Andrew MacphersonSupermodel Naomi Campbell has started a new online show called No Filter with Naomi. When she interviewed one of her fellow legendary supermodels, Cindy Crawford, on Monday, Cindy revealed a secret about one of the most famous music videos of all time: George Michael‘s “Freedom! ’90,” in which both women appeared.
In case you forgot — though how could you? — George himself didn’t appear in the video, which was directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker David Fincher. Instead, the song was lip-synced by Cindy, Naomi, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington and Tatjana Patitz, the five most famous supermodels of the moment. Each model was paid $15,000 per day to appear in 1990 — the equivalent of nearly $30,000 in today’s dollars.
During the two women’s chat, Cindy remarked, “When I look back at that, I remember thinking, ‘How did I get stuck in the bathtub?'”
“When I saw the video, I was like ‘It’s okay,” but…the bathtub didn’t even have any water in it!” Cindy added. Naomi was shocked to learn this fact.
“It didn’t? What was in it?” asked Naomi.
“Nothing. Me and some steam!” Cindy replied.
She went on to reveal that her body was coated in glycerine to make her look wet, and she had to lie topless on top of an apple box designed to prop her up so she didn’t look like she was sinking into the tub.
Still, Cindy allowed that the experience was “incredible,” adding, “And that song…it still lives today! And I remember when my kids first saw that video — it’s as impactful now as it was then.”
The song does live on: For example, it was one of the 15 George Michael tunes featured on the soundtrack of the 2019 Emilia Clarke rom-com Last Christmas.
(Cindy’s comments come 22:52 into the video.)