Freddie Mercury’s appearance in “These Are The Days Of Our Lives”

Yes OP. There is a documentary (might be Behind the Music) that says that was his last video before he died and his goodbye to fans. He was very sick by that time and in a lot of pain.

TATDOOL?

R1 I don’t think it was a goodbye. Even when he was dying I don’t think he believed he was.

He also put on a front but I’m sure he was terrified.

Caviar and cigarettes

In the behind the scenes footage he looks so much worse. They must have made it black and white to keep from frightening fans

Did he ever really come out?

Yes, the Behind The Scenes, and yes, it was B&W to make him look less ill

It was filmed in late May 1991, just under six months before he died.

[quote]I don’t think it was a goodbye. Even when he was dying I don’t think he believed he was.

I disagree, especially when you look at his last part, which was something he had asked to film again. Also, at the end of his life he stopped taking his medication, which hastened his death.

This makes me cry.

How sad and dreadful

All the make up in the world was not going to hide the effects of late state AIDS. I know he was infected very early on in the epidemic, but what a terrible price to pay for the mentality he had of doing everything with everybody. Many people needlessly lost their life and gave HIV to others by living this way. Not a judgement but just the facts of what happened in those years.

R9, it made me cry too.

And the day he died, I couldn't finish my classes in HS.

Freddie never made a formal statement that he was gay, though he did once say "I'm gay as a daffodil, darling," in an interview. But you're not really in the closet if you have a photo (below) that screams "GAAAAAAY" in your band's best-selling album, which Rolling Stone homophobically described as "a Christopher Street proctologist."

R11 I totally agree with you about that horrible movie. It was a joke. Everyone is afraid to delve into Freddie's life. They're in denial about the darker elements of his personality and can only accept him as this imagined "wonderful person." It's too bad because the real Freddie is a lot more interesting than this made up hero character. Understand that Freddie gave other people HIV and didn't care. All he cared about was his own pleasure. A decent person would have taken a step back and said wait a minute. There is a deadly disease going around so I better take precautions to protect myself and others as well. Freddie did none of this. Brian and Roger like to sweep this side of it under the rug.

Freddie had a nose job?

(But didn't fix the teeth?)

My favorite Queen song. Beautiful and so sad.

Reminds me of another star who died of AIDS and looked really sick in her last music video

Don't know if the documentary referred to above is that which was recently on the BBC. In that we saw FM was really weak when filming the final video, and often had to sit between takes to gather what strength he had. Agree the melody and words are so very poignant in their gentleness and wistfulness. It's the mood of someone knowingly dying, and in his way making peace with that. Not sure there's any comparable piece of work, but DL will doubtless let me know.

The documentary put Freddie's decline in the brutal context of the times: a White House press secretary chuckling and dismissing the AIDS crisis as though not worthy of discussion; the savage hounding of the UK tabloid press. Freddie died at the age of 45.

I'm not sad. He knew he was HIV+ and continued having unprotected sex. He only came out as gay when he was on his deathbed. THAT's sad.

How do you know he had unprotected sex?

R19 Not only did Freddie continue to have unprotected sex knowing there was a deadly disease going around, but he openly bragged about it. This is his "I'm doing everything with everybody" comment. If a regular person was behaving this way they would be called out for their selfish behavior. Freddie always gets a pass on it. A more interesting way to look at it comes from the opera singer Montserrat Caballe. She claims Freddie told her it was his duty to inform her he had AIDS. She also documented a few times where he took actions to protect her in their basic contact while they were recording together. Freddie didn't give a crap about anyone he was having sex with not even Jim Hutton. By Hutton's own account he and Freddie continued to have unprotected sex far into their relationship. Freddie was in his final decline before he started using a condom. Not long after he was finally too sick and weak to engage in sex.

It was a long way down from the highpoint. You watch the old film clips of these massive concerts where Freddie held thousands under his spell. At the end all he could do was lay in bed then his last words were "pee pee." The truth is often difficult and painful, but I'd rather have a realistic view of Mercury than this fantasy concoction most seem to prefer.

Like sands in the vasoline, so are the gays of our lives.

R15 he didn’t fix his teeth because they warned him it could affect his singing

If he didn't fix his teeth because that would affect his singing, he certainly wouldn't get a nose job.

Freddie never had a nose job.

*

There's a "Freddie had a nose job!" troll who always posts whenever Freddie or Queen are mentioned.

I've been a huge fan for decades. I've seen photos of him from babyhood to the last months of his life. I don't see a shred of evidence that he ever had a nose job. He had a "thin" nose even in his early teens.

I also think it's implausible that he got a nose job, heedless of how it might have changed his singing, when he refused to have his teeth fixed.

