Jennifer Grey, known for her role opposite Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing, was announced to be joining the lineup on the popular dancing competition Dancing With the Stars.
During two "live" segments during the second hour of Bachelor Pad, DWTS hosts Tom Bergeron and Brooke Burke presided over the announcement of the cast of the new season, which begins Sept 20.
Greys decision to join the show may have saved her life. She told Zap2It she has been asked to be on the show numerous times, but only seriously began to consider joining last year. She went to a neurological spine surgeon to see if she could physically take on the rigorous training required of contestants.
She revealed, Id had a really bad car accident years ago, and basically, the ligaments in the back of my neck were ripped and Id never addressed that. It degenerated, and the surgeon said, Right now, your spinal cord is compressed. If you fell or got rear-ended, youd be paralyzed.
Then, to add insult to injury, the surgeon also found a cancerous lump in her neck.
She said, I was so frightened of the surgery, I didn't want to even consider that it would be successful. And it was so successful, I proceeded to do everything else on my 'to-do' list that I was afraid of, including doing this show.
Luckily, Grey is now cancer free. Additionally, her surgeries and cancer scare have given her a new lease on life, and she is ready to compete.
