You can take a girl out of the South, but you can’t take the South out of a girl
Cynthia Rhodes began her career as a dancer but grew to prominence through film. She is best known for playing Penny in the romantic comedy Dirty Dancing. Despite having a résumé of less than two dozen productions, Rhodes had every opportunity of becoming a superstar. But as her career progressed, she abandoned it… We’ll explain why.
Cynthia Rhodes was born in 1956 to an ardent Baptist family. Her parents brought her up with strictness, and this left an imprint on her entire future life. The girl from her youth was engaged in dancing and achieved high skill in choreography.
She began her career as a dancer and then got into the movies. She was also known as a singer. In the early 1980s, she starred in the films Flash Dance, Lost with John Travolta (directed by Sylvester Stallone ), and Robot Hunt.
Stallone said this about the actress: “She would rather quit her career than do something that will disappoint her parents.” Indeed, Cynthia has never compromised herself with scandals, high-profile novels, or candid photo shoots (she was invited to grace the cover of Playboy magazine).
In Lost, Cynthia Rhodes, paired with Frank Stallone, performed the main soundtrack.
In 1987, the premiere of the melodrama Dirty Dancing took place, where Cynthia played Penny Johnson, choreography teacher, dancer, and best friend of Patrick Swayze’s hero Johnny Castle.
In the film, Rhodes showed all her acting potential and natural beauty. “Dirty Dancing” is being reviewed by more than the first generation of viewers.
Cynthia also starred in the videos of the then-famous musicians Bee Gees, Richard Marx, and others. In 1987, Marx released a video for the song Don`t Mean Nothing, during the filming of which he began an affair with the beauty Rhodes (she was 7 years older).
Two years later they got married. And then one by one they had three sons – Brandon, Lucas, and Jesse.
And motherhood outweighed the desire to continue filming, Cynthia Rhodes ended her career, devoting herself to her husband (who was becoming increasingly successful) and children.
“I will keep repeating how lucky I was to meet Cynthia. She is not just an ideal mother and wife, she is an incredible person, friend, and partner in life,” said Richard Marx.
The last film with the participation of the actress “The Curse of the Crystal Eye” was released in 1991. Cynthia went into the shadow of the family and her famous husband.
In 2014, Marx and Rhodes shocked the public with the news of their divorce after 25 years of marriage. What caused the collapse of the family, they did not name. “I would not discuss this even with the closest people,” the musician said then in an interview with People. “But I have a lot of respect for my ex-wife.”
A year later, Marx married model and TV presenter Daisy Fuentes.
For more than 20 years, Cynthia Rhodes has not spoken to the press. She lives a quiet southern life and takes care of children… And only in 2017, did journalist Randall Jones manage to accidentally talk to the ex-actress.
“You can take a girl out of the South, but you can’t take the South out of a girl,” he kindly described Cynthia. “She is an anomaly, a woman completely devoid of ego, but confident in herself, true to her principles, guidelines in life and loved ones.”
