Turns out Terry had her groove on

McMillan's ex-husband says that she cheated, too.

Published January 3, 2006 6:08PM (EST)

A new year, a new wrinkle in Terry McMillan's surreal divorce proceedings. You'll recall that last year the author claimed that her much younger and very hot Jamaican hubby, Jonathan Plummer -- the inspiration for her bestselling book "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" -- manipulated her into marrying him so he could gain U.S. citizenship, and then went off and had gay affairs. Well, according to Page Six, McMillan had a cheating heart, too. "Recently obtained" divorce papers submitted by Plummer include letters from McMillan that flaunt her own infidelities. "I wonder how you'd feel if I told you that I had plenty of sex when I was in New York. When I was in Spain and Paris," McMillan wrote. "That I have been cheating on you for three years because you were a drag, because you were boring, because you got on my nerves because you were embarrassing ... you acted like a homosexual and you couldn't carry on an intelligent conversation."

It wasn't the first time that McMillan had harsh words for her ex. During the divorce proceedings, Plummer claimed that McMillan had taunted him with anti-gay slurs, including a note she left for him with a bottle of Jamaican hot pepper sauce that read, "Fag Juice Burn Baby Burn." She also captioned a photo of one of Plummer's friends, "Jonathan's Fag boyfriend Fag."

Not entirely repentant, McMillan told the San Francisco Chronicle in October that she was "deeply offended for being portrayed (by her husband) as a homophobe ... particularly when my insulting comments were directed solely at and privately to my husband." She went on: "I do not hate my husband for being gay. I do not hate anybody (except Saddam Hussein)."

And, apparently, Plummer's lawyer. After the divorce was finalized, McMillan sent him a copy of "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" with this kiss-off: "You made me sick these last eight or nine months and I hope you rot in hell."

McMillan's loose lips weren't a liability in her court case. She only had to pay Plummer $50,000 of the millions of dollars he sought.


By Lori Leibovich

Lori Leibovich is a contributing editor at Salon and the former editor of the Life section.

MORE FROM Lori Leibovich


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