'Forgotten' original supermodel from George Michael's iconic Freedom video's heartbreaking death

Daily Record

2 days ago

She was one of the most relevant supermodels of all time, but went on to live a quiet life before passing away
Fans of George Michael's unforgettable Freedom! '90 video will remember the moment a group of impossibly glamorous supermodels lip-synced his lyrics in peak 90s style.
Among them was Tatjana Patitz - perhaps the most mysterious face of them all, and certainly the one who stepped furthest from the spotlight once the supermodel era began to fade.
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Patitz, born in Hamburg to an Estonian mother and German father, was a horse-loving teenager growing up on the Swedish coast when she first tried her luck in modeling. She placed third in an Elite Model contest in Stockholm at just 17, earning a ticket to Paris.
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But there was no instant stardom: Patitz spent a year with no bookings before a turning point came from photographer Peter Lindbergh, whose preference for natural, unretouched beauty transformed her image. His lens captured a self-assured confidence and mature elegance that set Patitz apart from the other beauties of that era.
Patitz herself reflected in Vogue in 2020, 'I never sold my soul,' describing how she resisted the superficial side of the fashion world even as her star rose.
That integrity and quiet strength showed through Lindbergh's photographs, including the famous January 1990 cover of British Vogue uniting the 'original supermodels' in one unforgettable image.
When George Michael saw that cover, he invited the same group to appear in his Freedom! video - and Patitz's magnetic, soulful screen presence made her an icon for a whole new audience.
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Unlike some of her peers, Patitz never seemed interested in celebrity for its own sake. She built a life away from New York or Paris, choosing instead to live in California near nature and her beloved animals.
There, she raised her son Jonah, who she described in a 2019 interview with Mercedes-AMG's 63Magazine: 'My son is my source of happiness in life. My friends, my animals, and nature give me balance and satisfaction – the feeling of being connected... I would like to send an empathetic person with a big heart out into the world. Jonah should always have the self-belief to be himself and to embody and articulate his own attitude and opinions."
Patitz also shared her graceful philosophy on ageing with the magazine, saying, 'I am proud of my wrinkles. I worked for each one and they belong to me. Growing older is beautiful. You become wiser and more mature. For me, giving away or changing that gift is not an option... Beauty means being a good person and being there for others. In my opinion, beauty is not only about looks, but everything that makes up a person.'
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After her death, Anna Wintour, former chief content officer of Condé Nast, described what made Patitz so distinctive, telling Vogue: 'Tatjana was always the European symbol of chic, like Romy Schneider-meets-Monica Vitti... she was more mysterious, more grown-up, more unattainable — and that had its own appeal.'
Even while enjoying a lower public profile, Patitz continued working with some of the fashion industry's greatest talents, including Peter Lindbergh, Herb Ritts, and Patrick Demarchelier.
Her later Vogue features celebrated a new chapter of her life, showing her and Jonah in peaceful domestic scenes on their California ranch, far from the catwalks of Milan and Paris.
In January 2023, Patitz died at the age of 56 after a battle with metastatic breast cancer. Tributes poured in from across the industry for a woman who was a symbol of ageless sophistication.
While other stars of the Freedom! video continued to chase magazine covers and runways, Tatjana Patitz seemed to embody a quieter, more personal freedom until her last days.