Terri McMillan
Novelist
A popular American author, she is best known for Waiting to Exhale (1992) and How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998), both of which were adapted into films. Her other works include Disappearing Acts (2000) and A Day Late and a Dollar Short (2002).
She became interested in a career in literature when she worked at a local library during her teens. She later received a degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley.
Her New York Times bestselling novel, Waiting to Exhale, was adapted into an acclaimed film starring Whitney Houston.
She was born in Port Huron, Michigan. In 1998, she married Jonathan Plummer; the couple divorced when Plummer revealed that he was gay.
Forest Whitaker turned Waiting to Exhale into the 1995 film that won several Image Awards and an MTV Movie Award.