George Michael made a remarkable choice for his "Freedom! '90" music video. While at the peak of his post-Wham! solo success, he didn't even appear in the clip for his own hit song.
Instead, Michael cast the top supermodels of the day — Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford and Tatjana Patitz — as well as their male model counterparts, to stand in for him and lip sync his lines.
Now they're speaking up on social media to pay tribute to the man with the "golden angelic voice."
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Campbell wrote that working on the 1990 music video "was an honor" and remarked that the singer's death on Christmas marked "too much loss."
That was a sentiment shared by her then-co-star, Crawford, who also said that Michael's "bravery inspired all of us."
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Evangelista, who called the pop icon "Georgy," wrote, "I am beyond heartbroken and devastated."
Meanwhile, Turlington and Patitz both gave thanks to Michael for his "voice and talent" and for his "open heart."
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As for why the singer featured the famous faces from fashion magazines rather than his own face in the memorable and sexy shoot, he summed it up simply in a vintage MTV VMAs appearance shared by Crawford.
"There are all kinds of reasons I can give for that," he teased. "But basically what it comes down to is, who would you rather look at in a bathtub?"
With that, he pointed to Crawford with a sly smile.
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