Jennifer Grey speaks about Swayze death

Jennifer Grey has spoken out about the death of her Dirty Dancing co-star Patrick Swayze.

The actress, who played Swayze's on screen love interest in the 1987 movie, told ET Online that she was grateful to have had him in her life.

"I think we will always be a couple in a lot of people's minds from the experience of seeing us in that movie," she explained.

"I think the reality [of his death] is shocking to me and really sad. I have been sad for the two years he was sick. I realised I had a real depth of feeling for him that I hadn't felt like I got to express to him enough.

She added: "For that, I felt really grateful for the chance to have him in my heart for that time. In that sense it was beautiful because I felt the gift of him in a very strong way."

Grey also praised Swayze's energy on the Dirty Dancing set and branded him "an original, special guy".

Swayze passed away in September following a battle with pancreatic cancer.