Jennifer Grey, best known as “Baby” in Dirty Dancing, was expected to become a major Hollywood star. But just before the film’s 1987 premiere, her life changed forever.
While vacationing in Ireland with boyfriend Matthew Broderick, the two were involved in a devastating car crash. Two people in the other vehicle were killed. Grey suffered only minor physical injuries, but the emotional trauma and survivor’s guilt stayed with her. When Dirty Dancing debuted days later, she couldn’t enjoy its success.
“My head was never the same, my ambition was never the same,” she later said.
In the years that followed, Grey stepped away from the spotlight. A later nose job drastically changed her appearance, and she joked she “went in a celebrity and came out anonymous.”
After years of struggling with her career, she made a comeback by winning Dancing with the Stars in 2010 and eventually returned to acting.
Today, Jennifer Grey, now 65, continues to open up about the accident that reshaped her life and the long journey back to joy.