I do agree that his nose -- along with his face and body -- changed radically in the last years of his life. It was clearly that awful, all-too-familiar AIDS facial wasting. It's also likely that heavy cocaine use messed up his nose.

To the "Freddie had a nose job!" troll -- what are you basing this on? What's your evidence? I'm genuinely curious.

“However, Freddy was never ready to get his teeth fixed. Although he could certainly afford it later in his career, Freddie Mercury refused to correct his alignment issue because he believed it contributed to his incredible range. He feared that changing his teeth would negatively affect his singing ability.”

This is actually Roger's song but Freddie made it his own. His last poignant look into the camera and the whispered 'I still love you' make me cry every single time. What a titan he was.

it is a brave performance.

Ah, the young and old queens pissing on Mercury's grave yet again, because the 200 threads filled when 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was in cinemas wasn't enough.

Fuck all of you.

R31 You sound delightful, not angry or bitter at all, just joyous and happy with life. It was an absolute pleasure to read you post.

The idolization of pop music singers and actors always grates on me. They are/were people with strengths and weaknesses. Not a great person - someone with talent who hit it big. Hooray for him.

So many people died unloved, without money and judged as sinners by homophobic families and communities. I’d like to hear more of their stories being told - so we remember how horrific this era really was.

To have unprotected sex, someone else usually needs to agree and go along with it.

So why were there people who were willing to indulge FM on this, when they also knew the risks?

[quote]So why were there people who were willing to indulge FM on this, when they also knew the risks?

The aphrodisiac and charm of fame. Party drugs. Getting lost in the moment. An erect cock has no conscience. Starfucking. Any or all of the above.

It's also possible that the guys who were willing to fuck Mercury without a condom, were also out fucking lots of other guys without a condom.

If we didn't know how powerful the forces of denial and selfishness really are, we've learned it in the last two years. When faced with a threat that isn't obvious, shit-tons of humans will refuse to believe in the threat or to take any steps to keep themselves or those they claim to love safe, if being safe requires even a tiny amount of inconvenience.

R36 I think you can put it at 100% that the people having unprotected sex with Freddie were doing the same with countless others as well. I've read the few bios out on Freddie. It was a long time ago, but a few things I've always remembered. Freddie liked orgies and was a showman even in this. He would have sex with men literally standing in a line to have their turn. Freddie like to have others watching so this serves a secondary purpose in hindsight. One of the men there who also later died of AIDS recalled that Freddie wasn't really enjoying any of it. This is backed up (depending on if you believe the source) by Barbara Valentin, who Freddie took up with during the Munich years. She claims Freddie told her many times that he didn't enjoy sleeping with all these men.

Now if you look at these observations instead of falling for the myth of how wonderful Freddie was you can start to ask some serious questions as to what were the psychological reasons involved in his extreme promiscuity.

Why was he fucking them then, if he didn't enjoy it?

I don't get that, either, or at least, I don't get fucking total strangers if you don't enjoy it.

Fucking your partner when you're not in the mood because there will be problems if you don't, well, everyone knows how that feels, but strangers?

R38&39 The way this worked out for me was that while I was reading about Freddie something about Rudolph Nureyev caught my attention as well. Nureyev's personal assistant had written a book about his time with Rudy, and I guess if there is anyone who could out do Freddie in the promiscuity department it would be Rudy. He has always seemed almost half animal and half human to me. Freddie's personal assistant, Peter Freestone, also talked in detail about his time with Freddie. Both these personal assistants remarked on the same observation. They both saw the extreme promiscuity as a means to an end which was for Rudy and Freddie a preservation of emotion. For these two men all emotion went into their art. Rudolph's assistant said it was simply easier for Rudy to inhabit a crude persona and sex with multitudes as it drained no emotions that he would need to put into his dance and become best in the world in ballet. For Freddie it was the music he wrote, sang and moved people around the world with in performance.

I admit it sounds far fetched, but the longer I thought about it the more I came to see that I believe this is true. After all it doesn't take thought or emotion to snort coke and fuck until you simply can't anymore. I think it's striking that both personal assistants came to this same understanding about the behavior. Also, both these assistants did not cross the line and have sex with their boss. It makes their observations even more convincing to me since they were at a distance they would not have had otherwise.

I think that Freddie had a lot of internalised homophobia. He treated Jim Hutton as his gardener, just sometimes referring to him as his husband. He kicked him out without explanation many times. He had a double standard in his relationship with him. He left him the same amount as his two live-in assistants. He wanted him to leave the house when Freddie's parents were visiting. Which was totally unnecessary, as Freddie's mom obviously knew and, after Fred's death, wrote a kind letter to Jim thanking him for loving and taking care of her son. By Hutton's account, even the dad treated him really nicely.

