TONIGHT

• Home
• Video
• Podcasts/RSS 
• Local Showtimes
• Past Shows
• Blogs
• About the Show
• Tell Tavis
• Features
• Mobile

RELATED LINKS

• Q & A with Ms. McMillan
• Ms. McMillan on "Meet the Writers"
• African American Literature Book Club
• Ms. McMillan's bio

E-mail a friend

Tavis: Hi. I'm pleased to welcome heralded author and screenwriter Terry McMillan to this program. Her terrific career includes titles like 'Disappearing Acts,' 'Waiting to Exhale,' and 'How Stella Got Her Groove Back.' All three turned into hit films. Her sixth and latest novel is called 'The Interruption of Everything,' which arrives in stores next week, but she's here tonight. Terry, nice to see you.

Terry McMillan: Nice to see you, too.

Tavis: You doing all right?

McMillan: I'm trying to keep hope alive, as they say.

Tavis: Ha ha ha!

McMillan: I'm serious.

Tavis: I guess you are. You got your arms all crossed.

McMillan: I'm serious. I think my voice is 2 octaves lower. I call on the phone, and people say, "Yes, sir."

Tavis: Yeah.

McMillan: You know.

Tavis: You must run it too much, I take it.

McMillan: Oh, yeah.

Tavis: Yeah.

McMillan: I have.

Tavis: Let me do this respectfully and quickly, because I want to get to the book, which I'm fascinated by.

McMillan: Thank you.

Tavis: But speaking of 'The Interruption of Everything,' um...the story of the impending nasty divorce between you and the man who got the credit for helping Terry get her groove back, you can say as much as you want, as little as you want. We can do it now or later. How you want to handle this?

McMillan: Let's do it later.

Tavis: Let's do it later? We'll do the book first, and we'll come back to that?

McMillan: Yes.

Tavis: 'Cause you know everybody wants to hear you say something about--

McMillan: I know, and I haven't said anything.

Tavis: I know you haven't, so we'll come back to it later.

McMillan: Well, no, I'll say it now.

Tavis: OK. Don't think I'll forget. I will come back to it now.

McMillan: No, I'll say it now. I'll say it now.

Tavis: All right, say it now.

McMillan: What do you want to ask me? Basically you want to know what the deal is?

Tavis: I want to know how you're feeling and you're processing all this. Your business is all on the internet.

McMillan: Oh, you don't have to tell me.

Tavis: You know already?

McMillan: And it's the reason why it got there.

Tavis: Yeah.

McMillan: Mr. Plummer helped get it there.

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

McMillan: OK? He made sure of it. The bottom line is is this. Does this man--I was getting a divorce from Jonathan in the first place.

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

McMillan: And when I basically asked him if he was looking for a place to live is when he decided to tell me he's gay.

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

McMillan: OK? I find out that he has a lover of 9 months. I kicked him out of the house. His lover was not available, and I put him up in a hotel for 3 weeks, and the next thing I know, he gets an attorney and he's suing me for my prenuptial agreement saying that it's basically--he signed it under duress, which is not true. And I've got evidence to prove all kinds of things, that he knew he was gay when he met me, that this is basically extortion and everything he's done, from the time I said I'm not paying you any money--I have a prenup, a valid prenuptial agreement that states no spousal support, no legal fees. I paid for his college education, you get a vehicle, and if he's able--I basically paid 300 and some odd thousand dollars to get him a pet grooming business. Two days ago or three days ago, I find out he sold everything in it and split. OK? And everything he's been doing, he's been ly--he lied in his court documents, made them available on the internet. He and his attorney both are guilty of trying to spread rumors about me being a homophobe, all kinds of things. I mean, I didn't know that you could lie in court documents. Everything in his court documents are lies with one exception--two exceptions. One, that he's gay, and two, his name is Jonathan Plummer. And I resent this. He did this, all of it, to basically eclipse the publication of my book so that people would think that it's a publicity stunt, and I don't need him for publicity. And all this is basically because he wants my money. He's not getting it. You know, he has risked my life having sex with men for years. He has gotten to become a U.S. citizen because of his affair with me, his relationship with me. And he's trying to get sympathy for himself, and he's an habitual liar, and he's a sociopath. And I will prove it. And he has gotten on my last nerve. And I didn't know that he was going to take this this far. But right now, I'll be honest with you, I'm afraid for my life. He's come across as Mr. goody-two-shoes, Mr. nice guy, and right now, the world knows almost everything they need to know about me--the contents of my home--and he has spread all of these lies on the internet and even gone on nationwide TV and lied and has not had to prove a single lie. And it is filed in the United States Superior Court, every lie he has told. And he has gone on nationwide TV to spread them, and I really resent it. The legal system has not worked in my favor, 'cause my information, my personal business should not be on the news. It should not be on the internet. It should not be in newspapers. He should not be--He should not have been permitted to go out there and spread lies about me that nobody believes anyway. You'd swear he was the first man in the world to be gay. Nobody cares. I don't. I don't care about him being gay, but he risked my life. What if I'm sitting here HIV positive? I can't be--I can't be--I can't get rid of that, and he wants my money? He should get a job.

