When Did Freddy Mercury Find Out He Had Aids
Freddie Mercury'due south death: Longtime assistant shares cute untold stories of the star's final days
23 November 2021, 10:43
Freddie Mercury's close friend and personal assistant of twelve years, Peter "Phoebe" Freestone, recalls Freddie Mercury's last days, his shocking AIDS diagnosis and Freddie's conclusion to die "on his own terms".
By Freddie Mercury's side throughout the rollercoaster ride of his career, Peter Freestone lived with the singer in Kensington home, Garden Social club, and was with him throughout his battle with AIDS and the terminal days of the vocaliser'due south life.
Peter, who is a close friend of the remaining band members of Queen - and was an official on-set advisor for the Oscar-winning moving picture Bohemian Rhapsody - speaks candidly of his experiences living and working with Freddie through his dedicated channel "Ask Phoebe" on the official Freddie Mercury website.
Peter, who is known to Freddie's fans as "Phoebe"- the nickname the vocalist gave him - met the Queen frontman while he was working in the wardrobe department at the Royal Ballet in 1979.
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The pair struck up an "immediate friendship" leading to Peter leaving his job a year subsequently and joining Freddie Mercury equally his total-time personal assistant, in 1980.
"I was Freddie's master cook and bottle washer, waiter, butler, secretary, cleaner and agony aunt. I travelled the world with him, I was with him during the highs and came through the lows," Peter says of the twelve years he worked for the star before his death.
"I acted as his bodyguard when needed and in the stop, of course, I was 1 of his nurses."
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A skilful friend of the singer, Peter lived with Freddie in his beloved Kensington home, Garden Lodge, alongside his vi cats and long-term partner Jim Hutton, for many years before the business firm was left to his ex-girlfriend, Mary Austin, after the star's decease in 1991.
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"Freddie'southward Garden Society by and large had a placidity atmosphere," he recalls: "It was his home, then while he had quite a few wonderful parties for anything upwards to 200 people, it was a place he felt secure in and a place where he didn't have to guard anything he said or did.
"He could get up in the morning and put on a mismatching tracksuit, he could exist silent if he wanted to, or come up downstairs from his chamber, full of life. Freddie loved laughing, so was nigh ever with people who could make him express joy."
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"While Freddie was alive, it was the warmest, most welcoming home that I could wish for. Information technology was decorated about beautifully, information technology was filled with great piece of furniture and as Freddie said, it wasn't a museum; information technology was a house to be lived in and enjoyed."
Nonetheless, the memories of Garden Gild were very much intertwined with the presence of Freddie, with Peter recalling that the temper in the house inverse after the star's decease.
"For me, the minute Freddie passed away, it became simply bricks and mortar, it lost the warm glow that Freddie imbued into it," he says.
Reminiscing on Freddie's illness, Peter gives incredible insight into the star's feelings towards AIDS before he was diagnosed with the disease, and that Freddie had naturally hoped it would never happen to him.
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"Freddie knew well-nigh the HIV/AIDS virus appearing around the world, and knew of friends dying from the disease, and so obviously that played on his mind.
"He might have thought he was infected, but once again, like many of us, he put it to the dorsum of his mind, thinking 'information technology won't happen to me'. You lot must remember in those days it really was a death sentence, it still is today, simply at present the cease can exist put off.
"I think by the beginning of 1987 Freddie had a proficient idea he was ill, but still put off the confirmation for every bit long every bit possible," Peter says.
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It was Freddie's ex-girlfriend and lifelong confidante, Mary Austin, who eventually made the singer to speak to the doctor that diagnosed him, in tardily April 1987.
"Freddie had a biopsy taken on a marker in his hand," Peter recalls. "Freddie's doc tried to telephone call Freddie, who merely didn't want to take the call.
"Eventually the doctor called Mary and told her he had to speak to Freddie urgently, and then Mary and so had to persuade Freddie to speak to his doctor.
See more: Who is Mary Austin? Meet the woman Freddie Mercury asked to ally
"I'm sure Freddie had an idea what the doctor was going to say, and then didn't want to hear the diagnosis," he remembers.
Peter reflects that every bit Freddie's illness took hold, the vocalist knew when his fourth dimension was coming to an end, and confirms that the singer's famous public argument confirming his AIDS diagnosis on November 22 - and his subsequent death within 24 hours of the announcement - were purely an extraordinary coincidence.
"There was a plan to make the announcement before Freddie died, but that was as far every bit it went," he says.
"After Freddie came dorsum from Switzerland on the 10th November 1991 and made his decision to stop his medication, it obviously passed through his heed to make the argument.
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"He fabricated all his arrangements...I remember he just felt and knew it was his time," he says.
"Freddie and [Queen's manager] Jim Embankment had talked about this for quite a while, just now it was fourth dimension to make the real statement.
"Jim had to get to Us and basically they constitute a time to complete information technology before his departure. The statement was released to the world at 20.00 on Friday 22nd November," Peter recalls.
