Model from Wham!’s ‘Last Christmas’ Video Reflects on Filming as Song Nears 40th Anniversary

Kathy Hill, the model featured as George Michael’s love interest in the music video for Wham!’s “Last Christmas,” expressed feeling “very lucky” as the song approaches its 40th anniversary. Hill, who hails from Accrington, described the filming of the holiday video as “hilarious,” despite having auditioned with “a bit of a hangover” and initially “didn’t mind if I got it or not.” Speaking to BBC Radio Lancashire, she stated she is now “obviously over the moon” about securing the role. The 1984 track, penned and produced by George Michael, portrays the anguish of unrequited love through the eyes of an individual “once bitten and twice shy.” This song achieved the number one position in 16 nations and has accumulated four billion audio streams and one billion video views. Prior to her modeling career, Hill worked as a dental nurse, first in her hometown in Lancashire and subsequently in Manchester, where she encountered a job advertisement seeking models. Her career led her to work in Milan, Tokyo, and London before she secured the part of the ex-girlfriend in the “Last Christmas” video, a role that included a journey to the renowned Swiss chalet setting of Saas Fee. She recounted, “It wasn’t paying loads of money. I was quite spoilt at the time so I did a bit of travelling around the world and I thought oh well I’ll go [for the audition], that sounds like fun and I think I was quite relaxed.” Given that Hill was cast as the original “someone special” who subsequently broke the lover’s heart, she mentioned being outfitted in brightly colored tops. She explained, “Everything I wore in the video – the idea was it had to be bright because I’m the ex and [co-star] Debbie had to wear darker clothes.” She characterized her experience working with the Wham! quartet as “relaxed and fantastic,” contrasting it with other modeling assignments where it often took “a long time to get to know people because you’re meeting them for the first time.” Concerning the well-known dinner table scene where the pair’s gazes connect over red wine glasses, she stated: “At one point I couldn’t drink anymore. You can see in that shot where George is looking at me and I’m looking back, I’m pretending to drink the wine because, honestly, Andrew [Ridgeley] and I had so much. It was just hilarious.” At that time, she was in a relationship with musician Vangelis, who had received an Oscar for the theme of the 1981 film “Chariots of Fire.” She even wore his long grey coat during the production of the video. She recounted, “He didn’t want me to go [to Switzerland] because George was impossibly handsome and he said I will pay you if you don’t go – and I wouldn’t have taken it anyway but I’m just so glad that I did it.” While George Michael had relationships with women earlier in his career, he publicly disclosed his homosexuality in 1998. Michael passed away on Christmas Day in 2016, and Hill remembers him as “a gorgeous soul.” Hill believes “Last Christmas” “spans the generations,” noting that both her 96-year-old mother and her 33-year-old twin children enjoy the track. She added, “The song itself sounds incredibly fresh – it’s like the first time you’ve ever heard it really, it’s so beautifully written. We had a fantastic time – I absolutely loved it and I’m so lucky to have been in it.”