view, but i believe we will learn a lesson from the reality. i hope there will be a quick recovery of the u.s. economy, because after all, the u.s. economy is the largest in the world. i have taken note of the recent passes and measures taken by president obama, including the program of doubling the united states' exports and the massive investment in infrastructural development. i think these measures are the ones on the right track, moving in the right direction. although they came a little bit late, they still came in time. >> and of course, you can catch the complete interview tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. and then again at 1:00 p.m. eastern time. all right, new security concerns to tell you about for americans traveling to europe. intelligence chatter has caught the attention of u.s. officials. they're considering an important new warning we want to alert you

about. our senior state department producer joins us now by phone to explain about warnings that there may be warnings coming out. elise? >> that's right, fredricka. in the light of this information that you just mentioned, there's been a lot of chatter this week about possible attacks against westerners in europe that could cause a lot of casualties and chaos in a short period of time. perhaps in countries like britain, france and germany. so obviously when something like this happens, the state department weighs what kind of information to release to americans and we understand that there have been some discussions going on in the state department and what they're leaning towards is an alert. that lets american citizens know what's going on, know thing chatter is out there, that there's been information about possible attacks. there's been no specific or credible information about any specific attacks that americans could stay away from a particular area.

but i think what we're going to see over the next 24 hours or so is some kind of word from the state department that says americans should be careful, should be vigilant when traveling in western europe, more specifically to britain, france and germany. and should be very careful when they're going to public places like airports, tourist sites, transportation hubs but they're not going to discourage americans from traveling to europe. >> elise, thanks so much. you're seeing images of london and paris. but, again, nothing has transpired there, nothing has happened there. but elise was just reporting that britain, france and germany may be areas of greatest concern as a result of some of this chatter. again, no threats specifically have taken place in any of those cities. all right, now to washington. where liberal and progressive activists have gathered at the

lincoln memorial. organizers are calling the one nation march an antidote to the tea party, which gathered at the same spot five weeks ago. today's rally is mention to focus attention on working class americans including jobs and education. >> we need america to deal with the issue of jobs. our young people need education, but we need jobs. we bailed out the banks. we bailed out the insurance companies. now it's time to bail out the american people. we need to rebuild the infrastructure and provide jobs and training for american people. >> all right, kate bolduan is there at the lincoln memorial. looks like a healthy crowd as we get to the end of this rally, right?

>> reporter: yeah, the rally is still going on right now, fredricka. a large crowd gathered today, starting to thin out under the afternoon heat. a lot of issues and you talked about a lot of them. jobs, education, immigration reform, support for unions and we wanted to speak to some of the people who turned out today. part of the afl-cio out of north carolina. how big is the group you traveled with here? >> about 300, 400 people. we came in several buses from all parts of north carolina to the rally today. >> reporter: why did you come out here today? what's the motivation? >> we're in solidarity with everybody out here and the agenda to make america a more progressive place. we want america to be something that represents every kind of diversity in this country. we're here because we want to show that we have a presence and

we want america to head in the right direction. >> reporter: interesting that you talk about this, the message we're hearing is turn out the vote in november, people from the -- [ inaudible ] you see enthusiasm amongst conservative voters and you wanted to turn out with your large group to show enthusiasm among democratic voters? >> yes, it's important to participate in what makes america great and by us coming out here to washington, d.c. and showing our presence and being here, it shows that we have a voice and so i think that's the most important thing to show here. >> reporter: what's the big issue for you as a member of the afl-cio that you really want to send a message of today, what's the big issue for you guys? >> we represent farm workers in north carolina right now. we have a strong problem with lack of enforcement of the laws,

but we also have a system of exploitation for our farm workers. our farm workers are fighting for basic human rights. we want an america that gives jobs to everybody. >> there are so many issues among them labor laws being talked about today. what do you hope when you see this large crowd here today, what do you hope comes from this moving into the next month ahead of the november elections? >> i hope everybody sees the diversity in this crowd and sees all the issues here are common sense issues that people want to do with teachers, workers, labor rights. it's important, it's the right decision and we hope that everybody out there is inspired to go out there and vote, to voice their opinion and participate and make changes. >> sergio, thank you so much. as you can see, fredricka, inspired to show up to vote. that's one of the big messages you're hearing today as organizers are hoping to stir that need to get out to vote amongst their democratic base.