See more: Pop icons at home in rare photos: Freddie, Bowie, Elton, Rod and their outlandish houses
!["He had some wonderful friends whose company he enjoyed...but...he had his serious side as well, [he] worked hard and donated large amounts of his hard earned money to various charities," Peter says of Freddie Mercury.](https://imgs.smoothradio.com/images/74896?crop=16_9&width=660&relax=1&signature=6dL7PGtXYCWTiVjn_RoY9hCY0yg=)
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On Nov 24, 1991 Freddie Mercury passed away at his Kensington domicile, Garden Lodge, aged 45 from bronchial pneumonia due to AIDS-related complications.
"There was no indication at that fourth dimension that Freddie would slip away and so quickly," Peter says.
"We all knew it could non exist too long, only Freddie'due south doctor had said that he could be with us for quite a few days longer. I tend to feel that Freddie had decided he had had enough and information technology was time to go under his own terms.
"I believe he was at peace with himself. Freddie decided to finish his medication on his own terms. He knew the consequences of his actions and had the time then to talk with friends and family and say his goodbyes."
"No-one knew how much time he had left on the 10th Nov, but he must take understood his body and what it was feeling as the days passed."
See more: Princess Diana'due south cherished friendships with Freddie, George, Bowie and more in pictures
In the days leading up to his death, Peter recalls Freddie'southward last days and the vocaliser'south request for i last look at his beloved Kensington domicile.
"Freddie was downstairs in Garden Order on the 20th Nov, as he wanted to meet some of his artworks for one last fourth dimension," he says.
"Terry [Freddie's bodyguard and chauffeur] carried him down the stairs, simply he walked effectually the sitting room and Japanese room, with ane of us supporting him.
"He commented on how and when he had acquired a few of the pieces [in his home]. Of course, there was a repose atmosphere in the house during those terminal days, merely Freddie remained the Freddie we knew until the terminate."
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Whilst Freddie's persona was very public throughout his life, Peter reminisces that in expiry the star has been given the privacy he often craved while alive.
"Every bit far as I know, in that location is 1 person who knows the precise location of Freddie's ashes, and that is how he wanted it to exist," explains Peter.
"His funeral was kept every bit low fundamental as possible for a world superstar. It was kept to some of his close friends and family unit and the family outnumbered the friends by four to one.
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"Freddie never spoke near his funeral at all while he was alive. Every bit he said in an interview, he didn't really care what happened after he died," says Peter, referring to the famous video of the Queen frontman joking his ain death.
Freddie, as Peter remembers him, was equally a multi-layered and caring character with bang-up depth and personality both on and off stage.
Watch: Rare Freddie Mercury interview: Star jokes nigh his death in bittersweet documentary - video
"He had some wonderful friends whose visitor he enjoyed...but...he had his serious side too, [he] worked hard and donated large amounts of his hard-earned money to various charities," he says.
"I believe he would never want to be remembered every bit a mere mortal," Peter recalls.
"He said to Jim Beach; 'You can do what you similar with my legacy, just never brand me tiresome.'"
When asked by a fan what Peter's most treasured memory of Freddie Mercury is, the star'south long-term friend gives a surprising - and moving - answer:
"The moments that always stood out for me were when he was at home laughing," Peter says.
Watch: Remembering Freddie Mercury's final public appearance at the 1990 Brit Awards - video
"I know this sounds quite ordinary, simply whenever y'all see Freddie smiling or laughing during an interview, he ever uses his top lip to encompass his teeth, or else he brings up his hand to cover his rima oris. The reason for this was that he hated his teeth and always tried to encompass them up.
"When he was at home he wasn't self-conscious surrounded by friends, and he would just throw his head back and laugh out loud with his mouth wide open. Those were the times when the warm, funny and relaxed human being was able to announced, without having to be wary of strangers seeing him without the Freddie Mercury – the Rock Star persona."
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Addressing the unusual move to reveal so many insights and secrets into his close friend's individual life and expiry, Peter Freestone explains his motives, saying: " [Quite a number of people] country that Freddie always guarded his privacy while he was alive, and now here I am giving abroad everything that Freddie never talked about," he acknowledges.
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"It is true, during his lifetime Freddie wanted his privacy and kept his individual life to himself and a close group of friends. He also knew and spoke about that when he was gone, people would think and say many things that weren't true. He said then that he wouldn't care as he wouldn't be hither.
"He isn't here in person, just the person so many people loved and admired for his music and presence is nonetheless here," Peter states, calculation: "Many ill-founded rumours appear all the fourth dimension and I just feel it is better that the truth is at that place for anybody, then that they can and so make up their own minds...and get to know the real Freddie Mercury."
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Freddie Mercury's good friend Sir Elton John opened up about the Queen frontman's mettlesome battle with the disease that killed him in 1991. "[During the] weeks later the funeral, I was yet grieving," he recalls. "On Christmas Twenty-four hour period, I learnt that Freddie had left me one final testament to his selflessness.
"I was moping about when a friend showed up at my door and handed me something wrapped in a pillowcase. I opened information technology up, and inside was a painting by i of my favourite artists, the British painter Henry Scott Tuke. And there was a note on the front from Freddie..."
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Source: https://www.smoothradio.com/news/music/freddie-mercury-death-home-aids/
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