Jennifer Grey has paid tribute to her late Dirty Dancing co-star Patrick Swayze, revealing for the first time since his death that she “felt the gift of him in a very strong way”.
The pair wowed audiences after the 1987 release of Dirty Dancing, which saw Baby (Grey) fall for a holiday camp’s dancing teacher (Swayze).
“He was a very original, special guy,” she revealed in an interview with ETonline. “I felt the gift of him in a very strong way.
“It was such a shock, even though there was no surprise. The idea that his body would be done is really shocking, and I think the reality is shocking to me, and really sad.
“And I’ve been sad for a long time, the two years that he was sick, but I realise I had a real depth of feeling for him that I hadn’t felt like I got to express to him enough, and for that I felt really grateful for the chance to really have him in my heart, for that time.”
Swayze was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in early 2008, though continued acting until 2009 when he became too ill to do so, passing away at the age of 57.
Grey said of their time on Dirty Dancing: “Patrick was fearless, and I was fearful, and so it was just about him getting me to trust him. He had an insistence and an energy that made you basically say okay.
“He would wear me down, but I didn’t practise the lift after that audition until we did it on the day because I was just too scared of it, but he was a very original, special guy, and he’ll be missed by a lot of people for a long time.”
She added: “I think we’ll always be a couple in a lot of people’s minds from the experience of seeing us in that movie, and the people who liked it really think of us together that way.”
