She realized it had gotten too far after she went to a movie premiere with Michael Douglas and he did not recognize her.
Jennifer Grey, daughter of Oscar-winning actor Joel Grey, launched into stardom with the 1987 coming-of-age film Dirty Dancing where she starred as Baby alongside the late Patrick Swayze.
However, after two nose jobs, Grey revealed that she soon fell out of the spotlight. “Overnight I lose my identity and my career,” she said, according to Vanity Fair.
In a recent interview with PEOPLE, ahead of the release of her memoir, Out of the Corner, set to be out on May 3, Grey mentioned that she got rhinoplasty after her mom persuaded her to go under the knife.
“She loves me, loved me, always has, and she was pragmatic because she was saying, ‘Guess what? It’s too hard to cast you. Make it easier for them.’ And then I did and she was right,” Grey shared.
Soon, she got another procedure done, and that's when the self-proclaimed “anti-rhinoplasty” actress realized she had gone too far—after she found herself at a premiere with Michael Douglas, who didn’t even recognize 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. and 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,” Grey said.
“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, Grey's mother, actress Jo Wilder, wasn’t the only one suggesting Grey change her appearance; her friend and frequent Studio 54 companion Andy Warhol even mentioned her nose in the index of his book, which Grey called “so humiliating” and “mean.”
“It was like, ‘And, you know, I would look at Jennifer. I would wonder, you know, why was her … Um, her dad got a nose job. Why wouldn’t he make sure she had one too,'” Grey recalled.
“It’s like everywhere I went, I’d be like, ‘Wait. Excuse me. I’m a person with other features and other amazing characteristics. Why is everyone so hung up on the nose?'” she added. “I’m always shocked at people’s meanness.”
Currently, Grey is having a fruitful career. She's had voice-acting roles and stints on TV shows like Friends, Grey's Anatomy, and Dollface. However, it was her time and eventual win on Dancing with the Stars that led to her writing her memoir.
References:
https://people.com/movies/jennifer-grey-memoir-out-of-the-corner-people-interview/
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photos By (L) Nick Elgar (R) Frazer Harrison
