August 11, 2022
Updated 7 hours ago
Credit, Getty Images
caption,
The film’s success propelled Patrick Swayze to stardom, but the same did not happen with Jennifer Gray.
More than three decades after its launch Dirty dancing is considered a classic of the 1980s and one of the highestgrossing films of all time.
Set in 1963, it tells the story of Frances “Baby” Houseman (played by Jennifer Grey) who has an affair with dance teacher Johnny Castle, played by Patrick Swayze.
Dirty Dancing grossed over $214 million worldwide and won an Oscar for the song (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life.
Audiences fell in love with the characters, the music and the iconic dance routines, including the famous “Lifting”.
However, Jennifer Gray disappeared from the spotlight in just a few years.
In 2022, Gray released her memoir, in which she lays out one reason her film career didn’t take off: A nose job left her unrecognizable to viewers and led to major film studios shutting down roles.
Credit, Getty Images
caption,
Scene from “Dirty Dancing”
The Operational Dilemma
In “Out Of The Corner,” Gray, now 62, tells how early in her career, when her mother, fellow actress Jo Wilder, was fighting for roles, she suggested that the lack of work was something to do with his “Jewish” nose.
The actress also thought this might be true, but she always turned down rhinoplasty.
“I was almost 30 years old and spent much of my adult life loving and accepting myself for who I am,” says the actress. “Walking through the hands of a surgeon felt dangerously close to admitting defeat.”
After the huge success of Dirty Dancing, she decided to take a risk and told the renowned plastic surgeon that she would operate on her to “thin” her nose but leave the characteristic “bulge” in her septum.
The process was a success, and Gray got more roles and money for the first time in his life.
In 1992, while filming Wind, the film’s cinematographer noticed a piece of cartilage sticking out of the tip of his nose.
The actress spoke to her surgeon and a repair operation was scheduled. But the result of this second operation would change his life forever.
Once she managed to remove the bandages, Gray was shocked by what she saw in the mirror. “I couldn’t understand what I was seeing. I knew something bad had happened.”
The procedure changed her appearance so much that the general public no longer recognized her.
“It felt like I’d committed an unforgivable crime: intentionally taking away the one thing that made me special,” Gray says. She knew that her nose was originally a physical connection to her Jewish identity.
Credit, Getty Images
caption,
Jennifer Gray with her parents at the premiere of Dirty Dancing
‘Valley floor’
In an interview with journalist Katie Couric last May, Gray reflected on what had happened.
She said her parents’ families were made up of Jews from Eastern Europe, and when they arrived in the US they changed their surnames. And for Jews who worked in show business (his father is actor Joel Grey, Oscarwinner for cabaret), changing noses was “normal and considered smart.”
“My mother knew how the entertainment industry worked and thought it would be easier to get roles because there weren’t many roles for girls who looked like me and were Jewish. There weren’t many opportunities and she wanted me to have more opportunities, she wanted me to have the career that she didn’t have.”
According to the actress, after the first surgery, she “didn’t stop working” and realized her mother “was right.”
When she had to undergo the second operation, she specifically told the surgeon that she liked her nose and “a strong nose was wanted.”
“After the second operation [o cirurgião] took off my bandages and something was wrong. He looked at me and said, ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a drastic change’.”
“I don’t know what he did, but he changed the proportions of my face…he looked different in a way that didn’t make sense,” the actress said in an interview with Katie Couric.
“It was the most difficult, loneliest and confusing time of my life. It was very devastating. And to be so misunderstood around the world for decades… The lack of generosity and humanity hurt me so much.”
According to Grey, she “couldn’t find a job” or survive after the surgery.
“I’ve decided to throw in the towel. I’ve never asked anyone to approve or like me again.”
Credit, Getty Images
caption,
The actress pictured in 2019
From there, she had to figure out who she was “without that character, without ‘dirty dancing’.”
“And in that solitude, I hit rock bottom. And I understood who I was and what I was worth so that that could never be taken away from me.”
According to Gray, it has been “very difficult” for those close to him who have witnessed this difficult time.
The actress who is currently working on producing a sequel to Dirty Dancing has spent years trying to understand why audiences have turned their backs on her changed looks.
“At one point I thought maybe they identify with it a lot [a personagem] Baby, you found yourself in her because there are few movies where the protagonist looks like her, isn’t perfect or more human. And it hurt them that I said something[with the surgery]that they weren’t enough.”
“I thought about it for many years and didn’t find an answer. I just realized that nobody would save me (…) It was a drama and I realized that I was a very strong person,” he told Grau.
“All the hard things that happened to me changed me and I don’t want to be someone else (…) Now I’m happier than ever and so thankful that I survived. And I don’t think about myself or mine nose. what I have contributed in this life, as a mother, as a friend…”
Have you already watched our new videos? youtube? Subscribe to our channel!