Freddie Mercury and Mary Austin had a six-year romance together before Queen found massive success in the mid-‘70s. However, after they split up, they remained incredibly close for the remainder of the Bohemian Rhapsody singer’s life, right up until his tragic death in 1991.
In a rare interview with OK! Magazine in 2000, Austin remembered her life with Mercury, who left her the majority of his estate when he died.
Mercury even left his lavish West Kensington mansion, One Garden Lodge, to his ex-girlfriend, along with 50 per cent of all his future earnings from Queen.
Recalling their close relationship, Austin told the publication of how their romance had started to break down and what happened when he finally came out and told her he was bisexual.
“Even if I didn’t want to fully admit it, I had realised that something was going on,’” she said. “Although I didn’t know what it was I decided to discuss it with Freddie.”
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“I told him, ‘Something is going on and I just feel like a noose around your neck. I think it’s time for me to go.’
“But he insisted nothing was wrong,” Austin continued. “Then his life rocketed – the band got successful. Things were never the same after that.
“Our relationship cooled. I felt that he was avoiding any confrontation with me.
“When I came home from work he just wouldn’t be there,” she said. “He would come in late. We just weren’t as close as we had been in the past.”
Opening up on when Mercury told her the truth about his sexuality, she said: “Being a bit naive, it had taken me a while to realise the truth.
“Afterwards he felt good about having finally told me he was bisexual.”
At that point, Austin decided to move out of the home she was sharing with the Queen frontman, but he begged her not to go too far away.
“Eventually I found a place nearby, which he wanted me to have,” she remembered. |It was perfect for a single person such as myself. His music publishing company bought it for me for £30,000.”
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“I could see Freddie’s own flat from my bathroom. I thought, ‘Oh, I’m never going to get away!’” she added. “But I didn’t mind. I was very happy there. It was small, but I’m quite happy with small places.”
Speaking about her relationship with the late musician, Austin told the publication: “I felt very safe with him. The more I got to know him, the more I loved him for himself.
“He had quality as a person, which I think is rare in life these days.
“One thing which was always constant was the love. We knew we could trust each other and we were safe with each other. We knew that we would never hurt each other on purpose.”
Austin was one of the close circle of friends who kept a constant vigil during Mercury’s last days.
They took it in turns, in 12-hour shifts, to make sure he was never alone towards the end as he grew increasingly ill following his AIDS diagnosis.
Mercury died of bronchial pneumonia, a complication due to AIDS, on November 24, 1991.
His legacy as a solo artist and with Queen lives on, however, with fans all over the world marking the anniversary of his death couple of weeks ago.
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