Linda Evangelista, 59, reveals what she really thought about George Michael’s 1990 Freedom video

Linda Evangelista has had many iconic moments in her career, but perhaps none more so than her participation in George Michael’s Freedom video.

The 1990 video, also starring Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford and Tatjana Patitz, catapulted the supermodels into a new stratosphere of pop culture fame and notoriety.

But Linda, 59, was almost not part of it. During an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show on Thursday, she told the ET star that she wasn’t into it at all at first.

Drew asked Linda what it was like making the video and if she knew then that it would be such a huge cultural touchstone.

‘No, I had no idea. I didn’t want to do it, no, it wasn’t fashion. I just dreamed of fashion and George exhausted me and I developed an incredible friendship with George. I miss him,” said Linda – who recently shared a throwback photo to her pre-modeling days.

‘I give it the most credit George Michael because he catapulted us to another place,” Linda said.

“We were approaching fashion people and suddenly I was recognized by kids on the street, or, you know, and that’s what really did it,” she added.

Linda, Naomi, Cindy and Christy have since been dubbed the Supermodels and a 2023 AppleTV+ documentary chronicled their rise and the way those four women changed the modeling world after their rise.

“To finally have the opportunity to tell our story in collaboration with the brilliant team at Imagine, and under the leadership of Barbara Kopple, is as exciting for us as we hope it will be for viewers,” Evangelista wrote on Instagram at the time.

“I would like people to see this not only as a celebration of our individual stories, but also of the power of friendship, dreams and perseverance.”

Linda reflected on one of the many ways modeling has changed during a screening of the documentary series last year.

“Nowadays all the magic happens in post-production,” she said. “In the ’80s and early ’90s, all the magic happened right when you heard ‘click.’

During her interview, Linda also brought up a moment from nearly 35 years ago, when she met then-teenage Drew at an airport.

“I wanted to ask you because I don’t know if you remember. When I turned 25, my mother said to me, “What do you want for your birthday?” And I said, “A game boy,” and she got so angry and said, “I’m not buying my model daughter, a 25-year-old game boy.”

“I mean, and I thought, OK, I’ll buy it myself. So here I am with my game boy. I flew from Los Angeles to Paris with a connection to the south of France and there you were in the lounge,” she explained.

“I’m sitting on my Gameboy and I see you and I’m like, oh my God, that’s Drew Barrymore. And I look at you and you’re sitting on your game boy and you’re on the other side of the lounge and we keep making eye contact and I’m like, just do it, Linda, do it.

The 1990 video, which also starred Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford, catapulted the supermodels into a new stratosphere of fame and popularity in pop culture.

But Linda, 59, was almost not part of it. During an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show on Thursday, she told the ET star that she wasn’t into it at all at first

Drew asked Linda what it was like making the video and if she knew then that it would be such a huge cultural touchstone

Linda also became famous for saying she “wouldn’t get out of bed for less than $10,000.” Seen here at the Saint Laurent show in Paris on September 24, 2024

‘No, I had no idea. I didn’t want to do it, no, it wasn’t fashion. I just dreamed of fashion and George exhausted me and I developed an incredible friendship with George. Miss him’

During her interview, Linda also brought up a moment from nearly 35 years ago, when she met then-teenage Drew at an airport.

Linda also appeared in George Michael’s Too Funky video, seen here on set in Paris in 1992

“And I said to you, ‘Do you want to make an appointment?’ And you said, “What do you mean?” And I took the cord out of my bag, someone had just given me this very obscure cord where you could put two game boys together and play against each other.

“And we played it. Do you remember?’, Linda asked.

“We were playing Tetris,” Drew said.

“We played Tetris,” Linda confirmed.