The nose job that ended the career of this 80s star

What happened to Jennifer Grey?
A bad choice
Actor parents
Excesses in her teenage years
Her first job: Dr. Pepper
Her first role: With Chris Columbus
Unstoppable
Matthew Broderick
A secret relationship
Patrick Swayze
'Dirty Dancing'
Complications on set
The movie was a hit but…
The accident that changed her life
The guilt was too much
A long and needed rest
Roles were not coming
The terrible nose job
Something went wrong
The second surgery changed her reality
She could not recognize herself
An unforgivable crime
Minor projects
Baby was gone forever
'Red Oaks'
'Dancing with the Stars'
'Bittersweet Symphony'
Very active on her Instagram
'What if...?'
What happened to Jennifer Grey?

Jennifer Grey was the classic '80s icon. She went from being the most wanted and envied woman in the world after filming 'Dirty Dancing' with Patrick Swayze to completely disappearing from the Hollywood scene.

 

 

A bad choice

The reason why the actress vanished from the star system may come as a surprise: a nose job. However, more things happened to the actress before going into the surgery that would change everything.

Actor parents

Being an actress came naturally to Jennifer Grey (New York, 1960) because her parents, Joel Grey and Jo Wilder, were also actors.

Excesses in her teenage years

Born and raised in New York, Jennifer Grey herself tells in her memoirs ('Out of the Corner') that during her teenage years she had been surrounded by excesses of which she isn't very proud. New York in the '70s was indeed the most excessive city in the world.

Her first job: Dr. Pepper

It wasn't until she was 19 years old that she had her debut as an actress. Like many other Hollywood celebrities, advertising granted her the first opportunity in the industry: acting in an ad for Dr. Pepper.

 

 

Her first role: With Chris Columbus

She would have to wait four years to get her first role. In 1984, she played Cathy Bennario in 'Reckless', starring Aidan Quinn and Daryl Hannah and directed by Chris Columbus. Not bad for being her movie debut.

Unstoppable

From that moment on, Jennifer Grey didn't stop making movies, having roles in Francis Ford Coppola's 'Cotton Club', and John Milius' 'Red Dawn'.

 

 

Matthew Broderick

We cannot talk about Jennifer's life without mentioning the actor, Matthew Broderick. They met on the set of 'Ferries Bueller's Day Off' in 1986 and started a relationship that lasted for a long time.

A secret relationship

They started dating in secret and stayed like that for a whole year. In fact, when Jennifer Grey was filming 'Dirty Dancing' nobody knew she was dating Matthew Broderick.

Patrick Swayze

Frances Houseman, better known as Baby by her friends, was the character that transformed the actress into a star in 1987. The chemistry between her and Patrick Swayze's character, Johnny Castle, was pure fire and the story, a musical romance, was a hit in the entire world.

'Dirty Dancing'

'Dirty Dancing' cost 6 million dollars and revenue of 216 million dollars in the whole world. Even its soundtrack was a hit, becoming one of the bestselling movie soundtracks in history.

 

Complications on set

But it wasn't all fun and games. The relationship between Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey was tense. According to the biography of the actor ('The Time of my Life'), the tension came from the childish attitude of her colleague when it came to repeating or redoing a scene.

The movie was a hit but…

In the end, the movie turned out perfect, and it was to be premiered on the 21st of August 1987, however, Jennifer Grey suffered a terrible car accident along with Matthew Broderick a few days earlier, on the 5th of August.

 

 

The accident that changed her life

The couple was in Northern Ireland when the BMW the actor was driving crossed into the opposite lane and crashed directly into another vehicle. As a consequence, Margaret Doherty (63) and her daughter, Anna Gallagher (28), passed away.

The guilt was too much

Jennifer Grey, as she tells in her memoirs, was too shocked and felt so much guilt to even enjoy the fame that 'Dirty Dancing' had brought to her (in the image we can see her being congratulated by Madonna). Besides, through the accident, the media found out about her relationship with Matthew Broderick.

 

 

A long and needed rest

Following the incident, the actress decided to take some time off which resulted in a lack of projects and opportunities that, before the hiatus, were indeed coming thanks to the success of the movie.

Roles were not coming

The lack of roles and projects affected her mental state even more. Finally, Grey decided to listen to her mother who for years, had been telling her that she needed to change her "Jewish nose".

 

 

The terrible nose job

What's more, she had a health problem that limited her breathing capacity by a 20%. So, the surgery was going to solve a real health issue and a physical insecurity she didn't know she had but that came as a possible solution to her professional problems.

Something went wrong

The actress came out of surgery really happy with the results, but one day Grey noticed a piece of her cartilage on the tip of her nose. So, although she didn't want to change anything about her aspect, she had to undergo surgery again. At the time, she was filming 'Wind' (1992) and couldn't change her aspect overnight.

 

 

The second surgery changed her reality

Unfortunately, her aspect did change, and with that, the reality she was living in. As she has detailed in her book: "I couldn't make sense of what I was seeing. I knew something bad had happened."

She could not recognize herself

If she wasn't able to recognize herself, how could the rest of the people know who she was? Family members and closest family friends, even Michael Douglas, could not recognize Jennifer Grey.

 

 

An unforgivable crime

As she expressed in her memoirs: "It seemed that I had committed an unforgivable crime: willfully stripping away the only thing that made me special."

Minor projects

After all, Jennifer Grey got to work in little projects like the film 'Portraits of a Killer' (1996), the series 'It's Like, You Know…' (1999-2001), and even did a cameo in 'Friends', but the level of fame and success wasn't remotely the same.

 

Baby was gone forever

Jennifer Grey went from being Baby, the girlfriend America was dreaming of, to a stranger with minor roles. Although her situation didn't change in the 21st century, the actress did some cameos in top shows like 'House MD' and 'Grey's Anatomy'.

'Red Oaks'

Her first important role of the century was thanks to the Amazon Prime Video show, 'Red Oaks' (2014-2017), where she played the role of Judy Meyers in 21 episodes.

 

 

'Dancing with the Stars'

Years prior, in 2010, Grey exhibited her dancing skills winning, along with her dance partner Derek Hough, season 11 of 'Dancing with the Stars'.

'Bittersweet Symphony'

In 2019, she was part of the main cast of 'Bittersweet Symphony' along with Suki Waterhouse and Poppy Delevigne, but the movie didn't make good numbers and didn't grab much attention.

 

Very active on her Instagram

However, it is on Instagram where we can see the actress being the most active. There, she shares pre-surgery photos where you can see the incredible change the second intervention really meant for her physique.

Image: Instagram (@jennifergrey)

'What if...?'

If Marvel ever desires to step out of Superheroes a bit, they could take the opportunity to make an episode of their series 'What if…?' about what could have happened to Jennifer Grey if she hadn't gone under the knife. But that's something we will never know…