Contrary to popular belief, mom isn’t always right.
Prior to her two plastic surgeries, Jennifer Grey was one of the most recognizable stars of the ’80s. Out of the Corner, the memoir the 62-year-old was promoting, reveals that her mother, the actress Jo Wilder, was the one who first suggested she have plastic surgery.
“I was really irritated with my mum for continually telling me I should do my nose,” she said to People in an interview published on April 18. “I was afraid I was going to have to capitulate and show up in the enemy camp empty-handed. At the time, I simply told myself, “I’m good enough. ‘I shouldn’t have to do this,’ I thought. Indeed, that is exactly how I felt. To paraphrase: “I’m pretty enough.”
The actress said she had been receiving the advice since she was a kid, and that her mother was only being “pragmatic” in an effort to increase her chances of getting roles in movies.
They didn’t tell her, “You’re not pretty,” she recalled. “In other words, “Guess what? That’s fine if you don’t desire a career in acting. So, if you’re serious about acting, though…”
Actor Joel Grey is the star’s father; he won an Academy Award for his portrayal in Cabaret back in 1972. Though she was “totally anti-rhinoplasty” as a child, Grey now understands her parents’ decision to undergo the procedure in the 1950s.
She explained that she knew that the people were trying to integrate. “I got that you were under orders to alter your name and do a few other things. It was the usual, after all. Not everyone can be Jewish. You can’t make yourself appear Jewish, you know. You’re just attempting to conform to whichever conventional wisdom dominates at the moment.”
In the wake of the success of her picture Dirty Dancing in 1987, Grey consented to the first of two rhinoplasties she would have. Her “truncated” and “dwarfed” nose was the result of a second surgery intended to fix an issue with the first.
The recollection of a movie premiere that Grey attended shortly after her second nose operation left her feeling humiliated and insecure. Michael Douglas didn’t even recognize her.
“I had never been out in public before,” she admitted. “Furthermore, overnight, the concept of blending into the background became the norm. To the outside world, I had become someone else.”
Hollywood, she claimed, had abandoned her once she altered her appearance.
“I expended a great deal of mental effort attempting to determine the cause of my exile from the kingdom,” she confessed.
“This is untrue. Put me in self-imposed exile.”
Grey, who has a 20-year-old daughter named Stella with her ex-husband Clark Gregg, says she has never felt better about herself.
‘I just want to feel like myself now,’ she added. To paraphrase, “But I think that when you ask other people who you are, and when you ask people to adore you, and when you take their view as a description of your worth.”
It’s a precarious slope, she continued.
Conclusion
Actress Jennifer Grey revealed in her memoir that her mother had suggested she have plastic surgery, which she eventually underwent, resulting in a significantly altered appearance.
Grey reflects on the insecurity and self-doubt that followed her surgeries and how Hollywood seemed to have abandoned her. However, she has since found confidence and acceptance, emphasizing the importance of valuing oneself over others’ opinions.
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