So that’s never going to happen.
In any case, I cannot overstate how bad those recordings make McMillan look. And head-shaking, eye-rolling, finger-pointing histrionics on the show only reinforced what they conveyed. I highly recommend this Oprah episode (or the Tavis Smiley one). That is if you’re into Jerry Springer trash TV.)
Get a shrink, Terry, and stay off TV!
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Anonymous says
Are you kidding me? He dont deserve none of her money. He’s gay! You must be too thinking like this.
Anonymous says
at the risk of being cynical, these maneuvers are likely tied to some sort of financial arrangement. if paris hilton can move into mainstream culture by airing a well orchestrated sex tape, who is to say we aren’t being duped once more. shame on you Oprah….
Richard says
Oprah proves that no one can have too much money and that money does not buy class. That’s why she saw nothing wrong with airing this trash tv and plugging the author’s book and her movie of it.
cottonb says
Terry Mcmillian is one of my favorite writers/artist. A woman scorned, and heartbroken is a terrible thing. Add to it, a creative woman, a diva, a dreamer, a trend setter and you got rage. I cannot waite until she puts her feelings into words; probably will be her next bestseller. Just think in waiting to exhale, one of the main characters burned her husband’s clothes and prize possessions. Plummer got off easy.
agnes says
this is the craziest crock of crap. she did not sign up for this femme fatale of a shemale who posed as the hardest thug accross the waters. thank God I can spot a down low brotha!!! the question is how could she not look at that man and know that there pink see thru pantie with blue satin trim on his ass. well, there’s to all the black men from around the way. much love to ya. keep your head up terry and allow God to take the pain and hurt away
agnes says
this is the craziest crock of crap i have encountered in years. you act as if this man has a right to so much after his lies. the book was not about him because the man she wrote about was not gay and fraudulant. this obviously femme fatale of a man and his down low lifestyle is why the aids epidemic is running rampant in the african american community. neither one is totally faultless because she should have seen that queen coming miles before s/he enetered her life. Ms. McMillan may God bless you and keep you and take the pain anger and resentment from your heart!!!