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, Part 18 and Part 19
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Chapter 20, titled "Baby Love", tells about events from February 1990 until about 2004.
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Grey's career did not take off, but she gradually came to accept that disappointment. She blames -- I think excessively -- her changed nose.
(In my opinion, she was born to star in the movie Dirty Dancing, but she was born to play only minor character roles in all other movies. Her career was handicapped perhaps more by her short height -- 5'3" -- than by her nose's length.)
I started working with an inspiring acting coach who reminded me why I wanted to be an actor in the first place, and I took every workshop she offered. I took acting jobs that were not great, one after another, and applied what I'd been working on in class to make each experience more meaningful for me. ....
I focused on my sobriety. ....
Whenever I was in the grips of self-centered fear over losing what I had or not getting what I wanted, I tried to help someone else. And just hung in there.
I had to sell my house and my car, put all my stuff in storage, and move to a tiny apartment in New York.
I got hired to do an HBO show, but I was replaced after the pilot. Soon after that, my agents at CAA [Creative Artists Agency] "let me go."
So much for sobriety making my life better. Except that my life was better, just not in the old ways I would've defined as better before everything went haywire. I started to feel less crazy, less like I was at the mercy of outside forces. ... My life had become more fluid and interesting as opposed to fixed and narrow.
During some of the 1990s she had a boyfriend who was 15 years younger than her. She calls him "wonderful" but her book does not name him or tell how that relationship ended.
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When she turned 40 in the year 2000, she very much wanted to have a baby, and she did not have much time left. In her search for the father of her future child, she was influenced by a book titled Getting to "I Do": The Secret to Doing Relationships Right!, written by Dr. Pat Allen.
I wonder what Baby Houseman would have thought about Dr. Allen's advice!
During the 1990s, Grey had happened to meet occasionally with Clark Gregg, an actor, director and screenwriter. After Grey read Allen's book, she grew her acquaintanceship with Gregg into a dating relationship and then gradually into a sexual relationship. (Gregg looks like the Dirty Dancing character Neil Kellerman.)
On her 41st birthday -- March 26, 2001 -- Grey informed Gregg that she was pregnant. A few weeks later they moved together into a new home. In the summer they got married (the book does not specify their wedding date).
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Grey's pregnancy was extremely stressful, because prenatal testing indicated that the baby would be born with a serious birth defect. Grey's initial doctor recommended an abortion, but Grey switched to a different doctor who monitored the pregnancy more patiently. Later prenatal tests indicated that the baby would be normal. The birth too was very stressful, but ultimately the baby, named Stella, was born normal. Grey brags that "she was perfect". Grey writes a lot about the pregnancy and birth.
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| After much stress during the pregnancy and birth, the infant Stella was born perfect! |
This chapter ends when Stella was attending pre-school, so I figure this was about 2004.
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| Stella, the perfect daughter! |
Grey loves being a mother, and she writes about her happiness with strong, genuine, touching emotion. Her writing about her happiness being a mother made me happy as a reader. It's one of the best parts of the book.
Grey's husband achieved much success in the movie business. Grey was content to be his helpmeet and the mother of their child. She compares herself appreciatively with her own mother Jo Grey, the supportive wife of the successful actor Joel Grey.
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Continued in Part 21
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