Watch this video to see what Freddie Mercury was like the last time these celebs saw him alive.
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00:00As the lead singer of Queen, Freddie Mercury was one of the greatest frontmen in the history of
00:04rock music. Many of Mercury's friends stood by his side in his final days. Here are their last
00:10memories. Elton John might have understood the pressures that Freddie Mercury faced at his zenith
00:16better than any other musician. Both were gay British rock stars that were equal parts flamboyant
00:22showmen and critically acclaimed singer-songwriters who reached their peaks in the 1970s and 80s.
00:28They formed a close friendship during this time. At the end of Mercury's life,
00:32John, who lived near Mercury's home, stayed close to his friend and fellow musician till
00:37the end of his life. In an interview while promoting his autobiography, John spoke about
00:42seeing Mercury during his final days. The singer had this to say about Mercury's state during his
00:48final weeks. "'Aids' was terrifying. He was physically terrifying to look at."
00:53John also commented on his friend indulging in hobbies while suffering from AIDS,
00:58telling an interviewer,
00:59"'Freddie loved collecting Japanese art and collecting it at auction.
01:02So while he was dying, he was still buying things at auction.'"
01:06In one last act of charity, John revealed that Mercury, who died of AIDS-complicated
01:12pneumonia in November 1991, had sent him a Christmas gift. Mercury gave the Rocketman
01:17singer a painting by British painter Henry Scott Toope, which was one of John's favorite artists.
01:23Upon receiving the painting from his friend, John broke down crying.
01:28Queens drummer and backing vocalist Roger Taylor told BBC Radio in 2020 that he believed that the
01:34band would still be around if not for Freddie Mercury's death. Taylor said to the BBC,
01:39"'Freddie Mercury was my closest friend and we were very, very close. I do believe we would
01:44still be doing stuff together because it was a great collaboration.'"
01:48Like the rest of his bandmates, Taylor continued to make music with Mercury until his final months.
01:54Speaking to Reader's Digest, Taylor recalled not realizing the band's tour for their album,
01:59A Kind of Magic, would be their last. The Queen drummer remembered Mercury commenting on how he
02:04didn't wish to continue touring, but Taylor also knew Mercury enjoyed the spotlight of
02:09concerts and cheering fans. In an interview a week following Mercury's death, Taylor,
02:15along with Brian May, spoke about their bandmates' last years living with the disease.
02:20He said during the last music video they made, they were trying to support their sick friend,
02:25as they and Mercury knew that death was fast approaching. He also described Mercury as a,
02:30quote, "'prisoner in his own house' during the last 18 months of his life,
02:34as press and tabloids pounded the private Mercury about his life and visible deterioration.
02:40"'They got nearly all their facts wrong and they missed out the point of what he was actually like
02:45in private, which was actually a very shy, gentle, kind person.'"
02:50Ranked the number 26 guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone and a talented singer, Brian May
02:56would be the headliner for most bands. But with the supersonic force of nature that was Freddie
03:01Mercury, May found himself a nice position as the band's lead guitarist and part-time songwriter.
03:07As told by Ultimate Classic Rock, May recalled having dinner with Mercury in his final days
03:12and told interviewers the full extent of the disease's effects. During the evening,
03:17Mercury showed his friend that a large portion of his foot had to be amputated.
03:22Mercury regretted and apologized, showing him the remains of his foot,
03:27to which May consoled him and told him he only regrets knowing how much pain he was actually in.
03:32Shortly following Mercury's passing, new drugs began to be introduced to the market that could
03:38delay the effects of HIV-AIDS and prolong the life of individuals suffering like his departed friend.
03:44In an interview with the Society of Rock, May said he does not enjoy thinking about this fact.
03:50He missed by just a few months. If it had been a bit later, he would still have been with us,
03:54I'm sure. You can't do what if, can you? You can't go there, because therein lies madness.
04:00May penned the only original Queen song following Mercury's death,
04:051997's No One But You, Only the Good Die Young, which was a tribute to his fallen friend.
04:12Bassist John Deacon is the only living member of Queen who is no longer part of the lineup.
04:17While Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor have carried on Queen's name,
04:21Deacon retired from music in 1997. May's tribute song to Mercury was the last
04:26recording Deacon had done of any kind. Deacon was seen as Mercury's opposite.
04:31While Mercury craved the spotlight, Deacon tried his best to avoid it.
04:36Still, Deacon had a lot of influence in the band as the group's chief financial advisor.
04:41Additionally, Mercury once said this about Deacon's influence,
04:44The rest of the group wouldn't do anything unless John said it was all right.
04:48Mercury's agent, Peter Freestone, said of Mercury's and Deacon's relationship,
04:53Freddie took John under his wing because he was the new boy. He wanted to protect him.
04:58In a 2014 interview with Rolling Stone, May and Taylor admitted they had not heard much
05:03from their old bassist, saying he is very private and retired. Taylor also
05:08said that their former bandmate was, quote, a little fragile.
05:11Referred to as the German Brigitte Bardot,
05:14Barbara Valentin became one of Europe's most recognizable sex symbols during her life.
05:20In 1984, Freddie Mercury met with Valentin in Munich, Germany,
05:24and the two began the guise of a relationship. The pair grew very close, and Mercury featured
05:30her in Queen's music video for It's a Hard Life. Valentin's daughter from a previous relationship,
05:37Minky Reichart, said in an interview that she believed Mercury was the true love of
05:42her mother's life. However, she also described the relationship as somewhat volatile,
05:46with the pair arguing one moment but always finding themselves back into each other's arms.
05:51While Mercury had been in a long-term relationship with another woman named
05:55Mary Austin, Mercury's long list of romantic partners were for the most part men. While
06:01friends of the couple acknowledged there was a relationship, and the two shared a bed,
06:05they also questioned how physical the two actually were.