>> just 31 days away from the midterm elections. kate bolduan there in washington. let's talk weather coming up. a flooded mess from north carolina to new england. while flood waters are beginning to recede in some areas, the region is not out of danger. in windsor, north carolina, the cashier river reached 16 feet above flood stage. 175 people had to be rescued overnight. in pennsylvania and new jersey, there was so much water on the roads, cars floated into one another. eight deaths are being blamed on the flooding along the east coast. bonnie schneider in the weather center right now. any end in sight? >> well, looks like we're going to see better weather, but we're not out of the woods yet, fredricka. we're looking at the risk for more flooding. this is a look at some of the rainfall totals since tuesday. it's important to note if you're driving and you see water

covering a road that you don't try to pass it. even if the car in front of you made it okay, it doesn't mean you will. it only takes six inches of water to lift your car and then it can float away. this is what we're looking at in terms of heavy rain since tuesday. and our i-reporters have been on the scene tracking the weather. you can see what it looked like across the east coast. this is in whitney point, new york, 20 minutes north of binghamton, new york. this road has a bridge warbled out. you're trapped when that happens. bridges and overpasses flood quickly. so a real wakeup call. now we're in fall, we're going to see more of that, i'm sure. here's a look at flood warnings from vermont to eastern north carolina where we saw some of the heaviest rain. it's not raining now, but there

is a new threat. look at this rain in ohio, kentucky. this is on the move, and this brand new weather system will work to the east and bring about the threat for more rain to areas that have flooded out. so this is not what we want to see. i don't think it's going to be as heavy. but any time you get more rain on top of areas that are flooded, it's not something good we're going to be contending with. elsewhere across the country, here's the low across the great lakes. the rest of the country is dry from texas to california. we are seeing some more fair conditions and seeing more comfortable temperatures. los angeles shattered it's all-time temperature record monday, getting up to 113. today, much more back to normal, around the upper 70s. >> that's good. some of that destruction of the flood waters in north carolina, reminded me of hurricane floyd. i only remember it because i covered it, and how that system just sat, sat, sat and caused a lot of flooding.

>> any time there's something tropical, you get a lot of flooding. >> thanks, bonnie. check back with you later on. more missionaries are needed in the u.s. and abroad, but it seems minorities are missing in action when it comes to stepping up to help. in 2008 i quit venture capital to follow my passion for food. i saw a gap in the market for a fresh culinary brand and launched behindtheburner.com. we create and broadcast content and then distribute it across tv, the web, and via mobile. i even use the web to get paid.

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and now back to our top story. u.s. officials say discussions are taking place about issuing an advisory to americans in europe in light of new terror threat information. i want to bring in our senior international correspondent nick robertson who is in hamburg, germany. no warnings out yet, just discussions because as we heard with our producer with the state department, there has been chatter about some sort of activity. what kind of chatter? >> reporter: well, right now fredricka i'm standing outside of the mosque in hamburg that was attended by a man that was captured in kabul this summer and is in u.s. custody. he's a german. but while he's been in custody, he's been talking about the

possibility of a mumbai style plot to attack various cities and countries in europe. britain, france, and germany. he's the one that's been therefore getting this sort of threat possibility of an imminent threat in europe, and while i've been here i've been talking to sources here and they tell us that there is no imminent threat that they see. but despite the fact that this map is a german who is in u.s. custody and they understand he's providing new information to u.s. officials every day. that's what they tell us, new in fact -- new information every day. they also talked with his sister and she said the family had been in touch with him in afghanistan shortly before he was captured and she said at that stage he was planning to come back in the

very near future. what has intelligence officials here concerned and on alert is what happened to the other members of this mosque that traveled with him to pakistan, where are they? what are their plans? do they plan to come back sooner? this is feeding into an atmosphere of a threat. but they say no imminent threat right now. >> fascinating stuff. thank you, nick robertson from hamburg, germany. when you think of missionaries you probably think of people working in poor, far-off countries. with hard times here at home, the need for domestic missionaries is growing. cnn's soledad o'brien introduces us to a man whose mission it is to rally black americans to serve in their own communities. >> i'm the jackie robinson of mission, you know. >> reporter: leroy barber is a man with a calling.

