If you are a fan of contemporary African-American fiction, you might have wondered if Tracy McMillan and Terry McMillan are related. After all, they share the same last name and both are successful authors and screenwriters. However, the truth is that they are not related by blood or marriage. They are just two talented women who happen to have a common surname.
Who is Tracy McMillan?
Tracy McMillan is an American author, television writer and self-proclaimed relationship expert. She was born in 1964 and is biracial, with an African-American father and a white mother. She grew up in foster care and had a difficult childhood. She became a journalist and later a television writer, working on shows such as Mad Men, The United States of Tara, and Runaways. She also wrote a memoir, I Love You and I’m Leaving You Anyway, and a novel, You’ll Know It When You See It.
Tracy McMillan is best known for her viral blog post “Why You’re Not Married”, which was the most-viewed article on HuffPost for two years. She also wrote a book based on it, Why You’re Not Married… Yet. She has appeared as a relationship expert on various television and radio shows, including Ready for Love, The Today Show, Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday, and Family or Fiancé.
Who is Terry McMillan?
Terry McMillan is an American novelist who was born in 1951 in Port Huron, Michigan. She received a BA in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, and attended the MFA program in film at Columbia University. She published her first book, Mama, in 1987. She achieved national attention in 1992 with her third novel, Waiting to Exhale, which sold more than three million copies and was adapted into a film starring Whitney Houston and Angela Bassett.
Terry McMillan is known for her novels that center around the experiences of black women in the United States. Some of her other popular books include How Stella Got Her Groove Back, A Day Late and a Dollar Short, The Interruption of Everything, and Getting to Happy. She has also edited an anthology of contemporary African-American fiction called Breaking Ice. She has won several awards for her work, including the Essence Award for Excellence in Literature and the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work.
Are They Related?
Despite their similarities in name and profession, Tracy McMillan and Terry McMillan are not related. They have never met or collaborated on any project. They have different backgrounds, styles, and perspectives. They are simply two successful black women writers who share a common last name.
According to Wikipedia, McMillan is a common surname of Scottish origin that means “son of the miller”. It is possible that Tracy McMillan and Terry McMillan have some distant ancestors who were millers in Scotland, but that does not make them relatives in any meaningful sense.
So, the next time you see their books on the shelf or their names on the screen, don’t assume that they are related. Just appreciate their individual talents and contributions to literature and culture.