I adore Freddie but he had issues. He was ashamed of his origin and refused to talk about it. He hated his childhood in Zanzibar and India. Phoebe said that, if he had had his way, he would have been born, aged 18, in England. He also displayed many signs of internalised homophobia. Maybe here lies the key to the answer why he was promiscuous but not enjoying it. Maybe this was a form of self-punishment or a masochistic streak? This is so alien to me that I can't say but maybe someone here can relate and explain it better than me?

I never knew Queen was on Days of Our Lives. Cyndi Lauper was on As the World Turns.

Yes, I think he had a lot on internalized hemophilia, common among those from culturally conservative backgrounds. It's why IMHO he never officially came out, not when everyone knew, not on his deathbed.

That may be part of why he took no steps to protect himself from infection, maybe some dreadful guilt complex told him he deserved to be punished for being Gay. That's something that comes up a lot in discussions of why transmission still happened after everyone knew how to prevent infection - guilt, denial, self-hatred, and internalized hemophilia can be more powerful that common-sense self-preservation.

The B-52's were on Guiding Light.

He was a great musical talent, but I never thought much of him as a person. Vèry secretive and aloof, I think he was very conflicted, between his conservative upbringing and his closeted life as a gay man. At least George Michael had a good sense of humor about him, was outspoken and open, and by all accounts was a generous caring human being.

[quote] he had a lot on internalized hemophilia,

Such astute minds, armchair psychoanalyzing a man who's been dead for nearly 30 years.

The armchair analysis is interesting, but isn't this mostly a product of the times? All artists and musicians were living to excess, and even most professionals were drinking, snorting, fucking and partying their way through the 70s. It's called being young, dumb and feeling invincible during that period of history where all fallout from sex could be cured with a visit to the clinic.

Even poor people living on the fringes of bigger cities were partying it up, swinging, having gang bangs fueled by nose candy. If you were alive, you know this and yet only some people had to ultimately pay the costs of all of that.

Could it be because mommy didn't hug him enough as a child (not saying Freddie's mother didn't, in particular) or because he was ashamed of his background? Sure, but people without any of that baggage we're doing similar shit around that time because they could.

Homophobia, not hemophilia, OMG, R43 and R46!

[quote]Freddie Mercury’s appearance in “These Are The Days Of Our Lives”

They should have called it, "This Is The Last Day Of Guess-Who's Life."

Whitney and Jermaine were on As The World Turns.

Here is more food for thought. There is the idea that Freddie actually had a death wish. This gets into the burden of genius argument. I think something that doesn't get talked about nearly enough is the effect it had on Freddie being shipped away by his parents at such a young age. I think he was only eight years old, and once he was in boarding school he only saw them once a year. I know Peter and Mary both said Freddie had abandonment issues.

The other thing is it's believed he was molested during this time away. No one knows the facts of what happened, but it's hardly shocking with what we know goes on and has gone on in the past.

Something else I remember from the bios is what Barbara Valentin said in regards to Freddie being gay. She felt it was a role he was playing because it was the forbidden fruit.

^ I've heard of role preparation but taking it up the bum with who knows how many men seems surplus to requirements.

R45 I agree with you about George Michael. I try not to judge people because no one has informed me yet that I have been appointed to do so. I do allow myself opinions, however. My opinion about Freddie is that he hurt a lot of people. You could say he killed people through his lack of concern for anyone but himself. I just read a little on Google books from the bios I went through years ago. Freddie suspected early on and must have known he was already infected. Valentin claims he told her he felt like he was "rotting from the inside out." He apparently had a growth in the back of his throat that they called "the mushroom." It would come and go, but this coincides with what Paul Gambacinni said already back in '83. Freddie knew what was coming.

I think George was a very different kind of person. He had his own faults and flaws like everyone, but it does seem that he was roundly considered to be a nice person. Not just that but a kind person. It's nice to see those traits once in awhile.

It's possible that Mercury infected others, but not a given, as he seemed to have gone for fellow grownup gay sluts. He didn't go for innocent boys, or straight guys who'd never touched another dick, he was hiring rentboys and going to sex clubs where everyone went for their fifty-load weekends.

But he seems to have been highly regarded, even much beloved, by those who knew him - to the point that the people close to him let him take over their lives. I don't know if that meant he was worth loving or devouringly needy, or both, but people like Mary Austin and Jim Hutton gave up their whole lives for him and missed him when he was gone.

Another notable difference between George and Freddie was of course that George was outed after cottaging. A world famous man who cruises toilets well knows the risks of exposure, which adds to the thrill.

A percentage within George surely wanted to be caught so he could smash the glass closet in which he lived. He wanted to be out and proud. And thus the video for 'Outside', and chat show appearances without a shred of shame. This was unprecedented.