>> we do not see through our eyes or hear through our ears. >> reporter: it's a program for chris chaun young adults in the united states. >> there is a goal for people to know jesus. there is another strong goal of things are not right in the world, and i want to be a part of making them right. >> reporter: how many african-americans are involved in missionary work? >> about 5% a year or less sometimes. >> reporter: what does it matter? >> i don't think it's good for a kid growing up in an urban neighborhood to only see white faces coming to serve. boyd left his chicago home to spend the year in atlanta. he lives on $12,000 but he has to raise that himself. >> i do believe that with every relationship that i build, that i'll be showing people that i'm in the same struggle you are.

>> reporter: he's the only minority on his team. it's not surprising when you consider the vast majority of missionaries are white. >> in terms of the missionary percentage of african-americans, it's far less than 1%. >> reporter: jim suterland studies the black church. >> many black churches do a fairly good job of taking care of their own local communities, but the african-american church is essentially off the radar, it's basically not there. >> reporter: why are there so few african-americans involved in missionary work? >> i think the way missions is traditionally done is you raise support to do it -- >> reporter: money. >> taking a year off, which means not working, not earning an income. >> reporter: for many african-americans, it's difficult to make this financial sacrifice, especially during a recession. for harrold boyd, it's world the sacrifice. >> what inspired me was the work

of missions of being able to see what's out there and see what people need. i don't think i can stab anybody with the gospel. here, have it. but i'm called to serve here and i'm going to serve. >> reporter: reporting for in america, soledad o'brien, atlanta. >> and be sure to join soledad o'brien for her special about fighting financial crisis from the pulpit. a black in america special coming thursday, october 21st at 9:00 p.m. eastern only on cnn. from simple student to media mogul, meet the face behind facebook. movie reviews are next. sorry i'm late fellas.

[ evan ] ah it's cool. ah... ah. ah. ah. ah. ah. ah. ah. ah. ah! ah! whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what is that? how come my dap wasn't like that? huh? it's just an "us" thing. yeah, it's a little something we do. who else is in this so-called "us"? man, i don't know. there's a lot of us. [ chuckles ] ask your friends what it's like to be part of a group that's 40 million strong. state farm insures more drivers than geico and progressive combined. it's no surprise, with so many ways to save and discounts of up to 40%.

so call an agent at 1-800-state-farm or go online. i just wish that all of the important information was gathered together in one place. [ printer whirs ] done. ♪ thanks. do you work here? not yet. from tax info to debunking myths, the field guide to evolving your workforce has everything you need. download it now at thinkbeyondthelabel.com.

a look at our top stories right now. osama bin laden has apparently released an audiotape message. in a 13-minute tape today, the al qaeda leader urges muslims to help flood victims in pakistan. cnn cannot verify the voice of the tape, and that it is indeed of the terror leader. in the middle east, palestinian leaders meeting in the west bank reaffirm their stance on israeli settlements. they support a halt to peace

talks with israel if it does not stop construction. a deadly train crash in central indonesia. 36 people were killed when one train rammed another from behind. at least 26 people are hurt. both trains were headed to jakarta. the cause of the crash is still under investigation. the oscar buzz out there. we're talking movies now and we're talking "the social network" hitting theaters this weekend. and we're going to talk about another weekend. jen, good to see you again. >> good to be back. thank you. >> let's begin with "the social network." we're talking about the discovery of this social network or the discussion among friends, one runs away with the idea, and now there is a little bit of fallout as a result.

