Terry McMillan divorcing ‘Stella’ book inspiration

San Francisco – Author Terry McMillan has filed for divorce from the man who inspired the 1996 novel “How Stella Got Her Groove Back,” which chronicled the romantic adventures of a 40-something woman who falls for a guy half her age.

In papers filed in Contra Costa County Superior Court, McMillan, 53, says she decided to end her 6 1/2-year marriage to Jonathan Plummer, 30, after learning he is gay.

The revelation led her to conclude Plummer married only to get his U.S. citizenship, she said. McMillan met Plummer at a Jamaican resort a decade ago.

“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 said in court papers. “I was humiliated.”

In response, Plummer maintained McMillan treated him with “homophobic” scorn bordering on harassment since he came out to her as gay just before Christmas.

McMillan is seeking to have the marriage annulled; Plummer has asked the court to set aside a prenuptial agreement that would prevent him from getting spousal support.

Cafe king

Seattle – Bob Dylan made his mark playing in one cafe. Soon, he’ll be in thousands.

Starbucks Coffee Co. has reached a deal to produce and exclusively release a CD of 10 Dylan recordings from New York’s Gaslight Cafe in 1962, when he was just finding himself as a songwriter. The Gaslight, in Greenwich Village, was a focal point of the folk revival in the early ’60s.

“Bob Dylan: Live at the Gaslight 1962” will be available at Starbucks stores in the United States and Canada on Aug. 30. It includes the earliest known recordings of “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” as well as folk standards “Barbara Allen” and “The Cuckoo.”

Fans have circulated bootlegs of Dylan’s Gaslight performances over the years, but these are the first to be professionally produced and remastered, Starbucks said Tuesday.

The CD’s release will coincide with the release of director Martin Scorsese’s feature-length film about Dylan, “No Direction Home.”

Apprentice hits the links

New York – Kendra Todd got down to business as Donald Trump’s latest “Apprentice” during her first day of work at the Trump National Golf Club in Briarcliff Manor.

“I’m evaluating both national and international properties for potential golf expansion,” Todd told The Associated Press Monday during a phone interview.

Todd will work at Trump National Golf Club with Trump adviser and Executive Vice President Carolyn Kepcher for three months before returning to Florida to oversee the renovation of Trump’s Palm Beach mansion.

“I truly feel like I have won two apprenticeships in one,” said Todd. “I’ve already learned so much from Carolyn in a very short amount of time. She’s been very sensitive to the fact that I own my own company and have my own employees to manage.”

Todd was selected as Trump’s third “Apprentice” during the NBC reality show’s live finale last month, winning a $250,000 salary and the chance to learn about business from the real estate mogul.

Happy golden years

Mesa, Ariz. – Cast members from “Little House on the Prairie” will reunite this weekend in Tombstone, a town known for its old West roots.

Melissa Gilbert, who played Laura Ingalls Wilder, is scheduled to reunite with Dean Butler (Almanzo Wilder) and Alison Arngrim (Nellie Oleson) during the Tombstone Western Film Festival that runs Friday through Monday.

“People watched it, but they didn’t want to talk about it,” Butler told the East Valley Tribune. “It was almost an embarrassed pleasure.”

The show, based on the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, showed the struggles of the Ingalls family and other pioneers in Walnut Grove. The drama ran from 1974-83.

Butler said the show’s longevity was a credit to Michael Landon, who played family patriarch Charles Ingalls.

“Michael Landon understood something about the simple aspirations of everyday people to live a happy life,” Butler said. “It was so simple it was genius.”

Reading rangers

New York – Actress Goldie Hawn, historian David McCullough and chef Jacques Pepin will be among the contributors to “The Book That Changed My Life: A Hundred Reasons to Read, From a Hundred People Worth Reading,” to be published in the summer of 2006 by Gotham Books, an imprint of Penguin Group USA.

“I do believe that a book can change a life, and sharing this not only encourages people to understand how reading can matter, it adds to our lives and the world,” Roxanne Coady, a bookstore owner who will co-edit the project, said in a statement Monday.

Hawn, McCullough and the others included in “The Book That Changed My Life” all have made appearances at Coady’s store, R.J. Julia Booksellers, based in Madison, Conn.

Proceeds will be given to Read to Grow, a literacy organization.

Actress Jennifer Tilly wins World Series of Poker event

Las Vegas – Actress Jennifer Tilly won the Ladies no-limit Texas Hold ‘Em event at the World Series of Poker – the first time a celebrity has won an event at the famous tournament.

Tilly’s skillful play and admitted good luck earned her $158,625. She beat 600 players to capture first place in a two-day event featuring some of the top female professionals in the world.

“I think she showed an incredible amount of talent,” tournament media director Nolan Dalla said. “She had an enormous chip lead and never looked back.”