And yet by many accounts George sought the same heedless scenes which compelled Freddie. We know George too had his demons which he tried to negate with sex. It's maybe not a coincidence that each star sang 'Somebody To Love' so powerfully.

[quote]He wanted to be out and proud.

Yes, I agree, the complete opposite to how Freddie saw himself. I remember seeing some of the interviews after GM was caught cruising for sex in a public toilet in LA and he had this 'whatever' attitude about it and he took it with humour too. And everybody loved him for it.

The world of 1998 when George Michael came out was very different that that anything Freddie Mercury experienced

Back in the late 80s-early 90s you assumed that everyone was HIV+ and used your own judgment.

In the end, Freddie Mercury was just a man, flawed like the rest of us.

He did have a spectacular voice, though.

Freddie Mercury seemed like an insatiable slut and that was part of his life style and who he was.

R54 It's probably debatable whether or not some of those rent boys in different countries were of legal age or not. It sounds like everyone got some cocaine before hand then they were ushered in to have sexual contact with Freddie. In a set up like this anything could have gone on.

Freddie was never into underage kids, what are you insinuating, cunt R61?! He preferred men around his own age.

Elton John came out in 1992 and it didn't ruin his career. It wasn't impossible back then.

I agree with the FMHANJ troll. FMHANJ.

R54 Fuck off with your cuntish accusations you prick, trying to tarnish the dead with your peado crap.

I wonder if Freddie ever could have made it big as a solo artist? His one solo album was a bit of a flop, but it was made at a time when he was coked to the gills and not at his most disciplined.

And BTW, Elton John came out in 1975, just as Queen was hitting the big time, and Queen and Elton shared a manager. They would have been quite aware that coming out didn't ruin his career.

I respectfully submit this official video to anybody who thinks that Freddie Mercury was closeted -- Mineshaft T-shirt and all. He also wasn't "ashamed" of his heritage, frequently referring to himself as a "Persian popinjay." He did want to leave the family and hit swinging London and reinvent himself. He's often compared to George Michael who's credited with being out and proud, which he was, but that was years later, and GM had no choice since the paps caught him at the toilets. (GM did handle it fabulously and with great humor.) As for Freddie not having a sense of humor, search for "Freddie Mercury Interview Musical Prostitute" (in two parts); not only is he funny but he's campy and sharp as a whip. Hardly a self-loathing closet case. And a far cry from the awful, parodic Rami Malek portrayal that presents him as a silly, subservient little gooogly-eyed rodent puppy dog with Halloween teeth, tamed and sanitized and reinvented to fill the commercial coffers of the current Queen branding machine.

R62 I'm not insinuating Freddie was into underage kids. You sound like you belong in that group who lapped up the movie like it was some profound truth. All I'm saying is when everyone is coked to the gills it's not unreasonable to think a guy tad underage managed to end up in the orgies occasionally. There is no way to put a happy face on what went on during those years and the consequences of it.

I absolutely love his solo work and, considering that most of Queen's best songs were composed by him, yes, I believe he'd have had a brilliant solo career. In fact, after a lifetime of Queen fandom, I find myself listening mostly to his solo stuff these days.

R68, stop with the ugly speculation, ok? You seem to think a lot about underage guys.

R67, Freddie was a complex human being. Yes, he was joyful and exuberant but was also anxious, depressive and shy. He was openly gay without expressly stating so but did exhibit signs of internalised homophobia. You can't say he was just the light side of the moon or the dark one. He was the whole thing and that's okay.

R69 If Freddie had lived he and Montserrat Caballe intended to record "Music of the Night." Now imagine Freddie singing that one!

R70, DAMN! I want!

R66, I don’t get the people who shit on a Elton John for claiming to bisexual rather than gay in 1975. A lot of these same people also give props to Bowie who was a straight man pretending to be “bi” for cool points yet didn’t do shit for gay rights or lgbtq activism.

R72 When it comes to Bowie, I don't get it period. He had a few good songs but otherwise in my view was way overrated. He didn't have much of a voice. I thought the last song he left "Dark Star" was actually his best. Elton gets a lot of criticism that I don't think he should. Whether it's coming out as "bi" back in the 70s, or trying to help George Michael. He has 100 times over the talent compared to Bowie. The musical legacy that Elton and Bernie leave behind will stand the test of time many decades from now. More than that I like the way Bernie kept his lyrics classy. Many of his songs are thought provoking and meaningful. You don't see a lot of that in these later artists.

Also, Elton got himself off his drug addled arse and tried to help Ryan White. I'm old enough to remember what that poor kid had to endure from so-called adults. It was sickening. Elton has his faults but at least tried to help people through the years. Sting came out some months ago and made the statement he wished people had tried to help George more. Elton was one who did and granted he should have probably kept quiet about it. At least he tried so give him credit for that much at least.

