Actress Jennifer Grey is best known for starring as Baby in “Dirty Dancing.” The star went on to get a nose job after becoming famous from the movie, which ultimately ruined her career. Now Grey is talking about how she never wanted rhinoplasty and only got it because her mom said she should.
The 62-year-old actress relayed her feelings on getting plastic surgery while speaking with People ahead of the release of her new memoir “Out of the Corner,” which comes out May 3. Grey recalled seeing actor Michael Douglas at an event and him not recognizing her.
“That was the first time I had gone out in public. And it became the thing, the idea of being completely invisible, from one day to the next. In the world’s eyes, I was no longer me,” Grey recalled.
“…The weird thing was that thing that I resisted my whole life, and the thing I was so upset with my mother for always telling me I should do my nose. I really thought it was capitulating. I really thought it meant surrendering to the enemy camp. I just thought, ‘I’m good enough. I shouldn’t have to do this.’ That’s really what I felt. ‘I’m beautiful enough.'”
Apparently, the “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” star’s mom thought it was “too hard to cast” Grey with her signature profile, including a larger-than-average nose.
She said, “When I was a kid, I was completely anti-rhinoplasty. I mean it was like my religion,” but eventually she decided to get the surgery to blend in better in Hollywood. Grey discussed her parents assimilating into the culture, saying, “You can’t be gay. You can’t be Jewish. You know, you can’t look Jewish. You’re just trying to fit into whatever is the group think.”
Grey has discussed getting a nose job and ruining her signature look before. In 2012 she told The Mirror, “I went in the operating theater a celebrity, and came out anonymous. It was the nose job from hell.”
The actress tried multiple times to revive her career, starring in a 1999 sitcom about herself called, “It’s Like, You Know…” The series was canceled after two seasons and never took off. Ultimately, Grey did find work in Hollywood but not as much as she wanted. The star is convinced she would have gotten more offers if she never went under the knife.
“I’ll always be this once-famous actress nobody recognizes because of a nose job,” she told The Mirror at the time.
Grey also said she’s working on a “Dirty Dancing” sequel that’s like “lightning in a bottle.” The project doesn’t have a release date or many details, but the actress seems excited to share it with fans of the original.
“We’ve been working on it for a couple of years,” Grey told People. “And I know in my heart, I would love to give fans or a young, new audience an experience that would never replicate that, but has the same kind of underpinnings. Today people think that their identity is limited, the world has told them what it is. But there are certain people who can see other parts of you.”
“Dirty Dancing was a fairy tale, a successful movie and formula, using dance as a metaphor for embodying your energy and getting out of your head, and your limiting belief systems,” she said.