Jennifer Grey is opening up concerning the nervousness that plagued her all through her profession.
In a revealing new interview with MediaVillage, the Dirty Dancing legend, 63, revealed that her nervousness stage was so extreme throughout the ’90s that it triggered her to show down the chance to reprise her role as Mindy, Rachel Green’s former greatest buddy, on the hit collection Friends.
While she initially jumped on the alternative to guest star on the present reverse Jennifer Aniston, the expertise took a toll on her psychological well being.
“I was a fan of the show, and I got the call to do it. Then when I did it, I had such bad anxiety because they kept changing the script,” Grey defined of the 1995 look, by which it is revealed that her character ended up going on Rachel’s deliberate honeymoon with Barry, the person she left on the altar. “It’s very hard to be a guest star because you’re not a part of it, and you’re really trying to figure it all out. They were trying to figure out what the character was, what the scene was and it was changing and changing and changing. It all made me so anxious that I could barely do it.”
Because her look on Friends was so profitable, Grey was later requested to reprise her role for the present’s Season 2 finale in 1996, by which Mindy weds Barry. However, she could not take care of the stress of it, and actress Jana Marie Hupp took over the half.
“When they asked me to come back, I said I couldn’t,” she shared. “They got someone else to play the role.”
Grey additionally famous that she turned down Saturday Night Live due to her overwhelming nervousness.
“I always just felt like I wished I had the ability to do things. Like when they asked me to do Saturday Night Live, I just couldn’t. I said ‘No.’ I was just too scared,” she recalled. “It makes me sad that I would say no to continuing on Friends or doing Saturday Night Live because of my anxiety. The truth is, I wished I had people to help me navigate that kind of fear. But I couldn’t be there until I was there.”
Grey shared that she “didn’t know at the time what was going on with me,” however later realized that she was battling “a lot of performance anxiety.” Looking again, she “just didn’t understand at that time that I needed help in the anxiety department.”
The Ferris Bueller’s Day Off star mentioned she’s grateful for the teachings she realized early in her profession.
“Everything you do in life, especially the hard things, the really painful, difficult things, are usually the things that are the most instructive and helpful,” she admitted. “In life, I always learn more from things that you feel like a failure at, and the successes, you don’t learn as much, although they might be fun. But it’s all a part of life.”
She additionally made it clear that “nobody’s complaining” about her struggles.
“It’s such a weird thing to be an actor, and it’s hard to make a living, make a career, to work and to do what you love doing,” she defined. “We all appreciate all the gifts that come our way, and it is such an incredible honor every time we get to act.”
Grey has handled ups and downs in recent times, as nicely. In 2020, she and her husband Clark Gregg cut up after 19 years of marriage, revealing their choice in a joint Instagram put up. However, they famous that they “remain close and are deeply grateful for the life we’ve shared and the wonderful daughter we’ve raised.”
Grey went on to launch her autobiography, Out of the Corner, in 2022.
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