let's take a quick peek at the clip. >> what are you doing? >> checking into see how it's going in bosnia. >> bosnia? they don't have roads but they have facebook. you must really hate them. >> i don't hate anybody. they aren't suing me for intellectual property theft, they're suing me because things didn't work out the way they were supposed to for them for the first time in their lives. >> did you like this movie? there has been a lot of buzz, but we only care about what you think. >> as it should be. it's certainly a compelling portrait of ambition in the digital age, it's about facebook founder mark zuckerberg, who the film would like you to believe back stabbed his way to the top. i would say it's a good movie. i didn't love it as much as a

lot of people seem to have loved it so far. part of my problem with the social network is that the vilify case of zuckerberg feels a little too constructed. it could very well be a serial killer movie, only instead of murdering people, zuckerberg is a computer programmer sociopath. that didn't quite work for me. it feels a little too constructed and a little too conveniently contrived for the sake of drama. and on top of that, the female characters overall are really shortchanged. the performances for me -- >> what do you mean, they don't have real characters that have been developed, shortchanged in what way? >> right. well, i would say the only interesting female character here disappears after two scenes. the other female characters are really boring or are reduced to

stereo typical promiscuous characters and don't do much on their own. this is a very male driven movie. the female presence wasn't as strong as it should have been. >> overall, what is your grade? >> i give it a b plus. it's solid, but i didn't love it. it is still one to keep an eye out come award season. >> let's talk about "let me in." a 12-year-old builds a friendship with a mysterious new neighbor who would only socialize at night. let's take a look at this little peek. >> are you a vampire? >> hence the night part. >> i need blood to live. >> how old are you? >> 12.

but i've been 12 for a very long time. >> oh, no, i don't care if you give it an "a," i don't do freaky movies with evil children. that scares me too much. and a vampire movie can't have a happy ending. >> it's a really lovely story. >> really? >> this is based on a swedish novel, which would previously adapted in 2008 into an excellent film called "let the right one in." this is "let me in." the story has been transported to new mexico in the '80s. it's about a little boy who befriends a girl vampire. it's at times really hauntingly beautiful. very handsomely made and well acted, especially by the kid actors.

i will say that the score is a little too distracting. overall, my biggest problem here is if you've seen the original film, the 2008 swedish film, the americanized version does not differentiate itself enough to justify its own existence. i say go with the original film. i'm in the camp that subtitles do not deter me. but i know a lot of people need the english language story told. >> okay. >> i would recommend it. i give it a b. i would definitely recommend the original more, if you're daring enough to try subtitles. >> as soon as you have a kid, you can't see these scary, freaky stuff going on with kids.

let's move on. let's talk about this one, social worker taking a 10-year-old girl out of her apparently abusive home, and while she shelters the little girl, she realizes that her new case is protected by a dark, threatening force. this is also a little eerie. what do you think about this one? we're not going to look at it. >> if you don't like scary kid movies, you're not going to like "case 39." it's the latest in the evil little kid movies. >> renee zellweger, haven't seen her in a while. >> this movie has been moved around for years. i would have to say with good reason. it's not particularly good. it's the kind of horror movie that relies a lot on jump

scares, but here the jump scares aren't even scary. but it's so silly that it's not even frightening. the little girl gives an excellent performance for having been 11 years old at the time. but for certain folks like you and myself, who are scared of evil children, avoid. avoid this movie. >> you don't want to see a movie with me, because i think your eardrums would be blasting. that trailer right now made me shrill a little bit. so i'll pass. jen, good to see you. thanks so much. >> thank you. okay, so speaking of kids, anyone with teenage boys knows that they will eat you out of house and home if you let them. even if you don't let them, they will keep consuming and eating. so how do you fill them up without straining your budget or their waistlines? keep it right here for our family food makeover. getting stuck month. andt

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okay, so all this week cnn has been on a mission to show you how your food choices actually affect your health. your state of mind. and of course, your budget. so you're about to meet a single mother of two growing teenage boys, valerie thurman who works for cnn, consented to a family food makeover. >> hi, i am the mother of two teenage boys, william, who is 17, and winston, who is 15. i spend about $250 to $300 every two weeks on groceries and to me that's a lot of money. i don't know if it's a boy thing, but i find that they really eat a lot.

