Dirty Dancing star Jennifer Grey revealed surgeon’s heartbreaking comment before nose job that ‘ruined her career’
Actress Jennifer Grey has spoken about the devastating impact two nose operations had on her appearance and career, after a surgeon allegedly made a cruel remark.
The 66-year-old said she felt she lost her identity in Hollywood after going under the knife for a surgery she dubbed 'schnozzageddon'.
Grey became a household name thanks to the role of Frances 'Baby' Houseman opposite Patrick Swayze in the 1987 hit film, Dirty Dancing.
She eventually underwent two rhinoplasty procedures after she was apparently criticised for her looks.
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In her 2022 memoir, Out of the Corner, Grey recalled being told there were not enough roles for actresses who looked like her.
“After Dirty Dancing, I was America’s sweetheart, which you would think would be the key to unlocking all my hopes and dreams,” she wrote. “But it didn’t go down that way.”
She also shared how a plastic surgeon cruelly told her they had watched Dirty Dancing and questioned why she had not already had a nose job.
Grey wrote that her nose had not been a problem for her before others began treating it as one.
“My so-called ‘problem’ wasn’t really a problem for me,” she penned.
The star added that because it appeared to be a problem for other people, 'by default it became my problem'.
“My so-called ‘problem’ wasn’t really a problem for me, but since it seemed to be a problem for other people, and it didn’t appear to be going away anytime soon, by default it became my problem,” she continued.
“It was as plain as the nose on my face.”
Grey eventually consulted her mother and three plastic surgeons before deciding to have surgery to 'fine-tune' her nose.
'Overnight I lose my identity and my career'
However, a second operation, intended to correct an irregularity caused by the first, dramatically changed her appearance.
Grey described her new nose as 'truncated' and 'dwarfed', saying people who had known her for years struggled to recognise her.
She had undergone the operations in the hope that changing her appearance would help her career.
Instead, Grey said she became less recognisable to the public and the entertainment industry.
“Overnight I lose my identity and my career,” Grey wrote, per The New York Times.
She also recalled becoming the subject of jokes and said she was no longer recognised by photographers.
'In the world’s eyes, I was no longer me'
“Being misunderstood on a global stage was very painful,” the actress said.
She also claimed that even fellow actor Michael Douglas failed to recognise her at a film premiere following the surgery.
“That was the first time I had gone out in public,” Grey recalled.
“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.”
She added: “In the world’s eyes, I was no longer me.”
Grey told PEOPLE that nowadays she tries to be more confident: “That's a new feeling, to take myself out of the corner, and to recognize that I have been putting myself there, through story, through narratives that weren't giving me the best life.
“The story I was telling myself about how I got here was not a great story. And not entirely true. I hadn't seen the ways in which I'd made choices.”
Topics: Celebrity, Entertainment, Beauty
Jen Thomas