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Freddie Mercury was one of the world's greatest musicians in the 1970s and 80s, but one person could still control him: Mary Austin, his longtime fiancée.
"He would throw a half-used tube of toothpaste into the wastebasket and go to the trash to pick it up and put the toothpaste back on. . . and [say]"You finish the tube. We can not waste that, Freddie, "recalls screenwriter Lesley-Ann Jones, who toured with the group in the 1980s and wrote" Bohemian Rhapsody: the definitive biography. "
He said, "But I'm the richest guy in the world! " [Austin] would say, "I'm mocking. You do not lose money. She was quite authoritarian. He would not take it from anyone. "
Mercury, Queen's lead singer, was known for her hits like "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love". But many fans never knew that he had a long-time girlfriend, let alone he called his wife. Especially as the singer, who died of HIV-related complications in 1991, posthumously emerged having had a crowd of loving friends.
When the trailer for "Bohemian Rhapsody", a film about Mercury's life, began to circulate, critics attacked the film for "cleansing Mercury" to perfection, highlighting his relationship with Austin.
Bryan Fuller, creator of television shows, including "Hannibal" and "American Gods", tweeted: "Someone else slightly annoyed. . . that the trailer for "Bohemian Rhapsody" features gay / bi superstar Freddie Mercury flirting with a woman, but that she has no indication of his love of men?
Austin was however more than an adventure or a beard for Mercury.
"All my lovers have asked me why they could not replace Mary, but it's simply impossible," Mercury said in an interview in 1985. "The only friend I have it's Mary and I do not want anyone else. For me, she was my common-law partner. For me, it was a wedding. We believe in each other, that's enough for me. "
After his death, Mercury bequeathed to Austin the bulk of his $ 100 million fortune, as well as at Garden Lodge, a 28-room mansion located in London's Tony Kensington district – despite the fact that the two did not live together anymore. longtime boyfriend, Jim Hutton.
"Freddie has idolized her, really. He was dedicated to it, "said Jones of Austin, 67.
The two men ended their relationship in 1976 after Mercury, who had been locked up publicly, confessed that he was bisexual.
"I remember telling him," No, Freddie, I do not think you're bisexual. I think you are gay, "Austin told the Daily Mail during a rare interview in 2013.
But the two never really separated. After getting separated, Mercury bought an apartment in Austin and listed it on the payroll.
"She took care of him, fed him," added Jones. "It was to Marie that he always came back: his" old faithful ", as he called it. She even wrote this sentence on the card accompanying her crown at her funeral.
Mercury and Austin met in 1969 after Brian May – who was to become Queen's lead guitarist at the band's next year – introduced them.
Like Mercury, she grew up in the working class. His parents were deaf, his father worked in a wallpaper company, and his mother was a housekeeper.
When she met Mercury, Austin was 19 years old and working at Biba, a trendy shop in West London. Mercury, then 24, had just finished her art studies and started her musical career (Queen was formed in 1970). The two fell in love and quickly moved in together.
For some Mercury insiders, pairing never really made sense – and not necessarily because Austin was a woman.
"She was the opposite of Freddie," Jones said. "She never really talked a lot."
Mercury was a larger-than-life personality who loved flamboyance. But Austin appealed to his secretive homebody side.
"Mick Rock, the photographer, had the habit of having tea with them and he said that everything would be terribly nice. The tablecloth would come out [along with] soft porcelain cups, tea cups and pretty little plates of biscuits; you're all sitting there with your little fingers raised and drinking the tea properly, "Jones said.
"They were [like] She added, "This old married couple," she says, "spends a lot of time in bed. [Mercury] would pull the piano to the bedside to write songs. "
Mercury proposed to offer a jade ring to Austin in 1973. But the following year, she had assumed that the singer, who was then an international star, was cheating on her with men.
Jones said he was shocked. Austin did not immediately break his ties with Mercury.
"I've always thought, how odd is that?" Said the writer. "Go have a life. Do not stay glued to that person's hip. . . will not be able to offer you a conventional relationship.
"After their separation, she even suggested to Freddie that they have a child together," Jones added. "Freddie told him that he would prefer to have another cat."
Austin finally had two children, Jamie and Richard, with the painter Piers Cameron. She eventually married and divorced with Nick Holford.
Once single, Mercury, born Farrokh Bulsara, remained locked up for fear of setting aside his conservative parents. Bomi and Jer Bulsara, both of Parsi descent, practiced the Zoroastrian religion, which regarded homosexuality as a demonic cult.
"At one point on the road, he and his entourage would stay in a hotel and the rest of the group, as well as the team and their entourage, would stay in another hotel and all that was intended to facilitate the secret nightlife of Freddie, "said Jones.
More publicly, he attended Austrian actress Barbara Valentin in the 80s and both share an apartment in Munich, Germany.
Still, Austin stayed close. "She has become a kind of right arm," Jones said. "[Mercury] bought a lot of antiques and visited a lot of art galleries and auctions.
She would follow him to these places with a notebook and bid on something, and his job was to write it down and keep track of everything.
"His whole existence depended on Freddie. She had a house because of him – he bought it. She had an income thanks to him, "added Jones.
According to musician Peter Straker, one of Mercury's closest friends, "It's one of those things I find inexplicable, when people know each other very well, are such good friends, and are already in love. She was always there for him and for her.
Among Mercury's last wishes, there was Austin's request to scatter his ashes – and never reveal the location. He also left a large part of his $ 100 million estate, plus the London mansion.
"He said that he wanted this house to stay alive and that meant that it had to be with children," said director Rudi Dolezal, who has worked with Queen on nearly 30 music videos and produced the 2000 documentary "Freddie Mercury: The Untold Story".
"At the time, there was no way that two homosexual men could adopt children in London," said Dolezal, pointing to Austin's two sons. "Freddie said that's why he gave the house to Mary."
Austin said that the money and the responsibility were huge, however.
"I thought," Oh Freddie, you've left me too much and you have too much to handle. "I felt that I could not live up to it," she told the Daily Mail.
She claimed that part of this activity was fueled by Mercury insiders – including her group members – who felt left out.
"I hit the jealousy – like a Japanese high-speed train. Very painful, "Austin said. "I do not think the remaining members of Queen have reconciled to that."
But it also seems that Austin has alienated himself. According to Jones, despite the fact that Mercury stipulates that members of his household – including his Hutton boyfriend – can stay at Garden Lodge until their legacies come into play, Austin immediately evicts them.
When it came to Queen's fans, at the beginning, Austin greeted the mourners who went home on the anniversary of Mercury's death.
"She would get up and light a candle or read a prayer and greet the fans," said Jones, one of the visitors. "But then it stopped. She nailed a thick plastic around the wall [around the property] . . . so that people can not pin their tributes. "
According to Jones, Austin now lives in a smaller house on the corner of Garden Lodge. She would be recluse, although Straker confided that he dined at a restaurant in London with her last year.
"I really lost my family when Freddie died," Austin told The Daily Mail. "He was everything to me, except my sons. He did not look like anyone I had met before.
And while Austin, without a doubt, relied on his unconventional relationship with Mercury for his survival, it was a mutually beneficial setup.
According to Jones, Austin represented the alternative reality of Mercury: "If he could have dismissed all the other things that attracted him, all the other temptations. The maria and settled with children.
"She was that eminent symbol of what his life could have been and he was sad about it."
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