Tavis: Let me ask you, um...

McMillan: That's all I have to say.

Tavis: OK, that's all you have to say about it. So that's all I want to ask about that, and I appreciate--

McMillan: Thank you.

Tavis: Let me tell you seriously how much I appreciate your coming on the program, 'cause I know a number of folk who would have been booked on a show like this when something like this broke who would have done everything they could to get out of appearing on the program because they didn't want to address it, so thank you for coming on and honoring your commitment anyway.

McMillan: You're welcome.

Tavis: But I want to ask one follow-up, not about him, but about you. No follow-up about him, but about you. With all that you've just said, this has to be one of the ultimate nightmares that a woman could ever have. How is Terry McMillan processing this? How'd you get yourself up to get here today to do this conversation?

McMillan: Because I will not be deterred. The bottom line is this...is I know--You know, I was told, you know, "Don't call him names. Don't this," but he has gone on TV and referred to--called me a homophobe. I have too many friends who are gay for him to even say that. I'm not a homophobe. I'm a Jon-o-phobe. He is basically--

Tavis: Is that a new word?

McMillan: Yes.

Tavis: A Jon-o-phobe.

McMillan: But the bottom line is this. He has basically orchestrated this entire thing, all of which was to set me up to pay him money because he thought this would embarrass me. I'm not embarrassed. What I am is insulted that he went this far. That's how I know he's a sociopath. He's a covetous sociopath.

Tavis: You mean, you can honestly say, though, that this has not caused you any embarrassment at all?

McMillan: No, not embarrassment.

Tavis: Yeah.

McMillan: No, not embarrassment. I'm insulted, and I'm humiliated that he was able to get away with this without having a shred of evidence, and the bottom line is this--he's the one who's gay. He's the one who withheld this knowledge and information from me. He's the one who has tried to hurt and sabotage my entire life, OK? And disrupt it. I am insulted. I am pissed off is what I am. And so far, he has done OK, OK? I've got a judge ordering me to pay this bastard money and his lawyer. And I've got a valid prenuptial agreement that states that I don't owe him anything. And I've got proof. It's like I feel like I've just been railroaded, and I am not--I don't feel weak by it, uh, because there are a lot of legal issues that I hope to be able to bring up that a lot of women who aren't in my position couldn't even address, and that's where I'm coming from. It's not just about me. And plus, I'm smarter than he is, and I am insulted that somebody of his intelligence--that's probably more than anything, that people know just how stupid he is, and that's what I'm embarrassed about, 'cause I didn't know how stupid he was. He's slick, but prison is full of slick people.

Tavis: Mmm. I don't know what platitudes do at this point, but I was thinking about what you were going through a couple of days ago. I seriously was thinking about this a couple of days ago, Terry, in preparation of our conversation about how I would process something like this if it ever happened to me in reverse, and I thought of Dr. King's words when he once said that, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." For what it's worth.

McMillan: I know.

