Unknown photos of Freddie Mercury shed light on the relationship with his "irreplaceable wife" Mary Austin. Mary Austin: biography and personal life of Freddie Mercury's girlfriend Then Freddie said: “If everything turned out differently, you would be my wife, so before

Mary Austin is the only strong love and closest friend of Freddie Mercury. After his death, he left her most of his money, his house, and royalties on his musical works. According to the will, only Mary Austin knows where the remains of the singer are buried after his cremation.

“I had a bunch of mistresses and lovers,” said Freddie Mercury. But I've never won at love. Love was Russian roulette for me... Nobody loved me in me. They loved the train of the star, my position, my bright packaging. Everyone except Mary…”

Freddie Mercury was lying on a huge bed in the bedroom of his London home, surrounded by Persian cats. Nearby sat and sobbed his longtime girlfriend - 40-year-old Mary Austin.

"Mary," he barely said. “I want you to know that all my life I have loved only you.

Yes, Freddie...

- I die 45 years old, but I do not regret anything. Living to 70 must be very boring.

On November 23, 1991, Freddie made a statement through his press agents that he had AIDS. He hid this terrible secret for five years.

The last two days, Mercury could not eat, spoke with difficulty and did not recognize anyone. Mary was on duty at his side every day. She was one of the first people Mercury told of his diagnosis.

Freddie and Mary met in the early 1970s in London. 19-year-old Austin then worked as a saleswoman in the trendy Biba store in the elite Kensington area, where representatives of London's bohemians often dropped by. Among them, the 24-year-old artist and rock musician Freddie Mercury stood out. He always chose the most extravagant outfits and accessories. He was very confident and reminded the girl of a wild beast. Over time, she began to notice that Freddie was watching her with curiosity. Several times he tried to meet, but Mary avoided him.

“It took about six months before Freddie managed to talk to me,” she recalled. “I thought he had his eye on my friend, so I shunned him.

They started dating. Rented a corner for £10 a week on Victoria Road in Kensington. Freddie recently graduated from art college. To earn money, he opened a stall in the local market where he sold his drawings and old things.

“We had so little money that we could only afford to buy curtains that we hung in the bedroom,” Mary recalled. — The bathroom and the kitchen had to be shared with neighbors.

In his free time, Freddie sang in the rock band Queen, which was organized in his student years by his friends, drummer Roger Taylor and guitarist Brian May. Guitarist John Deacon soon joined them. The musicians played in clubs and at student parties. In 1972, they signed a contract with the EMI record label. In the spring of the following year, the guys released their first album "Queen" and went on a tour of the cities of Great Britain, Germany and Luxembourg. Freddie earned money and moved with Mary to a separate apartment.

“I felt secure with him,” Austin recalled. “The better I got to know him, the more I loved him just for who he is. We knew we could trust each other.

Their romance lasted seven years. During this time, Freddie became one of the most famous rock singers. His group tours all over the world and receives huge fees. Crowds of fans run after him. Young people hang posters in their rooms with photos of Freddie Mercury and Queen. The hits "Bohemian Rhapsody", "We are the champions", "Love Somebody", "Killer Queen" top the British charts.

Mary began to feel that Freddie was moving further and further away from her. He bought a huge house in the center of London. He got cats and ran around with them all the time. They hardly saw each other. When Freddie wasn't on tour, he spent all his time at parties with friends.

“Something is happening,” she once said to her beloved. “I feel like a lasso around your neck. I think I need to leave.

- It's all right, baby. Don't think!

- What if we have a baby?

Her proposal shocked Freddie.

- Which child? Are you out of your mind? What kind of father am I?

But I think it would bring us closer.

But Mercury got even angrier.

- I certainly understand! You want money. All you want is money. No one else will get a penny from me except my parents and my cats.

Freddy left, slamming the door. There was no news from him for several days. Mary decided it was all over. But suddenly he called.

— Sorry! I acted like the ultimate idiot. We need to meet. I want to tell you something very important.

Freddie gathered his courage for a long time before saying:

“You see, Mary, I can’t make you happy. I can't be for you a good husband. You see, I'm... gay.

"Then there's nothing for me to do here." I must leave.

