McMillan, Terry

▪ 1997

      In late 1995 pop-fiction author Terry McMillan delighted in watching her third book, Waiting to Exhale, make the transition to the silver screen. The story of four middle-class black women and their relationships with men struck a familiar chord among women, especially African-Americans, who flocked to see the film. By mid-1996 it had grossed nearly $70 million at the box office. On the heels of the film's success, McMillan reportedly received $6 million for her fourth novel, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, which received an initial printing of 800,000 copies, arrived in bookstores in the spring of 1996, and was sold for a film adaptation.

      McMillan was born on Oct. 18, 1951, in Port Huron, Mich., the eldest of five children. Her parents divorced when she was 13, and at age 16 she began shelving books at the local public library to help out with household expenses. It was there that she was drawn to books and began fantasizing about life outside Michigan. At 17 she moved to California, where she worked and attended school, receiving her B.A. in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley. She then studied film at Columbia University, New York City. While she was there, her first novel, the largely autobiographical Mama, evolved from what originally had been a short story. To ensure its success, McMillan took an active role in promoting the book, garnering the attention of bookstores and colleges and scheduling her own book tour. After its publication in 1987, she moved to Wyoming to accept a teaching position, leaving behind a failed relationship with Leonard Welch, the father of her son.

      In 1989 McMillan's second novel, Disappearing Acts, was published. Although the book was only loosely based on her liaison with Welch, he found it a bit too autobiographical and in 1990 sued McMillan, unsuccessfully, for defamation of character. The book went on to sell several hundred thousand copies and established McMillan's voice in the African-American community.

      By 1989 she had moved to Arizona to accept another teaching position. It was there that Waiting to Exhale (1992) took shape, mainly fueled by her own experiences with relationships. Following its publication, hardback and paperback sales reached nearly four million copies. As with Disappearing Acts, controversy accompanied Exhale. In answer to accusations of "male bashing," McMillan stated that the male characters were not intended to be representative of all men but were an integral part of the story. It remained on the best-seller list for 38 weeks and by its third week of release was already in its 10th printing.

      It was in this same semiautobiographical vein that Stella was written. The book told the story of Stella Payne, a 42-year-old woman who travels to Jamaica and falls in love with a man half her age. The story line mirrored McMillan's trip to Jamaica and her romance with Jonathan Plummer, who was in his 20s. (ANTHONY L. GREEN)

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▪ American author

born Oct. 18, 1951, Port Huron, Mich., U.S.

 

 African-American novelist whose work often portrays feisty, independent black women and their attempts to find fulfilling relationships with black men.

      The daughter of working-class parents, McMillan grew up near Detroit. She was a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley (B.S., 1979) and Columbia University (M.F.A., 1979). She taught at the universities of Wyoming (1987–90) and Arizona (1990–92).

      In McMillan's first novel, Mama (1987), a black woman manages to raise five children alone after she forces her drunken husband to leave. Disappearing Acts (1989) concerns two dissimilar people who begin an intimate relationship. Waiting to Exhale (1992; film, 1995) follows four black middle-class women, each of whom is looking for the love of a worthy man. The book's wild popularity helped the author secure a $6 million publishing contract for her fourth novel, How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1996), about a wealthy black woman of middle age who falls in love with a young cook while vacationing in Jamaica. McMillan edited Breaking Ice: An Anthology of Contemporary African-American Fiction (1990).

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