[quote]In 1986 Grey was dating Matthew Broderick, whom she'd met on the set of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and auditioned for a movie to be called Dirty Dancing. She got cast—and so did Patrick Swayze. The pair had chemistry onscreen, just not off. "The same way Baby and Johnny were not supposed to be together, we weren't a natural match," Grey recalls. "And that created a tension which made the movie work." (I feel like if I could say anything to him now, I would say, 'I'm so sorry that I couldn't just appreciate and luxuriate in who you were.'")
[quote]That period for Grey put her right in the middle of young Hollywood. After about four years, she left Broderick (the two were engaged) and started dating Johnny Depp. "We were twinning, wearing matching leather jackets."
[quote]While Depp was on the cover of teen magazines because of 21 Jump Street, Grey just remembers him being beautiful. "Her relationship with Depp had heat, she remembers. "It was like a f---ing bonfire. But none of my friends knew who he was. We didn't watch that TV show. Madonna didn't watch 21 Jump Street!" And, quite coincidentally, Grey was, at the time, living next door to Winona Ryder (whom Depp dated after her). "She was just a kid."
[quote]At the time, Grey was close friends with Madonna.
[quote]We did Bloodhounds of Broadway together," she says of the 1989 film. The pop star threw her a 29th birthday party. "She told me she wrote 'Express Yourself' about me breaking up with Matthew," Grey remembers of the first time she heard the song. "She played it for me in her car. I was in my log cabin with Johnny and she said, 'Come into my car.' And I got in her Mercedes where she had a really good sound system and she was like, 'Listen to this song I just did. It's about you.'
[quote]When reading the song's lyrics, it makes sense. Even her character's name in Dirty Dancing may have a shout-out.
[quote]You deserve the best in life
[quote]So if the time isn't right, then move on
[quote]Second best is never enough
[quote]You'll do much better, baby, on your own
[quote]Of her past relationships, Grey says today, "What I've learned is that I demanded second best." And as for the inspiration for "Express Yourself," Grey reveals she contacted Madonna recently. "I wrote her an email where I asked, 'Did you just tell that to everyone?'"
