It wasn’t quite what you’d call a storybook romance

THINGS STILL AREN’T too groovy for Terry McMillan. McMillan appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” Wednesday to confront her gay ex-husband, Jonathan Plummer, who inspired McMillan’s 1996 novel “How Stella Got her Groove Back.”

The book, later adapted into a movie, chronicled the adventures of a 40-something woman who falls for a guy half her age.

McMillan filed for divorce in January after 6 1/2 years of marriage when she learned Plummer was gay.

“I did expect her to be upset,” Plummer told Winfrey, adding he only realized he was gay in the final two years of the marriage.

The divorce was an ugly one, with each having restraining orders filed on the other and Plummer suing for spousal support.

But the couple say they are approaching reconciliation.

“I regret hurting her,” said Plummer. “There are better ways to be doing this.”

Added McMillan: “I think that Jonathan did love me, because you can’t fake this stuff.”

Newsy lips sink relationships

Ashlee Simpson may have followed sister Jessica‘s lead by launching a singing career, but she’s not interested in also hooking up with a famous guy.

“I’m not looking for an actor, I’m not looking for a musician,” says the younger Simpson, who used to date singer Ryan Cabrera.

Rumors persist that Jessica Simpson and her singer spouse, Nick Lachey, have broken up, though their publicists deny it.

Soft-pedaling the news cycle

Sheryl Crow says she tries to keep her relationship with Lance Armstrong out of the media spotlight.

“I think we’ve actually escaped a lot of it, because I’ve seen what happened to Brad and Jen and Nick and Jessica,” the 43-year-old singer says.

“When we were rumored to have split, and when our publicists called these magazines to say we haven’t split, the magazines were all so disappointed because that’s really what’s selling, rooting for a couple and then they split,” she adds.

Crow and star cyclist Armstrong, 34, announced their engagement in September.

He needs some Beanie counters

Rapper Beanie Sigel was briefly jailed Thursday until he paid some $27,000 in child support.

Sigel, 31, spent about an hour behind bars after being sentenced in Philadelphia’s Family Court to six months in prison unless the payments were made to help his children by two mothers.

His lawyer argued that Sigel has not been earning money because he has been under house arrest, in drug rehab or in prison for much of the past two years.

Paris goes on a fender bender

Finally, today’s Paris Hilton update: the hotel heiress/reality TV star was involved in a minor car accident Wednesday as she left a Hollywood nightclub, but wasn’t injured.

Hilton was a passenger in a silver Bentley that a companion drove into the back of a large commercial truck, scratching the hood of the car.

A videotape of the incident – in which Hilton was seen blowing a kiss to investigating officers – aired on television and the Internet.

The birthday bunch

Comedian Jonathan Winters is 80. Singer Dave Alvin is 50. Actor Stanley Tucci is 45. Actress Demi Moore is 43. Actress Calista Flockhart (“Ally McBeal”) is 41. TV personality Carson Kressley (“Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”) is 36. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio is 31.