A woman who claims she is Freddie Mercury’s “secret daughter” has spoken out for the first time, amid scepticism from Mercury’s best friend.
A new biography of the late Queen frontman, titled Love, Freddie: Freddie Mercury’s Secret Life and Love, is due out in September, and it includes claims that he fathered a child in 1976 after having an affair with the wife of a close friend.
The book is co-written by the daughter, who is only referred to as ‘B’ and is now 48 years old, alongside Lesley-Ann Jones. B says she has based the book on 17 handwritten diaries that Mercury gave her shortly before his death in 1991.
When the details of the book were announced in May, several of Mercury’s closest friends said they were sceptical about B’s claims.
Mary Austin, who was Mercury’s former girlfriend and close friend and was living with him at the time of B’s alleged birth, said: “Freddie had a glorious openness and I cannot imagine he would have wanted to, or been able to, keep such a joyful event a secret, either from me or other people closest to him.”
“The truth is that I am simply not the guardian of such a secret,” she added. “I’ve never known of any child, or of any diaries. If Freddie had indeed had a child without me knowing anything about it, that would be astonishing to me.”
Queen guitarist Brian May said he wanted to remain “neutral” on the subject, but his wife Anita Dobson described B’s claims as “fake news”.
Now, B has spoken out for the first time, telling the Daily Mail that she was “devastated” by Austin’s comments. “She has not yet read the book, yet she apparently makes this statement. I don’t understand why,” she said.
B says she had a “very close and loving” relationship with her father, who she says treated her “like a treasured possession”.
“I didn’t want to share my dad with the whole world. After his death, I had to learn to live with the attacks against him, the misrepresentations of him, and with the feeling that my dad now belonged to everyone.”
“I cried and mourned my dad, while fans all around the world mourned Freddie,” she added. “When you are 15 years old, it’s not easy. I had to become an adult without him… For 30 years I had to build my life and family without him… I needed to have my dad just for me and my family. How could I have spoken before?”
Jones, who co-wrote the book with B, has suggested that they have DNA evidence for the claims. “Please rest assured that the requisite verification was obtained, legal teams have been involved, but that such measures are private and not shared publicy”.
Mercury died in 1991 aged 45 of bronchial pneumonia caused by Aids.
In other Queen news, Brian May recently opened up about his fears that he would never play guitar again following suffering a stroke last year.
Meanwhile, last year Queen released a newly mixed, mastered and expanded reissue of their 1973 self-titled debut album.
