Freddie Mercury and Mary Austin relationship. Freddie Mercury and Mary Austin - a love story and a photo of the Queen leader and his beloved woman

The universe without me is not the same ... (c)

The beloved woman of the Queen star received his millions, but was severely attacked by jealous rivals, and Mercury's bandmates simply abandoned her.

A few days before his death, when his once flexible body became completely helpless due to AIDS, Freddie Mercury asked the woman he called "the love of his life" for one last favor. She, and only she, must take his ashes after cremation and bury them in a secret place that must forever remain unknown.
For more than two decades, Mary Austin has been fulfilling Mercury's wish by keeping his ashes secret. Even his elderly parents were not informed about him.
Since the death of the 45-year-old Queen frontman in November 1991, there has been a lot of speculation. Were the ashes taken to his native Zanzibar? Or perhaps buried under a cherry tree in the garden of his London mansion?
When a plaque with his real name, Farukh Bulsara, was discovered last month at Kensall Green Cemetery in West London, hope was raised by an army of fans that they had finally found the idol's final resting place.
But Mary, the woman who spent most of her life with the enigmatic showman and inherited his $20 million Edwardian mansion, as well as most of his £9 million personal fortune, replies categorically:
- Freddie is not buried in this cemetery.
Mercury, famous for his immoderate lifestyle and unstoppable power on stage, died of AIDS when this disease was feared and not understood. Mary says that shortly before his death, he was very afraid that his grave would be desecrated:
- He didn't want anyone to try to dig him up like other celebrities did. The fans are completely obsessed. He wanted the place where he was buried to remain a secret, and it will remain.
She kept the urn in Freddie's bedroom for two years, and then staged a complex covert operation, leaving the house alone to fulfill his last request.
To avoid prying eyes, she didn't even take her driver with her.
- I didn't want anyone to suspect what I was going to do. I said that I was going to the beautician. You had to look convincing. It was very difficult to pick up the moment.
Early one morning, I sneaked out of the house with an urn. It was necessary to choose a perfectly normal day so that the servants would not suspect anything - because the servants gossip. They can't help but gossip. But no one will ever know where Freddie is buried because he wanted to.
A few days earlier, Mary had invited Mercury's parents home to read prayers for the dead. But even they were not told where his ashes were now.
It was an emotional and very intense mission for Mary, in and out of Mercury for 20 years. After his death, she was left alone. We sat in the music hall of the huge mansion, still brightly and lavishly decorated in the way Mercury preferred, and behind the wall the fans were relentless on duty. Many of them come there every day to stick notes about eternal love on the wall.
Mary looks out the window, smiling sadly. Then, sitting comfortably on a plush sofa, she looks around the room - a stunning collection of antiques, paintings and furniture from the time of Louis XV.
- Why should I change something? she asks. - It's his taste and style. He is beautiful. Freddie is invisibly present here.
The piano at which Mercury composed many of his greatest hits, including Bohemian Rhapsody, the centerpiece of the room. On it are several photographs in silver frames - Mary and Mercury from the heyday of their romance, laughing merrily. They spent six years together before he confessed to her that he was gay and began to change lovers like gloves. But his love for Mary never faded.
The fact that he left her a large part of the state caused many deep and burning resentment - including Mercury's former Queen comrades. Mary says that he warned that his inheritance could become a heavy burden.
“And he was right,” she adds, and frowns.
After Freddie's death, she felt she couldn't handle anything. She survived several serious illnesses and could hardly cope with the emotions associated with the inheritance.
- I remember I thought: "Oh, Freddie, you left me too much, I will not find so much strength to cope with everything." I felt like I didn't deserve all of this. He warned me that the house would be more difficult than I thought. I am grateful to him, because someone else's envy hit me like a Japanese high-speed train at full speed. Very painful.
The rest of the Queen musicians, in my opinion, have not come to terms with this. I do not understand. For me, it's just a building, nothing special. I try never to be jealous or envious.
Freddie was very generous to them in the last years of his life, and it seems to me that they never realized this generosity. They don't appreciate or understand what Freddie left them. He left the band a quarter of the proceeds from their last four albums - although he was under no obligation to do so. And I don't talk to them at all. After Freddie's death, they left.
Memories of Mercury haunt her everywhere, she admits.
- I hear a song and immediately remember the emotions associated with it. We lived together for over twenty years. Under the same roof. Together - in an emotional sense.
During this time, she experienced everything: the joy when Mercury proposed to her, parting, when he realized he was a homosexual, the torment of the last days of his life. One memory of those days still haunts her. Already completely ill, Mercury was watching videos of his performances.
- He turned to me and sadly said: "And I was so beautiful." I got up and hurried out of the room,” she recalls. - I was very upset. We were not allowed to show strong emotions around him, and it was difficult. And I knew that if I had remained seated, I would have burst into tears. When I returned, I sat next to him again, as if nothing had happened. But he really took me by surprise.
