Stella Looses Her Groove as She Divorces Gay Husband
Wed. June 29, 2005 12:00 AM by GayWebMonkey.com
San Francisco, CA -
It was the book and the movie that taught 40-something women age ain’t nothing but a number. But it seems the last chapter of the popular tale How Stella Got Her Groove Back may have a twist ending.
San Francisco based author Terry McMillan, whose celebrated romance and subsequent marriage to a man 23 years her junior became the subject of her fictionized best-seller, may have actually found her groove with a man who now says he’s gay.
The story has Hollywood written all over it with McMillan filing for divorce from her Jamaican-born husband of six years in Contra Costa County Superior Court.
McMillan, 53, said in court documents that the marriage was based on a "fraud' because Plummer lied about his sexual orientation and married her only to gain U.S. citizenship.
“It was devastating to discover that a relationship I had publicized to the world as life-affirming and built on mutual love was actually based on deceit,” she wrote in her declaration, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “I was humiliated.”
Plummer, 30, countered in court papers of his own that McMillan has turned on him with a “homophobic'” vengeance and is trying to force his return to an uncertain future in Jamaica. He is seeking to void the couple's prenuptial agreement that would keep from him most of the millions she's earned as a writer.
He also claims he was denied his full share of royalties, as spelled out in the prenup, from How Stella Got Her Groove Back, the fictionalized account of a single mother's whirlwind relationship with a Jamaican young enough to be her son. The book went on to sell movies and was turned into a smash hit film starring Angela Bassett and Taye Diggs.
Plummer's attorney, Dolores Sargent, said her client has no interest in embarrassing McMillan or extorting money from her.
“All I want to do is settle the case in a way that's fair to both parties... and that allows Jonathan sufficient funds to re-establish himself,” Sargent said. “And we have been blocked”
In court papers, McMillan leaves little doubt that she believes Plummer was always motivated by money.
"Jonathan has manipulated me from the very beginning in his scheme to come to the United States, become a citizen and get rich through someone else's effort,' McMillan wrote in one of her filings.
In an interview, Plummer insisted that he didn't know he was gay when he met McMillan in June 1995 at a Jamaican resort. Nor, he says, did he seize on the author's fame.
"I was a 20-year-old kid when I met her and had no idea that she was anybody other than an attractive, older woman," he said in court papers.
In court records, McMillan said Plummer only confessed to being gay after she confronted him about all his hours of phone calls to a male friend living in Jamaica. She also said she later learned that Plummer was participating in online gay chat sites.
McMillan obtained a restraining order to keep Plummer from their house, and she claimed she recently discovered that Plummer had embezzled at least $200,000 from her bank accounts before and during their marriage. Plummer admitted “a gross error of judgment” in taking $62,000 without her knowledge, but said that he was financially dependent on her during the marriage and that he intends to pay it back.
Plummer obtained his own restraining order against the author, alleging that McMillan constantly harassed him for coming out of the closet, and at one point walked into his dog-grooming business and tossed a ceramic object across the room.
McMillan's attorney, Jill Hersh - a divorce lawyer who has handled civil rights cases involving gay couples and their children - said her client "is anything but homophobic.'
"However, she feels betrayed and disappointed... that her husband is gay, ' Hersh said. "And anything you have seen in the pleadings emanates from how she is experiencing the end of her marriage, and it doesn't have to do with anything else.'
Plummer said he understands that McMillan felt betrayed by his coming out.
"But I was being truthful to myself, and didn't want to hurt her anymore,' he said.
On June 17, a Superior Court judge handed Plummer a minor victory, ordering McMillan to pay him $2,000 a month in spousal support, plus $25,000 in attorney's fees. A full trial on the validity of the prenuptial agreement and the annulment request is scheduled to be heard in October.
Written By Ross von Metzke
San Francisco based author Terry McMillan, whose celebrated romance and subsequent marriage to a man 23 years her junior became the subject of her fictionized best-seller, may have actually found her groove with a man who now says he’s gay.
The story has Hollywood written all over it with McMillan filing for divorce from her Jamaican-born husband of six years in Contra Costa County Superior Court.
McMillan, 53, said in court documents that the marriage was based on a "fraud' because Plummer lied about his sexual orientation and married her only to gain U.S. citizenship.
“It was devastating to discover that a relationship I had publicized to the world as life-affirming and built on mutual love was actually based on deceit,” she wrote in her declaration, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “I was humiliated.”
Plummer, 30, countered in court papers of his own that McMillan has turned on him with a “homophobic'” vengeance and is trying to force his return to an uncertain future in Jamaica. He is seeking to void the couple's prenuptial agreement that would keep from him most of the millions she's earned as a writer.
He also claims he was denied his full share of royalties, as spelled out in the prenup, from How Stella Got Her Groove Back, the fictionalized account of a single mother's whirlwind relationship with a Jamaican young enough to be her son. The book went on to sell movies and was turned into a smash hit film starring Angela Bassett and Taye Diggs.
Plummer's attorney, Dolores Sargent, said her client has no interest in embarrassing McMillan or extorting money from her.
“All I want to do is settle the case in a way that's fair to both parties... and that allows Jonathan sufficient funds to re-establish himself,” Sargent said. “And we have been blocked”
In court papers, McMillan leaves little doubt that she believes Plummer was always motivated by money.
"Jonathan has manipulated me from the very beginning in his scheme to come to the United States, become a citizen and get rich through someone else's effort,' McMillan wrote in one of her filings.
In an interview, Plummer insisted that he didn't know he was gay when he met McMillan in June 1995 at a Jamaican resort. Nor, he says, did he seize on the author's fame.
"I was a 20-year-old kid when I met her and had no idea that she was anybody other than an attractive, older woman," he said in court papers.
In court records, McMillan said Plummer only confessed to being gay after she confronted him about all his hours of phone calls to a male friend living in Jamaica. She also said she later learned that Plummer was participating in online gay chat sites.
McMillan obtained a restraining order to keep Plummer from their house, and she claimed she recently discovered that Plummer had embezzled at least $200,000 from her bank accounts before and during their marriage. Plummer admitted “a gross error of judgment” in taking $62,000 without her knowledge, but said that he was financially dependent on her during the marriage and that he intends to pay it back.
Plummer obtained his own restraining order against the author, alleging that McMillan constantly harassed him for coming out of the closet, and at one point walked into his dog-grooming business and tossed a ceramic object across the room.
McMillan's attorney, Jill Hersh - a divorce lawyer who has handled civil rights cases involving gay couples and their children - said her client "is anything but homophobic.'
"However, she feels betrayed and disappointed... that her husband is gay, ' Hersh said. "And anything you have seen in the pleadings emanates from how she is experiencing the end of her marriage, and it doesn't have to do with anything else.'
Plummer said he understands that McMillan felt betrayed by his coming out.
"But I was being truthful to myself, and didn't want to hurt her anymore,' he said.
On June 17, a Superior Court judge handed Plummer a minor victory, ordering McMillan to pay him $2,000 a month in spousal support, plus $25,000 in attorney's fees. A full trial on the validity of the prenuptial agreement and the annulment request is scheduled to be heard in October.
Written By Ross von Metzke
Article provided in partnership with GayWebMonkey.com.