Enrique Iglesias dropped his emotional “Hero” music video in 2001, which also starred Jennifer Love Hewitt and Mickey Rourke, but it turns out that his tears were more real than fans knew.
Hewitt told Entertainment Tonight about the real-life tragedy that inspired Iglesias’ sobs.
“The craziest thing about that video shoot that I don’t know if people know is that Enrique and Aaliyah were close friends. The night that we filmed that video was the night that she passed,” the actress revealed.
“Enrique had to film all of his crying stuff in the video… and he was really crying because she had passed,” Hewitt continued.
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“We all did a big prayer for her at the end of the video and he kind of dedicated it to her. I just remember that being really intense,” she shared.
Iglesias has seemingly never discussed his friendship with the “Rock the Boat” singer publicly, but per Complex, Aaliyah was pictured at his album release party in 1999.
Tragically, the innovative R&B star passed away in a plane crash after filming a music video in the Bahamas in Aug. 2001.
The “We Need a Resolution” singer was only 22 years old.
In an interview with ET, in 2021 Aaliyah’s former boyfriend Damon Dash shed more light on the singer’s final days on the 20th anniversary of her untimely death.
“She was a good person and she was really into being around good people, so, I knew I was cool ’cause she said so. ‘Cause she was the coolest, you know what I’m saying?” the music mogul said.
According to People, Dash also revealed that Aaliyah always had a fear of flying and was offered a different plane by rock star Lenny Kravitz, but her music video director took it instead.
Members of Aaliyah’s team that were also tragically killed were Scott Gallin, Keith Wallace, Douglas Kratz, makeup artist Eric Foreman, Gina Smith and Christopher Maldonado.
L. Marael, the pilot of the ill-fated plane, also died.