{quote]And BTW, Elton John came out in 1975

LOL. And Elton promptly went back into the closet, eventually marrying a woman.

R69 Of course he had more than his share of insecurities and a definite dark side. I never suggested that he was all sunshine and light. I was just trying to counter the currently popular myth that he was a cowardly, self-loathing closet case who was too chicken to be an out and proud gay spokesmodel. His complexities go both ways, and he cannot be parsed in a facile way (as many try to do today, especially after that infernal movie came out) by today's Twitterverse standards.

Yes, I think he had a lot on internalized hemophilia,

I, too, suffered from internalized hemophilia. I hated myself for being a bleeder and when the Bolsheviks gunned us down in the basement I felt such relief that my life was over.

He should have never gotten that nose job.

He should never have let someone cum up his asshole

I can see the angel of death just over Freddie's shoulder.

he looks like a dusty mummy unearthed from the Egyptian desert

He was so talented, I never knew he was on a soap opera too!

I haven't seen the blasphemous movie, R75, and I don't intend to. I really have no idea how he was portrayed there but I heard that May & co. took many liberties with the truth. What happened, Brian?! Why did you have to do this?

R66, Elton John and Freddy were very close.

The band talking about Freddy a week after he died.

FreddY, dear??

R83 John was already out of it leaving only Brian and Roger just like it is to this day.

Yeah, R85, John was close to Freddie. Took it very hard.

You don't hear this one very often, but I think it's one of Queen's finest ballads. John wrote it and no one will ever sing it like Freddie did.

R87 IMO the very best song on A Kind Of Magic.

Another great Queen song with outstanding vocals by Freddie.

Freddie Mercury knew he was mortally ill, and that he wasn't long for this world regardless of HIV/AIDs treatment. Thus he discontinued taking else other than pain medications. Mr. Mercury issued this statement day before his demise:

"Following the enormous conjecture in the press over the last two weeks, I wish to confirm that I have been tested HIV positive and have AIDS. I felt it correct to keep this information private to date to protect the privacy of those around me. However, the time has come now for my friends and fans around the world to know the truth and I hope that everyone will join with me, my doctors and all those worldwide in the fight against this terrible disease. My privacy has always been very special to me and I am famous for my lack of interviews. Please understand this policy will continue."

HIV/AIDs drugs at that time prolonged the inevitable for great deal of men. Thus like those suffering from say terminal cancer, Mr. Mercury made a decision to go with palliative therapy if you want.

Kubler-Ross theory on death teaches us process includes denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance. Some people upon being told to put their affairs in order never get beyond first two or three.

By all accounts Mr. Mercury was upbeat, cheerful, happy and eager to work and otherwise get on with things normally as possible. He didn't dwell upon his "tragedy" nor wanted to talk about it, in fact only a few close to him such as Brian May and Mary Austin knew for certain Mr. Mercury's exact diagnosis.

OP either you are very young, and or ignorant; slow death by mortal illness is a fearsome process.

Cancer, HIV/AIDS, whatever, persons simply wasted away until they resembled animated corpses. Only other major comparison most of world had in any major way was images of those found in Nazi WWII horror camps.

Healthy young and middle aged men were reduced to skin and bones. In near constant pain, and often coping with side effects from various meds, many like Freddie Mercury tried to live some semblance of life before illness struck. This wasn't easy when just getting out of bed left such persons winded for hours.

Good read from the Guardian that speaks of time in question.

Interview with Freddie Mercury from the Guardian in 1974 where he speaks about himself among other things.

Freddie Mercury as he speaks about in above Guardian piece was a complicated person.

On a continuum between 100% straight and 100% gay, IMHO FM was about 80%-90% gay.

Few recall that Freddie Mercury had a long term relationship with Jim Hutton. Mr. Hutton also was HIV+ but lived long enough for new treatments to come about, he died on New Years Day 2010, from cancer.

What is interesting is while Jim Hutton did inherit from FM's estate, major portion (aside from bequests to family and others), went to Mary Austin, Mr. Mercury's other "partner".

Both Jim Hutton and Mary Austin had relationships with FM that lasted about same amount of time, but he clearly seemed to prefer one over other it seems.

More..

Freddie Mercury with Jim Hutton and "the boys" at home.

This is (or was) Freddie Mercury's home at Garden Lodge 1 Logan Place in Kensington, London. It devolved to Mary Austin upon Mr. Mercury's demise.

R94 Freddie’s relationship with Mary lasted his entire adult life, once the relationship was over they remained very close friends. Freddie was always very upfront that whilst he would look after friends and family, Mary would inherit the bulk of his wealth, and this was pre AIDS days.

R90 What’s with the Mr Mercury bullshit?

