Posted by Daphne Germain None - HBCU Supporter
on June 29, 2005 at 10:22:27:
Now isn't this some mess!!!
Epilogue for 'Stella' author: a messy divorce
>Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
>Sunday, June 26, 2005
>San Francisco Chronicle
>In a tale rich in lost love, closeted secrets and acrimonious divorce,
it
>turns out that famed local writer Terry McMillan -- whose celebrated
>romance and subsequent marriage to a man 23 years her junior became the
>subject of her fictionized best-seller "How Stella Got Her Groove Back"
--
>actually got her groove back with a man who now says he's gay.
>The story is spilling out in made-for-Hollywood detail in Contra Costa
>County Superior Court, where McMillan has filed for divorce from her
>Jamaican- born husband of six years, Jonathan Plummer.
>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. "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 wants 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 torrid relationship with a Jamaican young
>enough to be her son that very much parallels the lives of McMillan and
>Plummer.
>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, however, 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 fact, McMillan says Plummer zeroed in on her precisely because of
her
>celebrity status as an author whose earlier books included "Waiting to
>Exhale, '' which sold some 4 million copies and was made into a movie.
>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.
>For her part, McMillan, who was then 42, said she worried when she
first
>met Plummer that he was interested only in her money. "But Jonathan was
>very charming and made me believe that he was crazy about me,'' she
told
>the court.
>The two eventually married in Maui on Sept. 8, 1998 -- but not before
>Plummer signed a prenup that waived his rights to everything should
they
>ever part, including "temporary and permanent spousal support and
>attorney's fees, '' according to court papers filed by McMillan.
>The couple settled in McMillan's $4 million Danville home and, at least
>according to Plummer, enjoyed a happy life -- until the last few years
when
>the marriage started coming undone.
>"He became less attentive, less charming, more distracted and absent
from
>the home,'' McMillan wrote in her declaration.
>Plummer said he was spending long hours with a dog-grooming business in
>Danville that McMillan had set up for him a couple of years ago in
apparent
>anticipation of a split.
>It wasn't until just before last Christmas, Plummer says, that the two
>finally split -- after he revealed he was gay.
>"I was kicked out of the house in December right after I told her,'' he
>said in the interview.
>In court records, however, McMillan says Plummer confessed to being gay
>only after she confronted him about all his hours of phone calls to a
male
>friend living in Jamaica. She also says she later learned that Plummer
was
>participating in online gay chat sites.
>In any event, judging from the court filings, the disclosure quickly
turned
>ugly. 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.
>(He admits in court papers "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.
>"She kept calling me, saying nasty things about me being gay, calling
me a
>fag,'' Plummer said in an interview.
>In a Jan. 14 letter written by McMillan and filed with the court, the
>author told Plummer, "The reason you're going to make a great fag is
that
>most of you guys are just like dogs anyway. ... You do whatever with
>whomever pleases you and don't seem to care about the consequences."
>Plummer also says McMillan came into the dog-grooming shop and left him
a
>bottle of Jamaican hot pepper sauce on which she wrote, "Fag Juice Burn
>Baby Burn,'' and that she also scrawled "Jonathan's Fag boyfriend Fag''
on
>a photo of a friend.
>"She is an extremely angry woman who is homophobic and is lashing out
at me
>because I have learned I am gay,'' Plummer declared in a court filing
last
>month.
>McMillan's attorney, Jill Hersh -- a divorce lawyer who has handled
civil
>rights cases involving gay couples and their children -- says 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.''
>Hersh also disputes Plummer's contention that McMillan was seeking an
>annulment as a way to get him deported, as he alleges. In pressing her
>claim of fraud, however, McMillan told the court that Plummer waited to
>tell her he was gay until he knew his application for citizenship was
going
>to be approved.
>Plummer says 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 -- until a full trial on the validity of the
>prenuptial agreement and the annulment request is heard in October.