and i end up buying a lot more snacks i think and a lot more junk just to make sure they have extra stuff. it is a little bit challenging. if i can get things for them but they're healthier and cuts my bill in half, that will be really good. i'm going to meet with a nutritionist and try to find better ways for us to cut down on our grocery bill and also eat healthier. what do you guys think? >> it's good. >> do you think that's good? >> yeah. >> hi, nice to meet you. this will be exciting. >> yeah. >> now, do you typically have a budget that you try to follow? >> for the most part, we cook every day. >> okay. and that is a wonderful way to budget, because the more we cook from scratch, by far the less expensive it is. fruits can be an economical way to boost your nutrition and boost your weight loss efforts. it would only cost you $2.50 day

to meet all the recommendations. protein is going to be the most expensive part of the meal, so finding good choices for protein but less expensive. >> you're going to save about 30 cents a pound, just to spend five minutes to make a patty. you're looking at about $31 in the course of a year. a serving of baked beans is going to be a lot cheaper. another way to save is decrease the amount of protein food that we have per person. we got to fill our plate with other foods and often those are more economical and much healthier. one way to save and it doesn't take that much more time, would be instead of using the frozen potatoes is use fresh potatoes. if you got a ten ounce bag of potato chips, costs about $2.59. so seems like a cheap snack.

you could buy four pounds of red potatoes instead for the same price. so ten ounces versus four pounds. it may even be going with carrots, which is 12 servings for the same price. there is a big misconception that healthy eating is expensive and it doesn't need to be. >> so give us an ideal what happened after that makeover? first, was it difficult for your family, for the boys to say, okay, we don't mind that our diet has to change? >> no, not so much. because they don't really do a lot of the cooking. so no, it didn't affect them much at all. >> so a lot of it depended on where it begins, when you go grocery shopping, it meant changing some things. initially, you spent $353.44 and then after the makeover, you were still able to feed the family, get the essentials, it

meant changing some of the ingredients and you saved a lot. you ended up spending $267.81. so almost $100 savings there. >> right. and that's every two weeks. >> what did you have to cut out to end up saving money and at the same time eat better? >> what i learned is you end up buying a lot of things out of convenience, so you buy the frozen pizzas instead of making your own. you buy the bags of frozen french fries instead of just buying a five pound bag of potatoes and making your own. so it's going to take me a little bit more time in the kitchen, but overall, it's going to save me almost $100 every two weeks, so $200 a month. >> yes, it means spending more time cooking, preparing foods. yes, you save money. but then especially when you got teenage boys, and they're 15 and 17, they are preoccupied with

taste. do they like what they're eating now, even though it's saving you more money and costing you more time to prepare? >> yeah, i think they'll still enjoy it. we'll be able to see some things the way we like it. but not only am i saving money, but i think we're eating healthier, because we're not buying all of the processed cakes and cookies and my reason for doing this was i thought we're already buying the meats and the fish, and you just need to prepare it in a healthier way. if you're not buying the cakes and cookies, you have more money to buy the fruits and vegetables. so that ended up working out and being true. >> were you thinking nutrition, was that part of the motivation, i'm willing to get this food makeover here because did you even get to a point or your kids get to a point where you realized maybe we are eating things we shouldn't be eating, that aren't the best for us? >> yeah, they definitely taste a lot better, but it was more of a

makeover for me. my boys are teenagers, they can put anything into their body and it burns off immediately. but that's not really the same for me. and i'm thinking about trying to change the way i eat so i can change and lose some weight and live a healthier lifestyle. >> that's fantastic. thanks for volunteering to be the guinea pig of this experiment, which it turns out to have brought great results for all of you. >> thank you. >> thanks so much. all right, we are talking about taking control of your health and elizabeth cohen will be introducing us to parents who saved their daughter's life in a very different way, next. rrors ? you can see everything ok? just stay off the freeways, all right? i don't want you going out on those yet. and leave your phone in your purse, i don't want yotexting. >> daddy... ok! ok, here you go. be careful. >> thanks dad. >> and call me--but not while you're driving.

