Jennifer Grey is reflecting on one of the most challenging times in her life. On an episode of the “Waking Up with Ryan” podcast with host Ryan Weiss on Friday, August 7, the actress tackled tough subjects, including losing her home and her parents’ reconciliation before her mother’s death.
Jennifer Grey Makes Honest Admissions in New Podcast Interview
Grey’s parents, Jo Wilder and Joel Grey, divorced in 1982. Wilder died in July 2026, at age 94, but before her death, she and Joel had reconnected. Grey revealed what Joel had said to his ex-wife. “The day you said ‘I do’ was the first time I felt whole in my entire life,” she recalled on the podcast, People reports. “We had our bumps, but what I’ve realized is that none of that even matters anymore. What matters is the love we share.”
Wilder responded, saying, “All is forgiven. It feels free.”
Grey shared a tribute to her late mother on Instagram on July 8, including several throwback photos. “My mother, Jo Wilder, passed away on July 4th at 94 — by her own choosing, on her own terms, exactly as she lived,” she wrote in the caption. “A week earlier, she learned she had lung cancer. True to who she was, she chose grace over fear, understanding that leaving this world with dignity is an honor, not a tragedy.”
She continued, “She was gorgeous and talented — a promising young actress on the New York stage in her youth. She used to say she never fully answered that calling; she became a mother instead. If she’d chosen ambition over my brother and me, we never would have had the mother we had. Her passion found other outlets: she was a lifelong activist, fiercely attuned to right and wrong. And for years, many people discovered her extraordinary eye through Wilder Place, her store on Melrose.”
Jennifer Grey Reflects on Loss & Pain
The podcast was an opportunity for Grey to share much of her life, and she spoke openly and honestly. She discussed how she lost her home in the Los Angeles wildfires, telling Weiss, “I’m in my sixties… I don’t know why I can’t stop crying. I’m so sad, but I’m so grateful. And you were like, ‘Why are you so fast to go to grateful?,’” Parade reports.
She continued to reflect on the pain of her loss, and how there should not be so much pressure to overcome deeply painful situations so quickly. “You’re neglecting the truth, which is you’re feeling something, and someone’s telling you not to feel it,” she said. “And that causes more injury, more loneliness, and more shame.”
Jennifer Grey’s DWTS Experience
Beloved for her role in the classic film, “Dirty Dancing,” in which she played Frances “Baby” Houseman, Grey has also shown her dancing skills on the “Dancing with the Stars” stage. In 2010, for Season 11, she competed on DWTS and won the mirrorball trophy alongside professional dance partner Derek Hough.
The experience was memorable, but Grey admits it was tough. “This dance experience was so much more difficult. [On Dirty Dancing] I learned basically one dance over a one-and-a-half month shoot. This is a new dance every four days,” she said, Today reports. “It’s a completely different level of dancing, much more complicated, much more challenging.” She also praised Hough, calling him “insanely talented.”
