You may have first seen her in Red Dawn or Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but there's no denying that Jennifer Grey's most iconic role is Frances "Baby" Houseman in 1987's Dirty Dancing. Now more than 30 years old, the beloved movie is a favorite of people of all ages and, despite its 1960s setting, somehow feels truly timeless. Although a 2017 television remake tried to capture some of that charm, it was ultimately a flop. While Abigail Breslin did her best to channel Baby, many were left wondering what happened to the original Baby after all these years. So just what has Jennifer Grey been up to since carrying that watermelon? We've got the answers!
She was in a car accident with Matthew Broderick
Even if you remember that Grey played Matthew Broderick's sister in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, you may not remember that she was also in a relationship with Broderick. Even more under the radar, then, is the fact that Grey and Broderick were in a serious car accident just before Dirty Dancing was released. While on vacation in Ireland, the pair were in a rented car when Broderick (who was driving) collided head on with another driver, killing two people.
While Grey only suffered bumps and bruises externally, the accident left her with emotional scars. "I became America's sweetheart within five days of the accident," she told People in 2010. "The juxtaposition of that deep sorrow, the survivor's guilt … and then being celebrated as the new big thing just didn't jibe. It didn't feel good to be the toast of the town."
So Grey didn't relish her newfound fame like she likely would have otherwise, choosing instead to take a bit of a step back. "The impact was emotional and physical," she said in the People interview. "My body was never the same, my head was never the same, my ambition was never the same."
She was in Bloodhounds of Broadway with Madonna
While Grey didn't embrace her Dirty Dancing fame the way she might have if not for the accident, she did take on another silver screen role when she starred alongside Madonna and Matt Dillon in Bloodhounds of Broadway in 1989. While Grey's performance was met with mixed reviews (Variety said she did "a good job"), the film was met with overall negative reviews (with The New York Times noting that it "never gets going"). But if nothing else, Grey's duet with Madonna showed audiences that not only could she dance, she could also sing.
She dated Johnny Depp
After her relationship with Matthew Broderick, Grey was linked to another Hollywood actor. After A Nightmare on Elm Street, but before Cry Baby and Edward Scissorhands, none other than Johnny Depp wooed Grey. While they were only together for a year, and famously only appeared in a single photograph together, the two were actually engaged during their short romance. Given the current state of Depp's personal and financial life, we'd say the actress probably dodged a bullet. (Add that to things we never thought we'd say a couple of years ago.)
She got a nose job
While 1989 might have been the year she was in a movie with Madonna as well as the year she was engaged to Johnny Depp, it wasn't all positive. It was also the year she got the nose job that changed everything. Well, sort of. It was 1989 when Grey got her first nose job, a decision that People notes was a choice that perhaps "most ambitious people would not have made" as it "radically altered her appearance" in the long run. But that could have been because fame wasn't really what Grey was after, with the impact of the car accident with Broderick still lingering. "I really felt like I wanted to be a wife and a mom," she told People, but her acting days were not yet over.
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