- Wait! I don't want you to go far. I will miss you.

They remained close friends. Mercury made Austin his personal secretary and bought her an apartment near his house. Mary tried for several years to arrange a personal life. Changed several lovers. She eventually married artist Piers Cameron and had two sons. However, the relationship between the spouses did not work out. Mary spent a lot of time with Freddie, her husband was annoyed, and in the end he left.

“Our love ended in an ocean of tears,” Mercury said at the end of his life, “but a deep feeling grew out of it, deeper than love. All my lovers ask why they can't take Mary's place, but it's absolutely impossible. Mary was my only friend. I still consider her my civil wife - it was a real marriage. I cannot love a man the way I loved Mary.

In the second half of the 20th century, there appeared rock music which filled the world new meanings, and also made many guys legends, whose names are on a par with rulers and generals. John Lennon, James Hetfield, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Gene Simmons and Freddie Mercury - everyone knows these guys.

The last, by the way, of all those listed is one of the most controversial personalities in the history of music. And if Freddie's unconventional orientation is not a secret to anyone, then about his relationship with Mary Austin very little is known for certain.

Legendary soloist Queen passed away in 1991 at the age of 45 and in such a relatively short period of time his whole life was overgrown with rumors and speculation, now it is almost impossible to find out what the truth is. And one of the most important questions is his relationship with Mary Austin.

First, it was Mary who publicly announced gay singer immediately after his death. Perhaps because it no longer made sense to hide it, but many believe that the woman did it on purpose to get rich on Freddie's death.

They met in the early 70s in a grocery store. "Biba" at Kensington Church, where Freddie bought things for stage images. Their relationship lasted as long as 7 years and the singer repeatedly repeated that Mary had become indispensable to him.

“We believe in each other and that is enough for me. I never could not love someone else the way he loved Mary."

They began to rent a small apartment together - Mercury was not yet a star then. Gradually, their relationship became more platonic, allegedly because of Freddie's passion for men, but who knows how it really was.

In 1976, the singer frankly confessed to Mary in his bisexuality, after which he left her, but they parted as friends - this is the most generally accepted version, but something contradicts it. In the same year, Freddie will write a song "Love of my life", in which he confesses his love and asks someone to return to him.

“Love of my life, you hurt me.
You broke my heart and now you're leaving..."

Literally everyone who knew Freddie Mercury after his death wrote a book about him or at least gave a lengthy interview to at least someone who was ready to listen. And if you add them all up, you get absolute nonsense from contradictory things.

It is safe to say that Mary Austin was really important to Mercury, she helped launch his successful career, and he sincerely loved her. In 1991, he signed a will, where he bequeathed to her half of his fortune and a mansion.

"None of my lovers could not replace Mary. She was my only friend, my wife. Yes, I perceived this relationship as a marriage, ” he once said. It should be noted that the word lovers can be interpreted not only as lovers.

Little is reliably known about the last days of the genius, according to one version, he spent them with Mary Austin, and according to another - with Jim Hutton, who later suddenly reveals that he was Freddie's last love. That is, to do the same as Austin, but later - he will try to make money on someone else's death.

By the way, a biopic about Freddie is coming out at the end of October. "Bohemian Rhapsody" with "Mr. Robot" star Rami Malek as Mercury. It's very interesting to see what version of events Bryan Singer is going to tell us.

In any case, does it really matter what kind of orientation Mercury had, was he a betrayer or a traitor, and who did he truly love? I don’t think so, given that his songs still excite the hearts of millions and do not leave playlists radio stations around the world. And let Mary Austin's real motives remain on her conscience.

“The only friend of my life is Mary and I don’t want another,” Freddie Mercury once said about the “love of his life” Mary Austin. When the leader of Queen was still alive, the media constantly discussed his personal life, but almost never mentioned the blonde who was constantly next to Freddie. The film "Bohemian Rhapsody" shed a little more light on this person, and today we want to tell you what place Mary Austin occupied in the life of Freddie Mercury.

Mary met Freddie in her youth in the early 70s, when she was only 19 years old. Then she worked as a salesman in the Biba fashion store, and the aspiring musician came to her to pick up a stage costume.

