Mercury having a secret child would be astonishing to me, says closest friend

Freddie Mercury’s former girlfriend and closest friend, Mary Austin, has shared her scepticism over a woman claiming to be the singer’s secret daughter, who has spoken publicly for the first time ahead of the release of a book about her story.

- ROISIN O'CONNOR

Co-written with author Lesley-Ann Jones, Love, Freddie: Freddie Mercury's Secret Life and Love claims that B was conceived by accident while the late Queen frontman was having an affair with the wife of a close friend in 1976.

Only his inner circle, including his bandmates and Austin, were said to know of the child’s existence for almost five decades.

The book, which is scheduled for release in September, draws on what B says are 17 handwritten diaries Mercury gave her shortly before his death in 1991.

B, now 48, claims that she and Mercury had a “very close and loving” relationship: “He treated me like a treasured possession.”

In a statement published by the Daily Mail, she said: “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. 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?”

B’s claims have been met with scepticism from some of Mercury’s closest friends, including Austin - who inherited much of the singer’s estate.

Speaking to