Jennifer Grey from Dirty Dancing is now 63 Try not to smile when you see her today

Jennifer Grey: From Stardom to Personal Struggles and Resilience

When Dirty Dancing hit theaters in August 1987, few could have predicted the cultural earthquake it would create. The film, a low-budget romantic drama set in a Catskills resort, quickly became a phenomenon, introducing a new generation to the timeless appeal of dance, love, and self-discovery.

At the heart of its success were two stars: Patrick Swayze, whose career skyrocketed, and Jennifer Grey, who gave a captivating performance as Frances “Baby” Houseman.

For Grey, however, the film’s success marked not only the peak of her fame but also the beginning of a personal struggle that would change the course of her life in ways she never anticipated.

At just 27, Jennifer Grey seemed destined for stardom. Her portrayal of Baby — a young woman torn between her sheltered upbringing and her emerging independence — resonated deeply with audiences. Critics praised her for bringing emotional depth and authenticity to a role that could have easily fallen into the realm of mere fantasy. Her performance earned her a Golden Globe nomination, and she quickly found herself on the verge of becoming one of Hollywood’s brightest stars. Yet just as Dirty Dancing was poised to become a global success, an unthinkable tragedy derailed Grey’s life and career.

The Car Accident That Changed Everything

In the summer of 1987, just before Dirty Dancing was set to premiere, Grey and her then-boyfriend, actor Matthew Broderick, were involved in a devastating  car accident while vacationing in Ireland. Broderick, fresh off his success with Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, was driving a rental car when the vehicle collided head-on with another car. Tragically, the two passengers in that car — a mother and her young daughter — were killed instantly.

Grey sustained only minor physical injuries, but the emotional toll was immense. In an interview years later, she recalled, “The day before the world saw me as this bright, rising star, I was in a car accident that destroyed lives.” She continued, “The juxtaposition of that — of being celebrated while someone else’s family was grieving — it broke something in me.” The guilt she felt — known as survivor’s guilt — would haunt her for years, overshadowing the success she had worked so hard for.

As Dirty Dancing became a worldwide hit, the dissonance between Grey’s personal grief and her public success grew overwhelming. The film was met with critical acclaim, and Grey found herself at the center of attention. Yet while the world celebrated her newfound fame, she felt unable to reconcile the joy of her professional life with the sorrow of the accident. “It didn’t feel right to be the toast of the town,” she told The Daily Mirror. “I felt like I had blood on my hands. I couldn’t reconcile being in mourning and being in the spotlight at the same time.”

The emotional burden of that tragic event — and the media scrutiny that followed — gradually eroded her sense of self. “My ambition and my head were never the same,” she confessed. “I lost my sense of joy.” For someone who had grown up in a show business family — with her father, Joel Grey, being an award-winning actor, and her mother, Jo Wilder, a singer and actress — the pressure was enormous. Acting had always been her refuge, but after the accident, it became a painful reminder of the life she had once known and lost.

A Career Derailed by Tragedy

Before the crash, Grey’s career had been on an upward trajectory. Born in New York City in 1960, she was raised in the arts and performance world. She trained in dance and acting at the prestigious Dalton School and later at the Neighborhood Playhouse. Her early career included commercials, such as the iconic Dr. Pepper ad, as well as small roles in films like Reckless (1984) and The Cotton Club (1984). By the time she was cast in Dirty Dancing, she had a natural poise, blending veteran experience with youthful energy.

But fame, for Grey, was never easy. The media attention that came with Dirty Dancing — coupled with the emotional fallout from the accident — felt suffocating. As the years went by, she withdrew from the public eye, accepting only smaller, less high-profile roles. The growing media fixation on her personal life, combined with the psychological weight of her trauma, pushed her further into seclusion.

In the early 1990s, things took a darker turn. Grey underwent plastic surgery — specifically two nose jobs — hoping to alter her appearance and perhaps regain some sense of control over her life. However, the surgery became one of the most infamous celebrity transformations gone wrong. “I entered the operating room as a celebrity and left anonymous,” she later said. The changes to her face were so dramatic that casting directors no longer recognized her, and her once-promising career took a sharp nosedive. Grey was left struggling to find work, fading into obscurity with only occasional appearances in independent films and a 1995 guest appearance on Friends.