Jennifer Grey's Autobiography -- Part 19

Out of the Corner, by Jennifer Grey

Continued from Part 1,  Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8,  Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17 and Part 18

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Chapter 19, titled "Heeeere's Johnny", tells about an event in February 1990.

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Sometime during 1989, participated in the filming of a television docudrama called Murder in Mississippi. She played the role of Rita Schwerner, the wife of Michael Schwerner, (played by the actor Tom Hulce) who was murdered in June 1964 while helping Negroes to vote in Mississippi.

Tom Hulce and Jennifer Grey
in the movie 1990 movie
Murder in Mississippi

You can watch the entire movie on YouTube. If you just want to see Grey, then skip forward to about 10:30.

Grey does not write anything, however, about her experience of acting in that movie. (In her movie Dirty Dancing, the character Neil Kellerman mentioned to Baby Houseman that he intended to travel to Mississippi to participate in the Civil Rights movement.)

Grey mentioned this docudrama only in relation to her appearance on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show on February 2, 1990, in order to promote that docudrama, which would be broadcast on February 5.

Grey's appearance on this show seems to be unremarkable, but it traumatized her emotionally.

Her recounting of this situation is not clear, but I understood that she stopped drinking alcohol immediately after she broke up with Johnny Depp in March 1989. She even attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

Some months later, however, she learned that Depp was romantically involved with the actress Winona Ryder. At that time, Ryder was only about 17 years old and happened to live next door to Grey. Ryder and Grey had talked with each other frequently about their lives, including their love lives. When Grey discovered that Ryder was dating Depp, Grey began drinking again. (That is my understanding of this meandering, confusing chapter of the book, but I am not sure.)

Wynona Ryder dating Johnny Depp

Now on February 2, 1990, right before Grey walked out onto the stage to talk with Carson, she downed a couple glasses of wine. Early in the interview (at 0:45 in the above video), she reached over and touched Carson's chest. Although Carson did not object visibly, Grey regretted immediately that her unexpected touch had angered him.

As she left the studio, she drank more wine, straight out of the bottle, although she felt she now had ruined her career because she was intoxicated (also with drugs?) during her appearance on the show.

In the following days, Grey decided that she needed to stop consuming alcohol, Xanax, Valium, marijuana and any other mood-altering drugs (cocaine?). I got the impression that she resumed attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. She has maintained her sobriety since 1990. (She admits she has continued to smoke cigarettes.)

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I think that her nose size had been reduced before she filmed Murder in Mississippi, but I cannot say for sure. I think she looked fine with either nose. I cannot always even tell the difference.

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Continued in Part 20.