Mary went from being his lover and fiancee to being his best friend and "girl Friday", he said she was the only person in the world he trusted completely. After they ended their romantic relationship she became a devoted employee as well as a friend. She basically devoted her life to him, until he died.

I have no idea how deep his feelings for Hutton ran, but he obviously valued Mary deeply, and many ways.

[quote]Many people needlessly lost their life and gave HIV to others by living this way.

One only comes to DL for moronic frau reflections and judgements upon us.

What else do we exist for?

And Mary completely betrayed him by throwing Hutton, Phoebe and Joe Fannelli (Freddie's live-in gay friends) out of Garden Lodge immediately after Freddie's death, despite promising him that they would live there as long as they wanted. She also smiled A LOT at the funeral, refused to let Jim sit in the first car with her, refused to let him take any if the cats, and stole many of the three men's belongings. They thought she was their friend but she treated them HORRIBLY the minute Freddie closed his eyes. Then she did a 'little madam of the house' photoshoot for the tabloids and fully played the 'I was the love of his life and his wife' fantasy for the press. Mary Austin is a piece of shite and Freddie was very wrong in trusting her. Perhaps he did so out of guilt.

The pap photo shows Wallis lying on in a hospital bed with flat white hair brushed flat on the scalp and her mouth open in rictus howl. I've seen it, but good luck trying to find a copy.

Wrong thread, honey?

Yessee!

Was he a top or a bottom?

Freddie Mercury told Mary Austin he was bisexual just before their wedding IIRC. She bolted, but then subsequently came around.

That being said FM loved Mary Austin in ways like no other person man or woman. She was with him from start when FM started out working in market stall, and had he lived would be close beside him still today.

FM may have fancied sex with blokes, and certainly cared for a few such as Jim Hutton, but nothing could shake Mary Austin's position in Freddie Mercury's heart, soul and mind.

R106 You're right. Mary was with Freddie from the start when he had nothing. Neither of them did back in the market stall days. Freddie never had to wonder if Mary was with him for the money because he didn't have any. He even referred to her as his "common law wife" in one interview. I think she truly loved him all her life. Some of these other people later on were just there for the money and good times of being associated with a rock star.

This song is where the full extent of Freddie's talent begins to emerge. People forget that while it's common place today for artists of completely different genres to cross over this was not always the case. Pavarotti advised Caballe not to collaborate with Freddie, which is ironic as in his later years he sang with many popular artists. This was unheard of back in the late 80s. I've always seen this love Freddie had for Montserrat Caballe's voice as an additionally cruel twist while he was dying. This all started one night when he went to the opera and first heard Caballe perform. Other people watching him that night always remark on the unforgettable look on his face. Everything with her was in the transcendent where words fail to describe what you're experiencing. Imagine what more could have been had Freddie lived. I'm lucky I still have an old stereo system with big Polk Audio speakers. This in so beautiful when I play the CD in the house.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

"“He kept her close by when he became ill,” says Blake. “The fact that she was so well looked after in the will. She got the house and a share of the publishing. He effectively left a lot to her as if he was leaving it to his widow. Mary was probably good at keeping him grounded. She had been there before the money, before the fame and she was there at the end.”

When you say people would wait in line to have sex with him, was he just bottoming for tons of guys waiting in line? This actually happened?

What's with the fraus here defending that vile cunt Mary Austin? Maybe she wasn't in it for the money in the beginning but later on she most definitely WAS.

Jim Hutton said that Fred was vers but preferred to bottom.

How did the guys know it was Freddy Mercury they were anally violating? Could they see his face or could they tell from the luxuriously curly black fur covering his butt cheeks?

I wonder what Mary had on Freddie that he left almost his entire fortune to her. They weren’t married and she was simply a friend for most of the time: it was very bizarre that he left so little for him beloved mum and boyfriend.

Mary was a greedy cunt!! The emotional blackmail she must have used on poor Fred!! She’s done so little interviews but she seems to be very strange the only time I saw her in a documentary.

R114

You've not been paying attention have you?

Mary Austin had nothing "on" Freddie Mercury. The man loved Ms. Austin in his way, and that was that.

If Mary Austin were truly the scheming and conniving female many make her out to be she would have accepted Freddie Mercury's offer of marriage. That and or even years later well after Queen was successful and Freddie Mercury quite wealthy turned around and reversed turning him down. Regardless of how much water had flowed under bridge by that time, FM would have surely been over joyed and rushed into matrimony. Later as widow Mercury Mary Austin would have copped the lot legally as a surviving spouse.

As things stand long before his HIV/AIDS diagnosis Freddie Mercury made it quite clear, Mary Austin would inherit his estate pretty much as a wife would from her spouse. His parents knew of this and had absolutely no problems. They then and now considered Mary Austin much as part of their family like a daughter in-law.