we knew this day was coming. that's why we bought a subaru. in 2008 i quit venture capital to follow my passion for food. i saw a gap in the market for a fresh culinary brand and launched behindtheburner.com. we create and broadcast content and then distribute it across tv, the web, and via mobile. i even use the web to get paid. with acceptpay from american express open, we now invoice advertisers and receive payments digitally. and i get paid on average three weeks faster. booming is never looking for a check in the mail. because it's already in my email. i just wish that all of the important information was gathered together in one place. [ printer whirs ] done. ♪ thanks. do you work here? not yet. from tax info to debunking myths,

the field guide to evolving your workforce has everything you need. download it now at thinkbeyondthelabel.com.

so much information out there, and our elizabeth cohen is going to break it down for you as the nation focuses on how to improve health care, one of the recurring themes has been patients need to take more control. elizabeth cohen has a special this weekend, it is called "the empowered patient" and elizabeth joins us right now with some powerful lessons on how you do take control. sometimes people are intimidated and figure whatever the doctor says, he or she knows best and i'm going to do whatever they say. >> that's a huge mistake. this is a story we're going to hear, we bring you the mccracken family. one spring evening, don was playing ball with his kids in the front yard.

he meant to hit a fly ball to his matthew, but instead he hit his 7-year-old daughter morgan in the head. morgan had quite a bump. she seemed fine, though. two nights later, something changed. >> she started crying. >> tell me what you heard. >> she was holding her head, saying it's hurting. >> they rushed morgan to the emergency room. when the doctor showed up, what did he say? >> probably has a touch of the flu. >> their instincts told them this was no flu virus. they pushed the doctor for a ct scan. what did you think the results were going to be? >> there was something definitely wrong, you could feel it in your gut. >> in my heart, i knew there was a problem. >> he says, i'm surprised, there's something there.

>> there was a leakage of blood into her skull. >> medics rushed morgan by helicopter to the children's hospital in cleveland, ohio. >> this is an endurmal hema toma. >> today, morgan is just fine. do you feel like a lucky girl? >> yeah. >> lucky because her parents followed their instincts. in the emergency room, the doctor said she had a virus and needed to get some rest. if you had listened to that advice and brought her home to go to get and rest, what would have happened? >> she probably would not have woken up the next morning and we would have lost her. >> wow, what an extraordinary story. i'm so glad there's a happy ending there, because i really was nervous that the outcome wasn't going to be good. >> and it was. and that's the incredible thing

about our special tonight is that all of the endings are happy. maybe i'm giving it away. >> that's attractive. >> well, we want people to know when you take matters into your own hands, you can save your own life or the life of someone you love. you can do it and you really have to do it. that's the reality these days. >> you have to be your best and biggest advocate and at least surround yourself with people who are advocating for your health care as well. >> this emergency room doctor, i can imagine he was busy and this just seemed like a kid with the flew and you had to have the parents there saying take a second look. >> what can we as patients do to maybe help your doctors be a little bit more, i guess concerned about your concerns as opposed to talking to you like, i'm the doctor, i'm prescribing this, this is the way you do it. sometimes that can be difficult, too. >> doctors can sometimes get

anchored in their diagnosis. like in this case, your child has the flu. and sometimes there is a magic question you can ask that can help them see something else. and that question is, doctor, what else can this be? it is such a simple question, but it can help them see, yeah, it could be the flu but it could be a result of the accident that she had two days ago. so asking that question will help your doctor come up with a list of other things that this can be besides his one idea. almost always there are other options, there's more than one thing. >> that's why people are encouraged to get second and third opinion it is you're dealing with an ailment or situation that deserves the attention of perhaps a few brilliant minds. >> that's right. obviously we told the story, i have one daughter who is prone to strep throat. and when her throat hurts, we don't get a second opinion. but when it's something more complicated, it's deserving of a

second opinion. and in this case, they didn't have the time. but in that case, you have to be your own second opinion. you have to say, i don't think you've gotten it right. >> fantastic for them and for you and we will be watching. you don't want to miss this. it's something that everyone needs at least one dose of saturday, sunday night 7:00 p.m. eastern right here on cnn. thanks, elizabeth. well, first, she was waiting to exhale, you know what i'm talki ining about. now she's getting to happy is her motto. terry mcmillan is back with a new book and new outlook on life and she hopes you have one, too. did you know prilosec otc