Mary was 19 years old when she met Mercury in the early seventies. She was born into a poor family in Battersea (South London) - her father was a carver in a printing house, and her mother was a servant in a small company - and her childhood was not an easy one. Both father and mother were deaf and communicated exclusively through signs and lip reading.
Mary worked as a saleswoman in the fashion store "Biba" in Kensington and met the 24-year-old Mercury in a clothing store that he ran with Queen drummer Roger Taylor in nearby Kensington Market.
At first, she was wary of Mercury, but at the same time she was interested in this "outlandish artistic musician."
“I have never met such people before,” she recalls. - He was very confident in himself, unlike me. Eventually we started dating. I liked it, in fact, that's how it all started.
The couple first settled in a large living room, then they moved into a modest apartment on Holland Road. They were happy with each other, but did not discuss a joint future.
- Then, when I was already 23, he gave me a big box for Christmas. Inside was a smaller box, then even smaller, and so on. He loved to have so much fun. In the last box, I found a beautiful jade ring.
I saw him and was speechless. I remember thinking, "I don't understand why this is?" I was expecting something completely different. So I asked him, "Which finger should I wear it on?" He replied: "On the ring finger of the left hand." And then he said: "Will you marry me?" I was shocked. I didn't expect this at all. I whispered, "Yes, I will."
But impulsive as always, Mercury quickly changed his mind.
“A little later,” Mary recalls, “I saw a beautiful antique wedding dress in a small shop. Freddie didn't say anything else about the wedding, so I decided to test the waters myself and asked: "Well, is it time for me to buy a dress?" But he answered "No". Marriage ceased to interest him, he did not return to this topic anymore.
I was disappointed, but in fact, I had a premonition that nothing would work out. Relations have become very complicated, the atmosphere around us has changed a lot. I knew something was going to happen, but I couldn't say for sure what it was.
I never questioned him. But it looks like he's already started to question himself. Perhaps he really wanted to get married. But then I thought about whether it would be fair to me.
When Mercury admitted that he was gay, the physical relationship between them ended, but Mary is very grateful to Freddie that he once decided to discuss his changed preferences with her.
“If he wasn’t so decent and didn’t tell me anything, I wouldn’t be here,” she says frankly. - If he began to live a bisexual life without telling me anything, then I would also get AIDS and die.
Mary began to notice that Mercury was returning home later and later, and suggested that he had another woman. She feared that their relationship was about to end. But one day he told her that he wanted to tell her something important - something that would forever change their relationship.
Bowing her head, Mary says quietly:
- I will never forget this moment. I was a little naive, so I did not immediately understand what was going on. He was very happy when he confessed his bisexuality to me. True, I remember that I then answered him: "No, Freddie, you are not bisexual. I think you are gay."
She recalls that Freddie then hugged her and said: no matter what happens, he wants her to remain a part of his life forever. For some time they still continued to live together, albeit rather unusually. When they had dinner parties, Mary sat on one side of Mercury, and his current boyfriend on the other.
In the end, Mary decided to move out of their common apartment, and the Mercury music company bought her a house for 300,000 pounds.
Mary becomes thoughtful.
- The saddest thing is that if he had been more careful, he would still live. Much has changed with modern advances in medicine.
Mary could only watch from afar as her former lover opened a new, unbridled chapter in his life.
- I think Freddie gradually came to the point that he began to consider himself invulnerable. He convinced himself that he was having a great time, and perhaps, in part, he was. But, I'm sure, in part - it was not.
And then it was already too late. The only person who could change anything was Freddie himself. But it seems to me that he has ceased to be honest with himself. Many of his so-called friends hung around him for free tickets, free booze, free drugs, free food, gossip, and, of course, expensive gifts.
Mercury hid exactly what he was sick with, almost until his death. When he said that he was going to bequeath his beautiful house to her, Mary suggested that he simply issue a power of attorney for her.
- He then said: "If everything turned out differently, you would be my wife, so the house would still remain yours."
Mary has two children: Richard, whom Freddie knew, and Jamie, born shortly after his death. Her relationship with their father did not last long. Then Mary met another man and even married him. But the marriage lasted only five years, and they divorced ten years ago.
The real love of her life was and remains Mercury. She never forgot about him.
- Freddie was funny. I only saw him seriously when he was working on songs. The house was silent, but it was full of latent energy.
But Freddie's character always remained the same, whatever the mood. He was always on the move. He was like the volume control on a radio. Very few people can enter the room and you immediately feel warm and welcome. And then they leave, and the warmth leaves with them.
The true nature of Mercury, she believes, is a strange combination of self-doubt and self-confidence.
- I think the turning point was Bohemian Rhapsody. After her, he realized that he should not doubt himself. He was told that radio stations would not play such a long song, but Freddie flatly refused to shorten it.
Fans still gather around the house where their idol once lived; Mary understands their desire to know where is his last resting place. But she is bound by the promise made to him.
“I never betrayed Freddie in my lifetime,” she says. - I will not betray even after death.

