Terry McMillan

Terry McMillan (born October 18, 1951) is an American novelist known for her vivid portrayals of African American women's lives, relationships, and journeys of self-discovery. Her best-selling works, including Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back, have resonated widely for their humor, authenticity, and emotional insight. McMillan's contributions have influenced contemporary fiction and continue to shape the representation of Black women in literature and film.

Early life and education The oldest of five children, McMillan was born in Port Huron, Michigan. Her father died when she was a teenager, and McMillan was raised by her single mother, who worked for Ford Motor Co. and who stressed the importance of education. After high school, she moved to Los Angeles where she stayed with a cousin who lived across the street from Los Angeles City College. Initially skeptical that she could make money as a writer, McMillan did go on to receive a B.A. degree in journalism in 1977. McMillan stated that she dropped out due to racism she experienced there. The Harlem Writers Guild had encouraged her to expand one of her short stories of the same name into the novel format. McMillan worked for a month and a half at the MacDowell and Yaddo artist colonies while writing. Many of these were presales, and she set up readings and her own book tour to continue the book's promotion as well. The book remained on The New York Times bestseller list for many months and by 1995 it had sold more than three million copies. The success of Waiting to Exhale helped change the publishing industry's approach to Black popular culture. The novel contributed to a shift in Black popular cultural consciousness and the visibility of a female Black middle-class identity in popular culture. McMillan was credited with having introduced the interior world of Black women professionals in their thirties who are successful, alone, available, and unhappy. In 1995, the novel was adapted into a film of the same title, directed by Forest Whitaker and starring Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine, and Lela Rochon.

In 1998, another of McMillan's novels, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, was adapted into a film by the same name starring Angela Bassett and Taye Diggs.

McMillan's novel Disappearing Acts was subsequently produced as a direct-to-cable feature by the same name in 2000, starring Wesley Snipes and Sanaa Lathan and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood. In 2014, Lifetime brought McMillan's A Day Late and a Dollar Short to television audiences, starring Whoopi Goldberg and an ensemble cast featuring Ving Rhames, Tichina Arnold, Mekhi Phifer, Anika Noni Rose, and Kimberly Elise. McMillan also wrote The Interruption of Everything (2006) and Getting to Happy (2010), the sequel to Waiting to Exhale. In 2024, McMillian signed a partnership with Lifetime to executive produce a series of movies which would appear under the banner of "Terry McMillan Presents".

Personal life McMillan married Jonathan Plummer in 1998, who came out as gay during their marriage. In March 2005, she filed for divorce.

On July 13, 2012, she sold her 7,000-square-foot home in Danville, California, before moving to Los Angeles, California.

McMillan has one child, a son, Solomon.

Works

(Editor)

Who Asked You? Viking, September 2013.

It Was the Way She Said It (short stories, essays, wisdom). 2026.