Mary was immediately attracted to the "wild-looking artistic musician" and soon began a relationship.

The couple began dating and a strong bond formed between them, which remained with Freddie throughout his life.

The couple lived together for 7 years, but in the last years of their life together, Mary began to notice that something had gone wrong

Freddie gathered his courage and confessed to his beloved that he was attracted to young men and their relationship ended

However, even though their relationship ended physically, their friendship grew stronger and stronger.

“Our romance ended in tears, but a deep bond grew out of it, and no one can take that away from us,” Freddie once said.

"All my lovers ask why they can't replace her, but it's just not possible"

Mary had to build her future life, and she married Piers Cameron and had two children

However, this marriage could not be called happy, the spouse did not like that Austin was always next to his former lover, and they soon broke up

Mary tried to create family happiness again and got married a second time in 1998, but this union was also not strong and the couple broke up after 4 years. After these failures, Mary gave up trying to get married.

She was by Freddie's side when he passed away from HIV, and he left her most of his fortune after his death.

When Freddie told Mary that he was going to bequeath his 20 million mansion to her, Austin offered to just give her a power of attorney.

Then Freddie said: “If things had turned out differently, you would have been my wife, so you would have got the house anyway.”

After Freddie's death, everything went awry and the legacy he left Mary became her curse.

She got his luxurious mansion, 9 million pounds and the hatred of Queen members

Someone else's envy struck Mary to the core and it was hard for her to cope with all this.

However, Freddie was very generous to the musicians of his group in the last years of his life, but apparently they never realized this generosity.

Meruri left the team a quarter of the income from the last four albums, but they apparently were not enough. After Freddie died they just left

Mary lives on memories of Freddie, hearing his songs. They lived together for many years. Together emotionally, and it can't go unnoticed

When Mercury was already very ill, he and Mary watched videos of his old performances and then he turned to her and sadly said: "I was so beautiful." Austin got up and left the room.

“We were not allowed to be too emotional around him, and it was difficult. But I knew that if I had stayed sitting there, I would have cried. When I got back, I just sat down like nothing happened. But at that moment he took me by surprise, ”recalls Mary

It's fair to say that these two soul mates have experienced their fair share of ups and downs during their time together. And it was true love

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. Not very attractive short blonde worked in a fashionable youth store "Beeba" in the street Kensington Church. The most advanced youth hung out in this "shopping point": after a little digging, 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 called both the wife of Freddie Mercury, and his ex-fiancee, and girlfriend, but she prefers to be called the woman of his life. For many years, the heiress of a multi-million dollar fortune keeps only known facts about the life of a musician, about his death and burial place.

Biography

Mary Austin's date of birth is March 6, 1951. Nothing is known about her childhood other than that she was born in London and her parents were deaf and dumb. Some sources mention that Mary's mother was a typist and her father a carpenter. Austen's origins are also betrayed by her speech, in which "cockney" is clearly heard, which is spoken by people from the working families of the London outskirts.

Brian May was the first to draw attention to the fragile short saleswoman of the Biba boutique, which was popular with the progressive part of London's youth. Unlike fashion designers who prefer bold, flashy colors designed to brighten up the eternally rainy London, the owner of the shop, Barbara Hulaniki, offered clothes predominantly in gray and black, as well as blueberry and burgundy.

In 1969, shortly before Biba moved into a huge seven-story building that had previously served as a warehouse, May came to the store with Freddie and introduced the young people. The lively, impulsive musician won the girl's heart, and soon Freddie and Mary rented a room in Kensington. Many years later, Austin will tell that they barely had enough money for food, and the kitchen and bathroom had to be shared with neighbors, but, despite everything, it was the happiest period in her life, which was not destined to last long.

Mary Austin and Freddie

According to the memoirs, Austin, a bright and handsome young musician, unshakably believed in his success and literally infected her and the members of the group with this faith. In 1973, Freddie gave her an inexpensive silver ring with jade. The gift was made on the eve of Christmas, and Mary did not even think that this could be an offer. However, it was indeed a proposal. The girl began to prepare for the wedding and even looked after the dress, but it did not come to the wedding. The following year, the single "Seven Seas of Rhye" reached the top of the UK charts, and began the great triumphal procession of Queen's music around the world.

