Jennifer Grey is opening up about her heartbreak. The Dirty Dancing actress, who shared the passing of her "gorgeous and talented" mother, Jo Wilder, earlier this summer, detailed the "dark period" of her life in a new interview.
While speaking with Ryan Weiss on the Waking Up with Ryan podcast, Jennifer got vulnerable about her mom's passing and losing her home during the Los Angeles fires in 2025.
Jennifer Grey lost her home during the Pacific Palisades fires
Before the interview, Jennifer had yet to speak much on how the fires impacted her. After the destruction, she posted a since-deleted photo of her lost home with the caption: "This feels like one messed up dream. But it's not a dream. It's one of those things where life suddenly jumps a track and you're propelled into a different story. I am trying to allow myself to feel the waves of shock, the startling grief, the sudden unavoidable new now that I never wanted."
© InstagramThe 66-year-old actress shared that for most of her life, she had a very happy disposition. "I'm blessed to be waking up happy most days," she said, adding: "I don't take that for granted." But, after her house was burnt to the ground in January 2025, she was not her usual self.
"Something about it…I felt so unmoored, so lost, for the first time in my life. It was a very specific and lonely feeling," Jennifer shared.
The Dirty Dancing actress turned to a friend for help
During this heartbreaking time, she turned to Ryan, who is also a life coach and spiritual counselor, for help.
© Instagram"'Can I ask you a question?'" Jennifer recalled asking her friend. "'I've been in the program for 36 years. I've been in therapy my whole life. I am so sad. I know everything about how to mitigate suffering. I don't know why I can't stop crying. I'm so sad. But I'm so grateful.'"
Jennifer remembered Ryan asking her: "Why are you so fast to go to grateful."
© Getty Images"It's so deeply understandable how even in mental health or healing spaces, there's still this drive to fix people and focus on the bright side," Ryan replied. Jennifer added: "You're neglecting the truth, which is you're feeling something, and someone's telling you not to feel it. And that causes more injury, more loneliness, and more shame."
Jennifer Grey remembers her late mother
The actress' dark period extended when she lost her beloved mom. Jo Wilder passed away on July 4, 2026, one week after she was diagnosed with lung cancer.
Jennifer remembered her mom on Instagram, writing: "My mother, Jo Wilder, passed away on July 4th at 94 — by her own choosing, on her own terms, exactly as she lived."
© Instagram"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."
Jennifer 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."