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all right. they're back. savannah, bernadine, gloria and robin, characters we first met almost two decades ago. the author terry mcmillan has brought them back together in a new book and soon to be sequel movie. their mission -- getting to happy. i talked face to face with her about whether this story parallels her own life. people have been waiting

anxiously to know if there is going to be a sequel to "waiting to exhale." so here we are, "getting to happy." what happened in your life that you felt like it was time to see what's happened 15 years after? >> well, it wasn't what happened to them, it was due to what happened to me. i had no intention of writing a sequel. after my divorce, i was really bitter and angry and i started meeting a lot of other women in my age group, mid forts to late 50s who were just sad. and so in trying to explore what it might take for us to get back to happy, so to speak, i came up with four different scenarios that i know a lot of women have to deal with. i realize i had already told the story with four female protagonists and i realized those women were the perfect candidates for this story. ♪ >> i'll be 21 my next birthday,

so that makes me 22. and you are? >> 40. >> when people read "stella got her groove back" they thought that was your experience. so it's interesting that you talk about you were in a place, you were upset, your husband wasn't what you thought he was. why is it that you made a decision, i'm going to do a continuation of these women's lives as opposed to write specifically about what happened to me? >> even telling the story about stella, about 95% of that did not happen, but i was compelled to tell the story, and i knew that nothing is promised. when he decided to tell me what he thought he was, and i said, i know what thinking means. and then, of course, all the other ugly stuff started coming out. when you've been lied to and someone that you trusted, i don't care who they are, when it happens, you're just angry. >> at one point did you say i'm tired of being mad? >> i was swearing a lot.

i was grinding my teeth. and it was not who i was. and it just started dawning on me how much energy it takes to be angry. i have since forgiven my ex-husband, and we are actually friends now. i don't think you allow your past to destroy your present. even writing this book, hold up a minute here, i deserve to be happy. i deserve to have some joy in my life. and this story, i wanted to try to dramatize what happens when you do. and when you don't rely on someone else for all of your happiness. >> it sounds as if you're sprinkled your life into these women's lives in some capacity. >> i personalize them through my characters and it doesn't mean it had to have happened to me. but when i write it through these characters, think their eyes and hearts, it feels like it did. >> is this likely to be a movie?

>> 20th century fox bought the movie rights and before you ask, three of the four women seem to be very, very interested in their roles and we are praying and hoping that whitney will, too. >> so to kind of summarize these women, savannah, she's the first character you tackled. what's the breaking point for savannah? how does she get to this point on this journey of getting to happy? >> she just discovered something about his behavior that angered her. not anything that was as deep as finding out that your husband is gay. she just decides to take a risk on herself. and take a risk on even going solo. but she's not, nor have i, given up on love or men. >> gloria? >> gloria has experienced a different kind of a loss, i don't want to say. she has to go through her own form of grief and just start to begin to heal her life. >> and bernadine? >> she has forgiven her first ex-husband for the way he treated her.

they're friends in this story. she's had an experience that made her bitter, so she has to learn a lot of things in terms of forgiving herself and other people. >> and robin? >> robin tried to be a good single parent and her attitude is that you should look for a man the same way you do a pair of black pumps. keep trying them on until you find the one that fits. >> so these women are now breathing? >> i would like to think they are. yes. >> not just exhaling but breathing. >> you can exhale more than once. >> terry mcmillan, true pleasure to sit down face to face with her. brooke baldwin is up next after this.

in 2008 i quit venture capital to follow my passion for food. i saw a gap in the market for a fresh culinary brand and launched behindtheburner.com. we create and broadcast content and then distribute it across tv, the web, and via mobile. i even use the web to get paid. with acceptpay from american express open, we now invoice advertisers and receive payments digitally. and i get paid on average three weeks faster. booming is never looking for a check in the mail. because it's already in my email. i just wish that all of the important information was gathered together in one place. [ printer whirs ] done. ♪ thanks. do you work here? not yet.

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