Tavis: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

McMillan: I just read 'Proverbs' 16 through 19 in the Old Testament on the plane here, and, um...it--You know, karma is one thing, but when people feel omnipotent, you have to help the cause. All I can say is this--is that all of this was designed to make me...give in and capitulate, and I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it because this is a gross miscarriage of justice, the fact that he has been able to do this as long as he has. It's been 7 1/2 months, and all of this because he wants my money, and I said no, and I'm gonna continue to say no.

Tavis: Well, let me interrupt everything about this conversation.

McMillan: Please do.

Tavis: I ain't got but 5 minutes left, and I can't let you leave without talking about the book, 'The Interruption of Everything.' Number 6. I'm told that they have already printed--The thing ain't on sale yet, and there are a half-million copies being shipped to stores as we speak. That's a long way from that first book, Terry. A half-million copies on the first run.

McMillan: Yeah, you know, I've been meaning to ask how many copies they were printing, not that it's important.

Tavis: Yeah. But a half a million, they tell me.

McMillan: Yep. That's a lot of books.

Tavis: That's a lot--Ha ha ha! That's one way to put it. That's a whole lot of books.

McMillan: I might have to reread it myself, 'cause I'm almost at a loss as to remember what it's about.

Tavis: Yeah. What is your best recollection of what it is about?

McMillan: It's about a man and a woman, both of whom are at crossroads in their lives. Midlife. And her husband's going through a midlife crisis, and she's perimenopausal.

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

McMillan: And both of them are reassessing the third, the last third of their lives in different ways. And, uh...you know, from a woman's point of view, I thoroughly believe that, you know, we give a lot as mothers, wives, parents, I mean, lovers, all of it. We sacrifice a lot, and then when we look up, you know, we're 50 years old, our kids are in college, hopefully, and, um...there's still a lot left to live for. A lot of women see it as a downward spiral, that it's all downhill from here. And I don't see it like that at all. I see it almost more as a--as a Renaissance, as sort of like a replay of our twenties except we're in our fifties. 'Cause I have energy that I don't think I've had in the past 10 years that I had in my twenties. I'm excited about the next...level of my life.

Tavis: Yeah. 'The New York Times,' I'm sure you may have seen or certainly heard about, did a big piece the other day about "black chick lit," and you are the queen of "black chick lit". They suggested--come on now--you are the queen of "black chick lit." Was that a compliment to you?

McMillan: Nope.

Tavis: You don't like it?

McMillan: No. Mm-mmm. I don't like it being referred to as "chick lit" because it's about women. Um...Yeah, I take what I write about very seriously. Although, I mean in--they call it Greek tragedy--I mean, Greek tragedy has--they have reprieves, and I consider my work to be dramatic, dramedy. It's--it's tragic, but there's humor in it. You know, when you think about African-Americans as being poor or economically deprived, we don't sit around all day long being depressed.

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

McMillan: You know, we played cards when we didn't have any money, OK? Um, and the same is true in my work. It's serious, but there's humor--there's humor in our lives, and I just fuse the two, and I do it in a very organic fashion. I don't do it intentionally so. Um, and I mean I've laughed about a lot of this stuff, but they're..."Chick lit" to me is a cheap definition, and I defy--I don't like people defining me, and I don't like them defining my work. They've called it "pop fiction," everything except literature. And it's not--I mean, because I don't write like, uh...what's her name? Virginia Woolf and all those, but every white writer wrote in the language and the voice that represented their time, and I'm doing the same thing, and I don't apologize for being black.

Tavis: Well, she don't apologize for much of nothing, either, and I ain't mad at her for it. The new piece of literature...The new piece of literature--did I say that right--from Terry McMillan is 'The Interruption of Everything.' I suspect that it won't be--Has this thing been optioned already?

McMillan: I don't know.

Tavis: Are they fighting over it already?

McMillan: I don't know.

Tavis: Yeah, you do. They fighting over it.

McMillan: I don't know.

Tavis: Everything that she does becomes a hit in the bookstores, and everything she does eventually becomes a movie, so run out and get it. The new novel from Terry McMillan, 'The Interruption of Everything.' Terry, thanks for coming on.

McMillan: You're welcome.

Tavis: Nice to see you.

McMillan: Thank you.

Tavis: Up next, actor Tim Roth from the new film 'Dark Water.' Stay with us.