06:08Valentin's friend, Elizabeth Volkmann, said that if not for Mercury's sexuality,
06:14the pair would have probably married. The pair was spotted in 1990 at Mercury's birthday party,
06:1914 months before his death, but the relationship soured shortly after.
06:24Believing she was providing rumors to German gossip papers,
06:27Mercury ended their relationship and friendship.
06:30Valentin herself was not given an invitation to his funeral,
06:34as Mercury's friends saw her as manipulative.
06:38Like Barbara Valentine, Anita Dobson was an accomplished actor in Europe when she met
06:42Freddie Mercury. Unlike the Valentine relationship that turned sour, Dobson and Mercury remained
06:48close throughout their lives. How close? Well, Mercury introduced Dobson to her future husband,
06:54Mercury's friend and the band's guitarist, Brian May.
06:57May and Dobson have been together since 1986,
07:00something they celebrated in a 2015 interview on The Morning Program, Loose Women.
07:04"...it's her anniversary this month."
07:06"...it is! Congratulations!"
07:08"...they said it wouldn't last."
07:11When they met, though, May was still married to his first wife,
07:14leading to tabloids and paparazzi following the couple around. In October 1989, Queen released
07:21Scandal, written by May, which criticized the press for harassing the couple,
07:25as well as for following Mercury, who was trying to hide his body's deterioration.
07:30Like May, Dobson remained close to Mercury in the final years and months of his life,
07:35and was also close to Mercury's longtime girlfriend, Mary Austin. Dobson today is
07:40still married to May and has promoted the Mercury-Phoenix Trust that fights HIV-AIDS worldwide.
07:47Jim Hutton, whose relationship with Freddie Mercury was the centerpiece of the 2018 film
07:52Bohemian Rhapsody, first met Mercury in the mid-1980s at a London club. Mercury offered
07:58Hutton a drink, but, being in a relationship, Hutton refused the singer's flirtation.
08:03Eighteen months later, back at the same London club,
08:06the pair hit it off and would become partners until Mercury's death.
08:10According to Vanity Fair, the couple moved in together less than a year into the relationship,
08:15though they never came out as a pair due to Mercury wishing to remain in the closet.
08:19After a few years into the relationship, Mercury was diagnosed with AIDS in 1987
08:24and told Hutton he would understand if he wanted to end the relationship then and there.
08:28Hutton, as told by Irish Central, responded by saying,
08:32"'I love you, Freddie. I'm not going anywhere.'"
08:35Hutton cared for his partner for the remainder of his days. The pair wore wedding bands to
08:39illustrate their commitment, as gay marriage was two-plus decades away from legalization.
08:45Hutton recalled the last conversation he had with Mercury, days before his passing.
08:50The singer wanted to look at his paintings, and the couple walked downstairs to see them.
08:54As Freddie looked at his paintings, Hutton stayed in front of him to catch him in case he fell.
08:59After his death, Mercury left Hutton with £500,000, which, adjusted for inflation,
09:05is more than $1 million in today's money. Hutton then moved back to Ireland. Three years later,
09:11he would publish Mercury and Me, an autobiography about his relationship with his ex-partner.
09:17Paul Printer will forever remain an important part of the story of Freddie Mercury and Queen,
09:22for better and for worse. As told by The Sun, Printer was Mercury's manager between 1977 and
09:291986, and was lovers with Mercury for a period. However, as detailed in Bohemian Rhapsody,
09:35his tenure with the group did not end amicably, and he sold the story to the national press,
09:40claiming that Mercury had hundreds of male lovers, two of which had died of AIDS.
09:45The first five years of Printer's relationship with the band was calm and without an issue.
09:50This changed in 1982, when bandmates Brian May and Roger Taylor blamed Printer for the poor
09:56sound on their album Hot Space. Despite this, it was a few more years until Mercury dismissed
10:02Printer, who soon went to The Sun and outed Mercury and his relationship with Jim Hutton.
10:08He also claimed that the singer had slept with hundreds of men and gave the press private photos
10:13of Mercury. It was also reported that Printer met with Mercury later to ask for financial relief
10:18after spending all the money he had made from selling his story to the press.
10:22Like Mercury, Printer would die in 1991, from AIDS.
10:26During the production of 2018's Bohemian Rhapsody, Printer was played by Alan Leach. The actor told
10:33Metro-US that May and Taylor would avoid him on set as they still harbored anger towards their
10:38old manager. Despite his relationship with Barbara Valentine, no other woman was as close to Freddie
10:45Mercury as his first love, Mary Austin. The pair met in 1969 when Mercury was 24 and Austin was 19,
10:52and they remained close until the end of his life. The couple got engaged on Christmas Day in 1973,
10:59as Mercury and Queen were a year into their first record deal and already had a hit in the UK.
11:04Despite his rising stardom, Mercury never left Austin's side, even chasing after her when she
11:10tried to leave with a departing crowd of fans following one of their shows. However, Mercury
11:15and Austin never married, and according to Austin, he would quickly change the subject
11:19any time she tried to bring up the wedding. Eventually, the two sat down and discussed
11:24their relationship. As Mercury admitted to himself and Austin, he was gay. Even after
11:30ending the engagement, Mercury wanted Austin to remain close to him and bought her an apartment
11:35close to where he lived. His wishes came true, and Austin remained a fixture in his life.
11:40When he was diagnosed with AIDS, Austin and Jim Hutton stood by his side. Austin remembered
11:46sitting by Mercury's bed for hours nursing him when he was asleep. The singer would awake with
11:51a smile and say, quote, "'Oh, it's you, old faithful.'" After his passing,
11:55Mercury left most of his estate to Austin, as well as his ashes to scatter.