November 1, 2018 will see the premiere of "Bohemian Rhapsody" - a new film about the group Queen, which will shed light on the little-known romance between Freddie Mercury and Mary Austin. After the release of the trailer, rare footage of lovers appeared on the Web, and at the same time, old gossip about the life of the Great Pretender surfaced.

It is generally accepted that this fragile blonde was just a cover for the unconventional orientation of the musician. But the truth is that Freddie really loved Mary Austin. He proposed to her, rewrote her Kensington mansion and half of his $75 million fortune.

Mercury once said: “None of my lovers could replace Mary. She was my only friend, my wife. Yes, I perceived this relationship as a marriage.

“We believe in each other and that is enough for me. I could never love a man the way I loved Mary."

Austin, 67, still lives in the same West London mansion where the singer died of AIDS in 1991. According to neighbors, she lives as a recluse and rarely leaves the house.

Although the woman did not participate in the making of the film, she gave her permission to shoot. Bohemian Rhapsody was produced by ex-Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor. The role of Mary was played by British actress Lucy Boynton, Mercury was played by American actor Rami Malek.

"Bohemian Rhapsody" trailer

Loving the great...

The romance between a 19-year-old saleswoman and a 24-year-old rock musician began in 1969 and lasted 7 years. In 1973, Queen released their debut album, at the same time Mercury stunned Mary with a marriage proposal.

“I was speechless ... And I didn’t understand at all what was happening. It wasn't at all what I expected." the woman recalls.

Austin's happiness was overshadowed by suspicions of Freddie's infidelity and his connections with men. In 1976, he confessed to his beloved that he was bisexual.

Mary once said: “I will never forget this moment. I remember telling him, “No, Freddie, I don't think you're bisexual. I think you're gay."

After this conversation, Austin moved into a neighboring apartment, and Mercury went on a rampage. He became addicted to cocaine, emptied several bottles of alcohol a day, and periodically fell into an uncontrollable rage. To forget, the musician organized.

All this time, Mary did not lose hope of getting close to her beloved again and once suggested that he have a child in order to save the relationship. Mercury replied to this: "I still love you, but I can't make love to you anymore."

This refusal may have saved Austin's life, because by that time the singer was already infected with the HIV virus.

Freddie slept with hundreds of men at a time when the world didn't know anything about AIDS. In 1986, he was diagnosed with a terrible disease, about which he.

