Bet You Didn’t Know: Secrets Behind The Making Of “How Stella Got Her Groove Back”

The Book and Terry McMillan

This story you already know. You already know that Stella was based, at least partially on the relationship Terry found herself in while vacationing in Jamaica. The media ran with this little development and Terry and her new, younger boo were everywhere. Everybody was trying to cover and ever talk about their seemingly fairy-tale romance. In an interview with Charlie Rose, Terry told him that she had to keep some aspects of her relationship private. Very true indeed, considering outlets like Time Magazine were referring to Jonathan Plummer as McMillan’s souvenir. What you might not have known was that at the time Terry met and fell in love with Jonathan, she was dealing with the death of both her mother and best friend, which might explain, at least partially why she was so quick to jump in. Plummer, who came out as a homosexual, thereby ending their relationship, went on to open a dog grooming business and host a web series called No More Down Low. How fitting.

If any good came of this whole situation, McMillan acknowledged that her being stronger, emotionally and mentally, helped her to finish her next novel, A Day Late and A Dollar Short, which is what she stopped working on once her mother passed.

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