Jennifer Grey, who played “Baby” in the iconic film Dirty Dancing, was expected to see a significant rise in her career chances.
But that was not to be. Rather, a catastrophic tragedy changed everything, forcing her to permanently leave the film industry.
After many years, sixty-two-year-old Jennifer Grey finally spoke up about the traumatic experience that left her permanently traumatized.
It’s a low-budget picture with no big stars or well-known directors.
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However, the producers and cast of Dirty Dancing realized they had accomplished something big when the film aired in theaters in August 1987.
Patrick Swayze, who played the lead, achieved immediate success. He rose to prominence as a teenage idol and s*x icon before going on to appear in notable films like Ghost and Donnie Darko.
However, Jennifer Grey, his co-star, wasn’t feeling well when the film debuted, and she quickly vanished from view. Jennifer Grey vanished as swiftly as she had appeared, lost in the commotion and festivities.
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Furthermore, the actress was out of the spotlight for an extended period of time.
However, she has revealed all of the circumstances of the accident that changed her life in a People Magazine interview conducted in recent years.
Let us first look at Jennifer Grey’s life before the unfortunate accident that occurred in the summer of 1987.
Jennifer Gray began her dance studies at a young age. She was born in New York in 1960, and it’s likely that her father encouraged her to seek a career in entertainment. Her father, Joel Gray, was a director, photographer, dancer, singer, and actor.
She did, however, succeed in landing a few TV commercial engagements, one of which was for Dr. Pepper. She made her cinematic debut in the 1984 picture “Reckless.” Her amazing breakthrough came a few years later with “Dirty Dancing,” in which she portrayed Frances “Baby” Houseman.
The story of the beloved movie is based on the childhood of screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein. Overnight, Jennifer rose to fame and was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress.
Tragic incident
Unfortunately, she was never able to enjoy her enormous success.
Grey and her then-boyfriend Matthew Broderick had been staying in Ireland right before the film’s release in August 1987.
However, Broderick struck with another automobile while driving on the wrong side of the road, culminating in a terrible car accident injuring the couple. In the other car was a mother and her daughter, who were both murdered instantly.
Charges against Broderick for reckless driving were eventually dropped. Jennifer Grey, on the other hand, only sustained minor physical injuries and bruises, but her psychological wounds persisted.
Just a few days later was the Dirty Dancing debut. But even though the movie was a hit, Grey was unable to appreciate it.
It just didn’t sit right to be praised as the next big thing in the midst of such intense grief and survivor’s guilt. According to the Daily Mirror, Grey remarked, “It didn’t feel good to be the toast of the town.”
The actress will never fully recover from the emotional anguish induced by the accident.
She told People, “My ambition and my head were never the same.”
The worst nose job ever
She battled survivor’s guilt and was missing for a few years in the early 1990s until making an appearance in a single Friends episode in 1995.
She had had plastic surgery by then, and her face looked completely different.
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In 2012, she declared, “I entered the operating room as a celebrity and left anonymous.”
It was like being invisible or part of a witness protection program. It was the worst nose job ever. Because of a nose job, I’ll always be this once-famous actress that no one remembers.
Following that, Jennifer’s Hollywood career was intermittent.
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Jennifer had successfully returned to the mainstream media by 2010. After winning “Dancing with the Stars,” she regained popularity among fans. That was something important to her, she asserted.
It appears that I have starved myself in fear of what others may think of me. The actor explained to People, “This is like having a delicious steak after 23 years on a diet.”
Grey took another step toward the spotlight she had left behind in 2018. She is expected to appear in the upcoming comedy Red Oaks and the film Untogether.