Realizing that his days were numbered, the singer signed a will in September 1991, transferring half of his capital to Mary, and the rest to his parents and sister. Many of his friends, including, received 500 thousand pounds or some kind of property.

The great pretender died out in November of that year. Mary stayed close to the end, holding Freddie's hand and telling him how much she loved him.

After Mercury's death, the woman fulfilled the last will of her beloved and scattered his ashes. It is not known exactly where this happened - at Kensal Green Cemetery in West London or under a cherry tree in the garden of his estate. Mary kept the secret.

Austin never met a man who could outshine Mercury. True, she gave birth to two sons from the artist Piers Cameron, but she never agreed to marry him. “When Freddie died, I lost my family. He was everything to me, as were my sons. There is no one like him and there never will be."

How do you see the love story? Who really was Mary Austin - an irreplaceable wife or a guarantor of his masculinity in the eyes of society? Write your opinion in the comments.

Recently, the Russian premiere of the musical biopic "Musical Rhapsody" about the cult band Queen and its famous frontman Freddie Mercury, who once stated that "he had more lovers than Elizabeth Taylor", who had seven husbands alone, took place. In pursuit of thrills, the musician has tried almost everything in his life, and some pages from his biography make even those who are not distinguished by hypocrisy and chastity blush. And yet he had a special connection, a lifelong attachment to Mary Austin.

The name of Freddie Mercury appeared in the journalistic chronicle next to the names of the most famous women of that time. True, with all of them he was connected only by friendship, and sometimes very strange. For example, he somehow brought Princess Diana to a gay club by dressing up as a guy. And model Samantha Fox, they said, did not miss a single one of his parties. The spectacular blonde German actress Barbara Valentine could not resist his charm, with whom they periodically found themselves in the same bed, or rather, the lady without complexes more than once turned out to be the third when Freddie had fun with one of his many lovers. A string of male lovers did not stop him from seducing 17-year-old Carrie Fisher. But all this did not prevent him from maintaining a relationship with his first girlfriend Mary Austin throughout his life.

When they met, Mary was 19. The daughter of a printer's worker was a saleswoman in one of the popular London shops. After they met in 1970, young people lived instead of 6 years. At first they rented a small room, and then moved to a separate apartment, and, according to Mary, if not for Mercury's orientation, they would have tied the knot.

Mary Austin - the woman who became the inspiration for Queen's ballad "Love of my life", 1975.

And even when Austin decided to leave due to the fact that she was simply tired of sharing Freddie with men, they maintained a platonic relationship. The musician bought his girlfriend a luxurious apartment in London, next to his house, so that they could see each other every day. And when Mary gave birth to a son from designer Piers Cameron, Freddie became his godfather.

This friendship continued until the death of Mercury, who said more than once that Mary Austin is his closest friend, life without which is simply impossible. Mary spent hours with Jimi at Freddie's bedside as he died in terrible pain. And it was she who happened to inform her friend's parents about his death. Mercury bequeathed most of his multi-million dollar fortune to his parents, sister and Mary, whom he called the main woman in his life. She still lives today in a luxurious mansion in Kensington, which she inherited.

For 10 years now, the favorite of the public, the lead singer of "Queen" Freddie Mercury, has passed away. His earthly life ended on November 24, 1991, but for many fans of the group's work and close people of this extraordinary personality, "the show continues to this day." It is this, judging by the song of the same name that has become a cult, that Freddie wanted the most. Mercury passionately loved life and dreamed of getting as much as possible from his short existence. Therefore, everyone involved in the life orbit of the star cannot part with it until now. Who are they - women who once and for all gave their hearts to this handsome man, who gave away his tenderness equally to ladies and men? About those who continue to love Freddie, our story.

Mary - homemaker

Mary Austin lives in London. The huge mansion in Kensington is surrounded by a Japanese garden with flowering trees and surrounded by a high wall covered with protective paint - from graffiti lovers. This place is included in the traditional excursion route of the Queen fan club - Freddie Mercury lived and died here. Not far from here was his first acquaintance with Mary.

