First published 2022
Jennifer Grey opens her story as the daughter of Broadway legend Joel Grey, growing up in 1970s Malibu before diving into New York's club scene. She chronicles her breakthrough roles in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Red Dawn, and The Cotton Club, leading to her star turn opposite Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing, which transformed her into America's sweetheart. Grey details her romantic Hollywood adventures with characteristic self-deprecating wit. Then disaster strikes when a plastic surgery procedure goes wrong, destroying her recognizable face and ending her career overnight. The memoir follows her struggle to rebuild her identity after losing everything that defined her professionally. Grey battles back from this devastating setback, eventually finding her way to Dancing with the Stars, where she claims victory in season eleven. She discovers her authentic self beyond Hollywood's narrow standards for women and starts her own family. This personal evolution spans decades, showing how she reclaimed her worth from an industry that had discarded her.
Genres: autobiography, contemporary, memoir, biography-memoir, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, overcoming-adversity, second-chance
Setting: Malibu, New York
Period: 1970s
331 pages · Hardcover · Ballantine Books
Content warnings: body-horror, medical-trauma