Her best-selling works, including Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back, have resonated widely for their humor, authenticity, and emotional insight.

[1] Her father died when she was a teenager, and McMillan was raised by her single mother, who worked for Ford Motor Co. and who stressed the importance of education.

[2][3][4] McMillan was introduced to literature while working at the local Port Huron library at age 16–previously, she had only had access to assigned school readings and the Bible.

[1][2] Upon learning that she could attend for free, McMillan enrolled and began taking writing classes there while working as a secretary for Prudential Insurance Company.

[1] McMillan began writing in earnest at the college after a friend asked if he could publish a poem of hers for his new Black literary magazine.

[10] In 1995, the novel was adapted into a film of the same title, directed by Forest Whitaker and starring Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine, and Lela Rochon.

McMillan's novel Disappearing Acts was subsequently produced as a direct-to-cable feature by the same name in 2000, starring Wesley Snipes and Sanaa Lathan and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood.

In 2014, Lifetime brought McMillan's A Day Late and a Dollar Short to television audiences, starring Whoopi Goldberg and an ensemble cast featuring Ving Rhames, Tichina Arnold, Mekhi Phifer, Anika Noni Rose, and Kimberly Elise.