In 1970, the girl turned 19 years old. The not-too-attractive short blonde worked at the trendy youth store Biba on Kensington Church Street. The most advanced youth hung out in this "shopping point": after a little rummaging, here one could find an unusual T-shirt, an old-fashioned but stylish sweater, dresses of the most exotic colors and styles. Then Mary recalled that Freddie had to take care of her for 6 whole months: in simplicity, it seemed to the sincere girl that he liked another saleswoman more. When, on the day of his 24th birthday, Mercury invited Mary on a first date, she, having invented some reason, did not come - she just wanted to seem impregnable. But the very next evening, Freddie persuaded her to go with him to a nightclub.

“He didn’t have any money then,” recalls Mary, “so we did everything that ordinary young couples do. There weren’t any chic restaurants - it all came to him later.” And at first they rented a room in Kensington for 10 pounds a week and shared a bathroom and kitchen with neighbors.

It cannot be said that the girl immediately lost her head. She simply liked Freddie - black-haired, handsome, self-confident - the last quality of Mary herself was always lacking. Austin once admitted that it took her 3 years to truly fall in love. But then no one else could take Freddie's place in her soul.

They lived together for 7 years. The room was replaced by a separate apartment in the same area, and then quite decent housing. It was here that Mary first noticed that their relationship had changed. Prior to this, Mercury did not give her cause for concern: even the fame that fell on Freddie did not detract from his need to constantly be with Mary. He cooled off suddenly: he began to come home late, but at the same time he tried to avoid the slightest confrontation. "For a long time I could not understand the true reason for the change," recalls Mary. "In the end, the recognition that he was bisexual was a real relief for Freddie." But he could not let his girlfriend go at all: he bought her an apartment in the same area, in a house that was visible from his windows. And Mary realized that she could never leave her beloved completely.

Oddly enough, they remained best friends. Perhaps neither he nor she had ever had a closer person. Each then had their own personal life, but on some invisible level they remained a family. Freddie's boyfriends even managed to be jealous of Austin. And not in vain. “Mary was my only friend, and I don’t need another,” Mercury once said. “I still consider her my common-law wife - it was a real marriage. We believed in each other, but that’s enough for me. I can’t love a man the way I loved Mary ... We will grow old together. I can not imagine my life without her. Sometimes a true friend is more valuable than a lover. "

Freddie never had to live without her. Mary looked after him in his last days, helped him endure excruciating pain, saw him say goodbye to life. At some point, Mercury stopped taking medication and said: "That's it, I'm ready ... I'm leaving." As soon as she left the house for 10 minutes that day, Freddie was gone.

"It would be better if I died," says Mary. "Then he would miss me." But she had to live and take care of Freddie's huge mansion. Mary lives here with her two sons and her husband, to whom she is grateful for the fact that he decided to take her with all the baggage brought from her life with Mercury. And Freddie's will to leave his girlfriend a house and a multi-million dollar fortune is perhaps a kind of realization of an unfulfilled dream of a family.

Barbara - Playmate

Mary Austin looked at least strange next to Freddie - this woman did not look like those that surround homosexuals: neither a "beard" - a conspiratorial girl, nor a "fag hag" - a platonic gay girlfriend. Most likely, she really was his wife, even when the sexual relationship between them ceased. But her complete opposite was another woman who occupied a firm place in Mercury's life - the German actress Barbara Valentin. Freddie and met her in the Munich gay bar "New York", where Barbara loved to visit.

In her fifties, Valentine remained a very attractive person, possessed of magnificent forms and an indefatigable passion for entertainment. At one of the parties, a German woman accidentally burned her friend Freddie with a cigarette. After a short altercation, they met, and Mercury immediately dragged Barbara into the women's room, sat her on the toilet, and squatted next to her. They talked, like old friends, about everything: about love, failures, plans. And when they left the toilet, they found that the bar was empty, the door was locked.

For three years, Valentin participated in all Freddie's pranks - they wandered around the bars together, arranged sprees, men were jealous of each other, fought, slept in the same bed, traveled.

