Bibek Acharya
A new Freddie Mercury biography reveals that the Queen frontman had a secret daughter, conceived accidentally during an affair with the wife of a close friend.
The book, called Love, Freddie, explores the life of Freddie Mercury. It alleges that the child was conceived in 1976.
It expands on this claim, stating that Mercury kept a close relationship with the girl until his death in 1991. The woman is now 48 years old and working as a medical professional, but she is kept anonymous in the book. She is referred to as “B” throughout.
The Daily Mail reported that B was not forced to reveal who her father was. “Those who have been aware of my existence kept his greatest secret out of loyalty to Freddie. That I choose to reveal myself in my own midlife is my decision and mine alone. I have not, at any point, been coerced into doing this,” B stated.
The biographer, Lesley Ann-Jones, was given 17 volumes of detailed personal journals, which B kept a secret for most of her life. B explained, “He entrusted his collection of private notebooks to me, his only child and his next of kin, the written record of his private thoughts, memories and feelings about everything he had experienced.”
The diaries allegedly begin on June 20th 1976, when he first learned of the pregnancy. They explore his childhood, his relationship to his parents, and his experience in a boarding school in India. The final entry was written on July 31st, 1991.
In a handwritten letter, B expanded on her alleged relationship to Mercury: “We had a very close and loving relationship from the moment I was born and throughout the final 15 years of his life. He adored me and was devoted to me. The circumstances of my birth may seem, by most people’s standards, unusual and even outrageous.”
Mercury, who “cherished [B] like a treasured possession,” passed away at age 45 from bronchial pneumonia caused by Aids. Jones revealed that she was sceptical at first, but is now “absolutely sure she is not a fantasist.” She expanded, “No one could have faked all this. Why would she have worked with me for three and a half years, never demanding anything?”
Love, Freddie will be available to the public on September 5th.