Mary Austin and Freddie Mercury. Source: Instagram

As the group grew in popularity, Freddie was less likely to visit their expensive new apartment, and Mary, she says, felt left out. The conversation, which later became almost the key plot of the biopic "Bohemian Rhapsody", which took place between young people, put everything in its place. Freddie confessed to the girl that he was attracted to men and in 1977 she moved out of their apartment, but soon he bought her a house nearby and the relationship continued, albeit in a slightly different status. Since 1978, Mary was officially considered a friend of the singer and received a salary from the Mercury Company, acting as a secretary.

Personal life

In 1975, Freddie wrote "Love of my Life", dedicated to Mary. In the early 80s, she began dating a young artist and designer, Pierce Cameron, who did not approve of the close communication between Mary and Freddie, whose joint photographs continued to appear in notes dedicated to the famous artist.

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The first son of Mary and Cameron Richard was born in 1989, the godfather was Freddie. While pregnant with her second child, Mary cared for an artist dying of AIDS. In addition to her, Jim Hutton, his lover, who served as a hairdresser and gardener, as well as Mercury's chef, and his former lover Joe Vanelli, were in the musician's house around the clock.

The second son of a woman, whose father she also calls Cameron, was born in 1991, after the death of a rock star. Mary did not officially marry the father of her two children.

Having received more than half of the inheritance of the great Mercury, she became a recluse. Austin raised her two sons in the Victorian mansion Garden Lodge, inherited from the artist.

In 1998, it became known about the marriage of Mary with an entrepreneur named Nicholas Holford, but in 2002 they divorced. Mary does not provide any other information about herself.

Mary Austin and other men

Some biographers of Mercury are extremely skeptical about many of Mary's statements, because there are no facts confirming that there was any relationship between them. For almost eight years of their lives, young people did not get married, Mary did not conceive and did not give birth to a child, and the fact that they were generally close is known only from the words of Austin herself.

About Mary, the singer always spoke with sincere respect and sympathy. But immediately after his death, in her interviews, Austin will talk about his many lovers, about the connections with which she allegedly knew all the details. In fact, after the death of the star, Mary was the first to openly call Freddie gay.

Confirming the words of the woman, Jim Hutton, who called himself Freddie's last lover, wrote the book "Mercury and Me" in 1993, which is more like an erotic novel designed for an uneducated and not very healthy reader.

Historian and music critic Mariam Akhundova published a book in which she refutes some of the facts disseminated by Austin and Hutton. Her research resonated with many fans, as well as the musicians of the legendary band themselves. An interesting fact is that both May and Taylor openly dislike Austin and accuse her of lying and self-interest. Mary's statement that Freddie was infected with HIV in 1987 is questioned not only by Akhundova, but also by modern researchers who insist that with such a rapid course of the disease, the artist could not work so hard, record new songs and give concerts as it continued until 1989.

Historians are especially interested mysterious disappearance Freddie's hospital card, urgent cremation of the remains and a secret burial place for the ashes. In 1992, the artist's personal doctor, Gordon Atkinson, made a statement that he did not know about Mercury's HIV infection, and the deterioration general condition he associated the artist only with excessive stress and nervous exhaustion.

Also, many historians express doubt about the homosexual orientation of the musician, because no one except Mary, Hutton and Vanelli dared to say that Freddie was gay. The journalists tried to find the rest of Mercury's lovers, but they never found anyone.

According to Austin, Freddie wanted to hide both his homosexuality and the disease, which he considered dirty, so he was not treated in Britain. Fulfilling his will, she and Hutton opened the information that Mercury was a homosexual and contracted AIDS only after his death.

Mary Austin now

The film "Bohemian Rhapsody", which was completed in 2018, quite expectedly became an event of the movie season. Only in 2019, the creators of the picture paid Austin $ 51 million, since, according to the will of the rock icon, it is she who owns 50% of the profits from the works associated with his name. The role of the artist was played by Rami Malek, who received the Golden Globe in January, and the role of Mary was played by Lucy Boyton.

Mary Austin now and in her youth.