Once Mercury beat a guy who washed Barbara's hair in the sink in one of the bars. Another time, she got it herself: Freddie slapped his girlfriend in the face for flirting with the guy he liked. “For me, this slap in the face was like a bouquet of flowers,” Valentine later admitted. “Then our relationship was very difficult to understand ... He was gay, I loved men. But we were in love ...” Freddie considered this woman his best friend: "Barbara and I are more connected than I've been connected to anyone in the past 6 years. You can speak frankly with her and still be yourself, which is very rare."

Yes, Freddie really showed Valentine those sides of his "I", from acquaintance with which, perhaps, he tried to save Mary Austin. Barbara said that after bouts of stormy fun, he sometimes began to have tantrums - he beat his head against the radiator, rushed around the house, broke furniture. Once in a dream, he grabbed his girlfriend by the throat and almost strangled her. But an hour after such "frills" Mercury completely came to his senses, wiped the blood from his broken face and peacefully watered the flowers in his favorite garden. At the same time, Freddie could not leave Barbara's bed for days when she was sick, and the death of pets each time became a real grief for him. “He was very caring,” says Valentin. “He became very attentive when I talked about my troubles. His humor, like nothing else, helped me calm down.”

Suddenly everything changed. In 1985, Freddie unexpectedly left Munich and returned to London, where he began to lead an unusually quiet lifestyle. Only his closest friends, including Mary, knew that he had AIDS. Barbara saw Mercury only 2 years later and immediately understood everything: a huge spot appeared on his face - one of the signs of a fatal illness. The last time they saw each other was in the summer of 1991 at his house, when Freddie no longer got out of bed. Thin, in terrible pain, he said that Barbara made him happy again.

Mary Austin is the woman Mercury gave his heart to. It was she who became the muse that inspired the soloist of the Queen group to compose the song Love of My Life.

Mercury and Austin met when they were still very young people - Freddie was 24, and Mary was only 19. Then they could not imagine how far their warm friendly relations would go.

Freddie said: “All my lovers were tormented by the question “what is so special about Mary, because of which no one can replace her?” Replacing Mary is simply not realistic - my only answer to that. This woman is the only one for whom there is a place in my heart, and apart from her, I do not want anyone. For me, she is a common-law spouse and our relationship is regarded by me as a marriage.”

Joint moments life

Austin remained close to the rock soloist throughout his life. She did not leave him even with her last breath. Mercury died in 1991 from bronchial pneumonia that developed in connection with AIDS.

Once, their relationship reached the very mark, after which the rising star offered the girl her hand and heart. After his death, the lead singer of Queen bequeathed to his beloved $ 75 million and a London mansion, which has about 28 rooms. In it, by the way, Mercury spent the last day of his life.

Today, Austin leads a quiet and secluded life, not attending social events, where she used to arrive in the company of a famous companion. For several decades, the couple lived together. Of course, due to the popularity of Queen and frequent trips to cities, lovers often had to part for the duration of the tour.

sudden love

Freddie Mercury is just a beautiful pseudonym. The real name of the lead singer of Queen is Farrukh Bulsara. The musician was born in Zanzibar in 1946. At 14, the young star moved with her family to London.

Austin happened to be born in 1951, in a family of simple and poor hard workers who were completely deaf. The girl's mother was a servant in a small company, and her father was a wallpaper machine operator.

Young people met in 1969. It happened in the London fashion boutique "Biba". It was there that nineteen-year-old Austin worked. Then, Mercury just graduated from the Institute of the Arts and worked part-time at a local Kensington clothing kiosk.

At first, the girl did not consider their relationship something serious and big, but soon the young people began living together in a small apartment, where Mercury developed his potential as a soloist.

“I haven't met anyone like him,” Austin said. “He was always 100% sure of himself, unlike me. We lived and grew up together. And every year I fell in love with him more and more ... "

“It felt like she was being punished,” says the author of Is This Real Life? The untold story of Freddie and the Queen" - Mark Blake. "They were lucky. They got along well and fell in love with each other. After a few months of dating, they lived together, and so on until the very last day of Mercury.”

unexpected sentence...

In 1973, the lovers settled into a spacious apartment on Holland-Road. And after the release of the album of the same name - Freddie invited the girl to marry him.

