Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury's first, and by his account, only true love was his wife, Mary Austin. Though he engaged in long-term relationships with several men after breaking up with Mary (legally only, as she remained his best friend and the beneficiary of everything after his death).  Freddie would always stay far away from his male lovers at public events, and refused to be identified as LGBTQ+). He died of AIDS in 1991. For the last part of his life he was nursed by his lover Jim Hutton. In the recent biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody. Mercury's homosexual tendencies were scrubbed from his story. There was anger from the LGBTQ+ community, feeling the remaining, straight members of the band had cleaned it up to protect themselves. In retrospect, it seems likely that this is how Mercury himself would have wanted it, and perhaps they were protecting him.

Performing at Live Aid Lifesize Cardboard Cutout – 1985 – David Bieber Archives

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