R23 & R24

Freddie Mercury wasn't officially warned that having major dental work could or would affect his singing IIRC, rather he feared it would so that was right out. The man also had a huge fear of dentists overall which made him reluctant to go even for routine dental care. Brian May tells of one performance (or maybe recording session) that was cancelled because Freddie Mercury had a really bad toothache, but refused to see a dentist.

In end best Freddie Mercury could do was grow that moustache which helped camouflage or maybe at least deflect from state of his teeth.

Freddie did fix his teeth in the 70’s, moderately, after the work the top teeth were less protruding. I remember he actually spoke about it in an interview.

The mustache really suited Freddie, it made the teeth and mouth less obvious, and made his famous jawline and wonderful dark eyes stand out.

I wouldn't mind if mustaches made a comeback, they look good on a lot of men.

Oh, dear, frau at R115, for your information, Mary Austin herself said that 'she wasn't that into him' for the first 3 years of their relationship. That's when she turned his offer down. Somehow, just as Queen started to go up in the charts, she seems to have discovered her love for Freddie and, even after he came out to her, stuck to him like a sticker to a banana. So there's that.

He never had a nose job. He wouldn't dare do anything that might affect his singing voice. That's the reason he never got his teeth "fixed".

Omg, more self righteous troll trying to ruin someone's legacy. Lots of people were overly promiscuous during that era, even when they knew they had HIV. It's not right, but it is what is. HIV was a new thing and though people knew they could spread it was more of I don't give a fuck imma die happy psychology. Again it's not right but I'm sick of 21st century fake moralists who refuse to acknowledge the issues are more complicated than our social norms of today. Get a life.

[quote]vasoline

Oh, dear.

R119 et al, enough with calling every other person you disagree with "frau". There are far less women on this board than some of you imagine, and just because someone posts something you don't like (which is pretty much everything), that does not make them a female.

'Frau' doesn't necessarily mean female, R123. It means, well... Frau.

"He never had a nose job"

I can believe it, he always seem to have had that beaky Persian nose, at least he always had it as an adult. Funny thing, neither of his parents seem to have that nose, he doesn't really look like either of them.

PS: Yes, there are a lot of the people on this board who can only be called "male fraus". If they ever got together in real life, they'd really talk about which detergent gets their whites the whitest!

Sorry, forgot to include the pic of Freddie's parents.

He doesn't really look that much like either of them.

That's a heavily edited photo, R126. He looks like both of them

And

Actually, based on their later-in-life photos, I believe that's not Freddie's parents at R126's wedding photo at all.

Normal people don’t leave their fortunes to a faghag when they have a living family and a living significant other. Mary gives me bad vibes and always has.

R130

See R94

While Mary Austin did inherit good part of Freddy Mercury's estate it was not entire. FM's parents, family and others were provided for in his will.

MO inherited 50% of his estate. His sister Kashmira got 25% and his parents - the other 25%.

Freddie bought a home for Jim in Ireland.

Also:

Freddie's funeral ceremony took place three days after his death, on November 27, 1991. Three months later, Mary asked Peter, Jim and Freddie's ex Joe Fanelli to all move out of One Garden Lodge.

This caused some resentments and many saw it as a betrayal of Freddie's memory. Peter spoke to The Express to clear up a tangled and inflammatory story.

He said: "As you all know, in his will he left Garden Lodge and all its contents to Mary Austin. This did not include three adult males.

"So that Freddie’s written will could go through probate it was necessary that we were no longer in the house and we were all given THREE MONTHS to make our arrangements. We were not evicted onto the streets, as Freddie had made sure we all had somewhere to go."

Freddie left each of the three men £500,000 to get started, which was an even more considerable amount in 1991...

In his will, Freddie sensationally left Mary his entire fortune, plus his house and half of his future earnings from Queen. But there is also a "vesting period". Some fans were convinced this means Mary does not own the house, only holds it in trust for a limited period...

In legal terms, the house itself is Mary's outright, to live in and dispose of as she alone wishes. Again, many fans believe the house should be turned into a museum, something Mary tried to persuade Freddie to do. But he always wanted it to remain a lived-in and well-loved family home.

I remember in a documentary she almost broke down in tears describing Freddie telling her he was “ a gay”. It seemed phony as fuck to me. She definitely emotionally blackmailed him.

Still can't wrap my head around how he could date this ugly, cold, bug-eyed frau for 6 years. Maybe she represented England to him? She does look quintessentially English.

Some of you need to clam the fuck down and do some research. It's all out there now, litany of Freddie Mercury's lovers, their lives (to some extent) during relationship with FM, and afterwards.

Freddie Mercury like George Michael and other famous/wealthy gay men before, then and since was very generous to his various lovers and partners. This was both during their relationship and afterwards.

