surprise attack

Jennifer Grey recalls her father being outed by Matthew Broderick’s mom: “You know your dad’s a f*g”

Actress Jennifer Grey and father/actor Joel Grey arrive at the 40th anniversary restoration premiere of Cabaret held at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood. (Photo by Frank Trapper/Corbis via Getty Images)

Actress Jennifer Grey is ready to spill her tea.

The actress, of course, became one of the most recognizable stars in the world during the 1980s thanks to her performances in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Red Dawn, and in particular, Dirty Dancing. She also had a profound influence on the culture of the time; she recently revealed that her break-up with Matthew Broderick inspired Madonna‘s song “Express Yourself.”

The 62-year-old star will tell all in her forthcoming memoir Out of the Corner due on bookshelves on May 3. Just ahead of the release of the book, Grey opened up about one of the most traumatic moments of her life: having her father outed as gay to her.

Grey’s dad, incidentally, is Oscar-winning actor Joel Grey, known for his performance in Cabaret as well as on stage in Wicked. Joel married Jennifer’s mother Jo in 1958; the couple divorced in 1982. He officially came out to the world in 2015, and revealed that his family had long known about his attraction to men.

Of course, Jennifer didn’t always know about her dad. Speaking to People, the actress previewed a passage from her memoir in which she recalled the mother of then-boyfriend Broderick outing Joel to her.

Related: PHOTOS: Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey At 40th Anniversary Screening Of ‘Cabaret’

One day in the late 1980s, Jennifer was at Matthew’s home with the actor’s mother. Broderick himself wasn’t around at the time. Out of nowhere, his mother turned to Jennifer and said “You know your dad’s a f*g.”

“Perhaps she was offended by my lack of knowing,” Grey says of the shocking moment. “I don’t know what she was thinking. She was, um, she was a tricky personality. I don’t know how else to put it.”

“Like, she was a truth-teller, truth bombs. A Cassandra. She was, like, come what may. She just said whatever she believed was the truth — and perhaps she was doing me a solid. Maybe she thought: Is anybody gonna say what’s happening in the world?”

For Jennifer, the moment felt like an attack on her and her dad.

“At the time, it was, like, warfare,” she further explains. “It was an act of aggression. Perhaps she was offended by the lack of transparency. I don’t know what anybody else is thinking. All I know, all I knew at the time was that it felt like it was a sniper attack. The idea was that I was a fool and that everyone knew but me.”

The incident with Broderick’s mother left Grey questioning more than just how well she knew her dad. That discomfort, however, prompted her to include the moment in her book.

“The reason I put that in the book, was because it was one of those days that changed me,” she says. “In the sense that how could I not know everything there was to know about my dad? I was the closest to him of anyone in the world. And he would never not tell me the truth. And that was the only thing that was hard about it was because I was confused because it was one of those moments where my reality was shaken up.”

Between the story about having her dad outed and Madonna penning one of our favorite songs about her, we can’t wait to read the rest of Grey’s memoir, Out of the Corner. We have a feeling she’ll also share anecdotes about former boyfriends Michael J. Fox and Johnny Depp, as well as a horrible accident involving her and Broderick that left two people dead. The woman has had a life.

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