“Once for Christmas, he gave me a huge box, inside of which there was another smaller one, and inside it - more and more. That kind of stuff was his style,” says Austin. “In the end, I found a jade ring in the smallest box! It was delicious... While I stood in disbelief, he asked: "Will you be my wife?" I was confused and amazed. All I could say was yes, I will…”

Soon, Queen released the albums "Sheer Heart Attack" and "A Night at the Opera", in connection with which, the group's popularity increased dramatically. The last album contained the ballad dedicated to Mary "Love of My Life".

Not only the popularity of the group grew, but also the popularity of Mercury himself. His luxurious head of hair, a sly smile and spectacular outfits, in addition to amazing vocal abilities, gathered a huge audience at concerts.

"Freddie gay, but not bisexual"

Jim Hutton

Years passed, and after six years of marriage, the marriage between the couple was no longer discussed. Mary was very upset by this fact, and she decided to talk about her experiences with Mercury. “I feel like something is going wrong,” she once said. “I think it's time for me to leave. I think it's over." Mercury grabbed the saddened girl by the hand, insisting that everything was as it was before. The woman recalls that just at the moment of the flood of fame and success, their warm relationship began to cool incredibly quickly.

Every day, the legendary soloist returned home later and later, staying late for unknown reasons. Then, Mary began to suspect him of infidelity with another woman. However, in 1976, the international star - Freddie Mercury, decided to tell his companion the whole truth about his sexual hobbies.

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“I will never forget this,” says Austin. “Given my naivete, it took a long time before I realized the whole essence of the terrible truth. He said, "I'm bisexual." And I replied to him: “No, Freddie, I don’t consider you bisexual. I consider you gay.”

After this revelation, according to Austin, the man felt much better at heart. However, their physical intimacy came to an end. Austin could not get over the shock, and moved into a separate apartment nearby, which was bought for her by the music company Mercury.

Be that as it may, Austin did not abandon her companion. She went with him on concert tours. There are plenty of photos of the former couple backstage. But, they were no longer in a relationship. More precisely, they were, but exceptionally friendly.

“It's a very interesting situation,” says Blake. “They lived side by side for so long, and Austin sincerely believed that someday she would become Mercury's wife. However, he was the most real, in every sense of the word - gay. And after so many moments together, now she has to put up with the fact that her lover slept with other men. But, despite all the shock from the revealed truth, she still remained with him, only now as a friend. But she was still the most valuable person of all those around him.”

Devotion before last breathing

While Mercury tries all the excesses of rock life - drugs and promiscuity, Mary decides to move on with her life. So, first she had a son, Richard, whose godfather, by the way, was Mercury, and a little later - Jamie, who was born shortly after the death of the legendary soloist. Austin's husband was a big businessman Nick Holford, but their marriage fell apart after five years.

In 1987, the rock star was diagnosed with HIV. There was no treatment, as such, and complications associated with AIDS began. Freddie Mercury died on November 24, 1991. Mary was there at the time of his death.

“He asked her not to leave him after he found out about his illness,” says Blake. “Mercury took good care of her after his death. He left her money, houses and a share in the publication. Not all husbands care so much about their wives.”

Austin herself speaks of the death of a companion as the loss of something important and valuable. “I considered him my eternal love,” the woman says. “For me, our relationship was a civil marriage. And when he died, I finally understood it.”

Mary supported Mercury's idea to keep the nature of his illness a mystery. They made this decision shortly before the death of the star. Also, the man asked her to be cremated, and the ashes were collected by her personally and hidden in a place that no one would ever know about. Austin kept her promise. “He wanted to warn himself against crazy fans who dig up the ashes of their idols and then store them at home,” the woman explained. “It’s just our secret with him, just like he wanted.”

Film "Bohemian" Rhapsody" brought Mary Austin solid fee

The woman who was Mercury's only love throughout his life - Mary Austin, received a handsome fee of $ 51 million for Bohemian Rhapsody. This is explained by the fact that she, as the civil wife of the legendary musician, has the right to half of the income from works related to the name of the rock idol.