From The Mirror...

"But, suspecting there was more to it than just friendship, Freddie's mum Jer Bulsara wrote Jim a letter after Freddie died thanking him for loving him.

Conscious of how HIV and Aids carried such a stigma, Freddie didn't name Jim or his ex Joe in his will, in case they were outed as his lovers.

Instead, he bought them both properties before he died, and gifted Jim the original lyrics to Mr Bad Guy and Bohemian Rhapsody plus his iconic Wembley jacket.

His beautiful Garden Lodge home was bestowed upon Mary, with the promise she would let Jim and Joe live there for as long as they wanted.

She will continue to own the property for 50 years, after which it will pass to an organisation set up by Freddie before he died.

Jim developed Aids after Freddie's diagnosis, but thanks to revolutionary new drugs was able to live a long and happy life.

He died in 2010 at the age of 60 from lung cancer - and spent the rest of his life living in the Irish cottage he'd built with Freddie's generous gift."

Nearly all of Freddie Mercury's former and final lover all were infected with HIV/AIDS. Most died, but Jim Hutton lived long enough to see new treatments and drugs arrive, thus lived a much longer life.

Think many posting here are either very young, or ignorant of times. Freddie Mercury may have been gay as a goose on stage or elsewhere, but never came out as it were. Whatever remaining stigma and discrimination against homosexuals was often ramped up into overdrive when HIV/AIDS hit.

Originally called 4H disease (Haitians, Homosexuals, Hemophiliacs, and Heroin/intravenous drug users) anyone diagnosed was at once suspected of being included in one or more of those groups. For closeted gays AIDS/HIV effectively outed them, as unless another of the three H's were involved...

There was little to nil recognition at that time for same sex partners, even those who had been together for decades. Worse people were guilty by association. As Freddie Mercury rightly assumed naming his former lovers and final partner in his will surely would have raised eyebrows, and most certainly revealed not just his own homosexuality, but theirs as well. Remember again these men all were HIV positive as well, so they had that to contend with too. Since final will and testaments are public documents and Freddie Mercury very famous there was bound to be huge interest soon as those papers were filed for probate.

Freddie’s sister said Freddie always told her and the parents that Jim was just the Gardner. Mary was necessary as a beard and to make his family happy. It sucks for Jim that he got so little though after all the shit he put up with so Mary the hag could get the bulk of it.

Above all being said, it is interesting to wonder if Freddie Mercury had lived long enough to see advances in HIV/AIDS treatments, thus like Larry Kramer live a much longer life; and or not become infected at all how things would have panned out a few decades on.

Would Mary Austin have remained FM's touch stone? Or, would the man like Elton John finally come out, publicly partner with Jim Hutton and eventually marry (once that was possible in UK).

Mary could be the chairman of the beard hall of fame. She got it all and don’t have to suck cock or feed and change him as he was dying.

This video is beautiful and heart-breaking.

R136, the documentary that I saw stated that the house in Ireland was built while Freddie was still alive. He was too ill to ever visit it.

LONDON - Freddie Mercury, who died at age 45 in November of AIDS, left more than $15.5 million to family and friends, according to his will, released Saturday.

The lead singer of rock group Queen gave the bulk of his estate, including his luxury west London home, to former girlfriend Mary Austin, who had continued to work for Mercury after their seven-year relationship ended.

Mercury left $905,000 each to his friend Jim Hutton, chef Joe Fannelli and assistant Peter Freestone, the statement said.

His sister Cash Cooke received 25 percent from the sale of stock and property. The same proportion goes to his parents, Jer and Bomi Bulsara, the statement said.

Mercury had made a large donation to AIDS research; AIDS charities also got millions from a star-studded Mercury tribute concert last month, and from proceeds from a rerelease of Queen's hit "Bohemian Rhapsody."

IIRC Freddie Mercury bought the plot of land in Carlow that Jim Hutton built house upon, assume property was deeded to Mr. Hutton during or after Mr. Mercury's death.

Interesting fact: Freddie left the original lyrics of Bohemian Rhapsody to Jim but he forgot them in his workshop in Garden Lodge. It's possible that Mary destroyed them by accident.

Interview with Jim Hutton from 2006

This is one of last photographs taken of Freddie Mercury before his death.

Taken in garden of his Kensington home with the cats he adored by his side, you can see how much weight FM lost.

More...

You just know Jim and Freddie would have been dataloungers in the future:

"A few day lateral Freddie and I were toghether on the sofa in they lounge watching an old thirties' black-and-withe movie. The heroine asked her partner. ' Will we spend the rest of our lives toghether?. 'of course we will', I answered. 'Don't be silly" -Jim Hutton- Mercury and me.