Dirty Dancing Star: Mom, 94, Died 'by Her Own Choosing'

Jennifer Grey says her mom's final week on Earth looked exactly how she wanted it to. In an Instagram tribute on Tuesday, the Dirty Dancing star revealed that her mother, actor and activist Jo Wilder, died on July 4 at age 94 after learning she had lung cancer just a week earlier, reports NBC News. Grey, who also posted multiple old photos of her mom, wrote that Wilder chose to leave "by her own choosing, on her own terms, exactly as she lived," calling it an act of dignity rather than tragedy.

Wilder, who once pursued theater in New York before prioritizing raising Grey and her brother, later focused on activism and running a Los Angeles shop called Wilder Place. Grey, 66, praised her mom as being "brave and deep" and thanked her for modeling how to face even death "with grace." Famous friends, including Lea Thompson, Katie Couric, and Holly Robinson Peete, posted condolences, as did Grey's ex-husband, actor Clark Gregg, who put up three heart emoji in the comments of Grey's post for his former mother-in-law, per Us Weekly.