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Jennifer Grey has detailed the painful way she learned about her father’s sexuality.
The Dirty Dancing star is the daughter of Oscar-winning Cabaret star Joel Grey, who came out as gay in 2015 at the age of 82.
However, Grey, 62, found out much earlier in the late ’80s during a conversation with her then-boyfriend Matthew Broderick’s mother, Patricia Broderick.
Choosing to use a homophobic slur to ask whether Grey knew her father was gay, she claims Patricia, a playwright, blurted out: ‘You know your dad’s a f*g.’
Memories: Jennifer Gray is opening up about her life in her new memoir, Out of the Corner. In the tome, she revealed it felt ‘like a sniper attack’ when her father was outed as gay to her in the late 1980s
‘All I know, all I knew at the time was that it felt like it was a sniper attack. The idea was that I was a fool and that everyone knew but me,’ she told People,
Jennifer said she is unsure of the late playwright’s motive in telling her.
‘Perhaps she was offended by my lack of knowing. I don’t know what she was thinking. She was, um, she was a tricky personality. I don’t know how else to put it. Like, she was a truth teller, truth bombs. A Cassandra. She was, like, come what may.’
In writing her life story, the new author said she, ‘had to ask myself, is it possible I didn’t know?”
The revelations appear in forthcoming memoir, Out of the Corner, which will be released May third.
The title comes from the famous Dirty Dancing line in which co-star Patrick Swayze declared, ‘Nobody puts Baby in the corner.’
Jennifer began dating Broderick after starring as his sister in the hugely successful movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Supportive parents: Jennifer was born to actors Joel Grey and Jo Wilder in 1960. The couple divorced in 1982, five years before the release of her biggest hit, Dirty Dancing, in 1987
Supportive daughter: The Red Dawn actress said she speaks to her parents all the time and as to her father’s sexuality, ‘It’s really only for him… Like, who cares! People should feel good.’ Seen here with both parents and then-husband, Clark Gregg in 2016
Big reveal: Jennifer said she was dating her her Ferris Bueller’s Day Off co-star Matthew Broderick when his mother outed the actress’ dad, Joel Grey as being gay
Jennifer was born to actor Joel Grey and his wife, actress and singer Jo Wilder, in 1960.
She grew up in both California and New York, but studied acting during her high school years at the Dalton School and later at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater in Manhattan before going on to win roles in Red Dawn, The Cotton Club and of course, Dirty Dancing.
In the book, the Bittersweet Symphony star also tackles the problems she had getting work before and after her infamous nose job.
The actress was married from 2001-2021 to The Avengers actor Clark Gregg. The couple are parents to 20-year-old Stella. Their daughter is following in her famous parents’ footsteps, with roles in Trust Me and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Jennifer’s parents divorced in 1982, but the actress said she is still close to both and speaks to them all the time. As for her father’s sexuality, the loving daughter said, ‘It’s really only for him… Like, who cares! People should feel good.’
Out of the corner: The Dirty Dancing star’s book Out of the Corner is inspired by Patrick Swayze’s famous line, ‘Nobody puts Baby in the corner’
Earlier this week, Grey opened up about her infamous decision to get a nose job at the height of her career in the early ’90s, and how she felt she wasn’t a ‘natural match’ for her Dirty Dancing co-star Patrick Swayze.
The actress would go on to have two rhinoplasty surgeries after finding worldwide recognition in the 1987 box-office smash where she played Baby Houseman – but her new look left her unrecognizable, with the actress now admitting that it led to her ‘losing her identity and her career overnight’.
Speaking about the reaction to her altered appearance, Grey recalled attending a premiere shortly after she’d undergone her nose job – revealing that her actor friend Michael Douglas had no idea who she was because she looked so different.
‘That was the first time I had gone out in public,’ Grey told PEOPLE.
‘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.
Tough topics: The Bittersweet Symphony actress tackles several tough topics in her new memoir, including the trouble she had getting hired for work before and after her infamous nose job
‘And the weird thing was that thing that I resisted my whole life, and the thing I was so upset with [was] my mother for always telling me I should do my nose.’
She added: ‘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.'”
It has long been understood that Grey’s decision to get a nose job effectively finished her career in Hollywood, preventing her from ever reaching the same heights of that one bona fide hit movie on her resume.
In her book, Grey touches on being shunned from Hollywood, writing: ‘I spent so much energy trying to figure out what I did wrong, why I was banished from the kingdom. That’s a lie. I banished myself.’
She adds of the consequences of her nose job: ‘Overnight I lose my identity and my career.’
The actress, pictured in the movie alongside Patrick Swayze, has revealed that her mother encouraged her to get a nose job so she would be ‘easier’ to cast in movies
Source: dailymail
