Jonathan Plummer Talks New ‘Down Low’ Show, Morehouse Men & Moving On With Terry McMillan
By Bridget Bland on Oct 12th 2010 3:33PM
Filed under: News, Celeb Updates
October 11 marked National Coming Out Day — an internationally observed day to encourage lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people to have discussions on living open and honest lives.
To coincide with National Coming Out Day, a new web series NoMoreDownLow.TV launched its premiere episode with Wanda Sykes, Wilson Cruz and photographer Duane Cramer.
Celebrated author Terry McMillan’s ex-husband, Jonathan Plummer, co-hosts the show, which is said to combat negative stereotypes of the Down Low phenom.
A recent Vibe magazine article chronicled the lives of cross-dressing Morehouse College students and Plummer thinks that it speaks to the complexity of criticism gay men across the country are facing.
“It’s really sad Morehouse is implementing these different rules,” he revealed. “I think its morally wrong and it’s kind of like setting the gay movement back in the south.”
“If you want to express yourself in drag going to school, we should not be judging. In college, that’s where we discover ourselves. No one is getting hurt by them expressing themselves or committing crimes.”
Plummer, who inspired McMillan’s novel and the film adaptation of the same name, ‘How Stella Got Her Groove Back,’ met the then-forty-something best-selling ‘Waiting To Exhale’ novelist when he was in his twenties.
Their storybook love affair, which began in his native Jamaica, turned very messy when he revealed to McMillan in 2005 that he was gay.
Their saga became national news after they shared their personal stories on ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show.’
“I was young when I met Terry, my ex-wife,” Plummer reflected. “And now we can talk about the scenario and situation with me being 20 years old [and] from a country where we don’t talk about sexuality or same-sex anything. The norm is getting married, having kids, and living happily ever after.”
And though the couple battled in and out of the courtroom for years, they both agreed to make peace and get on with their lives.
“For me, I had let it go and I gave up, but when she called me like, ‘Let’s just let this go and move on with our lives,’ and the moment we both decided to drop the lawsuit it was a sense of relief, and we are actually speaking to each other and not cursing each other out. The first time we spoke we spoke for hours,” he shared.
“I do want the best for her and I do hope that she falls in love again.”
A few weeks ago, Plummer returned to ‘Oprah’ — alongside McMillan — and the two are now getting along well, although he’s yet to pick up a copy of her latest New York Times best-seller ‘Getting to Happy.’
“That’s the reason I did the show,” he confided. “I apologized many different times and many different ways. We are in a different place and can laugh about things now that we couldn’t laugh about then.”
“I’ve done a lot of personal growth in myself and I’ve learned a lot and I’m very comfortable with my sexuality and I want to let people know I’m not a bad person.”
Though he has yet to find that special someone, Plummer, who penned a 2007 novel of his own titled ‘Balancing Act,’ is busy starting up a new pet grooming business. NoMoreDownLow.TV, will air new episodes monthly.
