Barbara Valentin Interview 11/29/91 -Translation German TV

Barbara Valentin on "0137-Show " 29 November 1991

Presenter: Roger Willemsen

The bit with Barbara Valentin starts around 06.30 minutes in the Linked YT-Video

LINK : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz3GjFSyqrQ


@ 06.30 minutes


"Special or unusual charakters are attractive to each other. Even they look and act very different to the public.
This is very much the case, when we talk about the german actress Barbara Valentin, and the english Pop idol Freddie Mercury.

"Friends until the end"

@ 06.50 - 07.08

Freddie Mercury - The death of a champion" - His intimate and scandalous blonde girl Buddy , speaks about her time with Freddie.
Our meetings usually ended in a excess.

R.W. : Good evening Mrs. Valentin....Freddie said that Love is Russian Roulette - I just haven`t any control "
Do you think that he wasn`t able to control in that matter ( love / sex wise)

B.V. : erm...I don`t think so. That was just one of his slogans that he used....His Lips were quicker than his mind now and then.
It wasn`t that bad at all. The Tabloit`s are exaggerating very much

R.W.: Oh...we can put things right here, right now...

B.V. : What`s the point with this question ?

R.W. : I want to know... if Freddie Mercury react( behaviour-wise) to the fact that he had AIDS / HIV

B.V. : He reacts as soon as he was in knowledge...

R.W. : Not before that ?

B.V. : Well...a lot of people didn`t knew about that disease...At the beginning, there wasn`t even a name for it
This thing wasn`t well known in public...not at that point.
As soon he was tested, he starts to change his lifestyle...

R.W. : And you..what about you ? Do you play Russian Roulette...When did you start to take over control ( sex-wise)

B.V. : At the same time....years ago...

R.W. : Let`s see what our Viewers opinion is...


@ 09.05 ( telephone poll / Do you changes your Sex / lifestyle because of AIDS ?)


@ 09.56

R.W. : Everytime a good friend pass away...the bereaved think about a last wish, or a last thing they would love to do with the person who`s gone.. while/ or if... he was still alive...

B.V. : I wish I could have see him one more time...and the crazy thing is, that I called him ( Garden Lodge) the minute ( the hour more likely) he passed away.
I just had that feeling that something bad was going on...One of his Bodyguards cuts it very short with me on the phone...wich was unusual...there was a nervous aura all around
" We call you back ".....and then I thought something is badly wrong there....
And then...later that night at 02.00 AM ( Germany) They called me and told me about his death...
It `s crazy because I haven`t called him for two weeks. I was just sending letters to him...he did not pick up the phone anymore.
...Something was making me mad ( at that evening ) So I felt the need to call him...

R.W.: Does the communication workout well ( via letters)

B.V. : Yes...

R.W. : Do you speak proper english ?

B.V. : Yes...

R.W. : What was the content in those letters ?

B.V. : In the last time I was sending him some drawings wich I did myself. He is/ was a huge "Cat-Head"..He loved his cats...nothing was more important to him, especially in the last period.
He was all about his garden and flowers etc...
All the excess...men and all that wasn`t important to him anymore...
He really steped back, he was reading a lot about Art and cares for his antiques...yeah AND cats...

R.W.: You`ve painted cats for him ?

B.V.: Yes I did, cut them out and stuff like that. I do own a cat myself...the communication ( via those letters) was a bit of a one way track with nothing comes back to you( during the last weeks)..
I know that he wasn`t able to write me back no more.
I was the only one who knew about his condition for about six years...I was in knowledge right from the start...
Well, but I know that he recieved my letters...


R.W. : Ah...Animals...good point...there is a rumour about you that youhave got an tatoo...a butterfly...for Freddie ? True ?

B.V. : Erm...not really...I have such a tatoo..but I didn`t do that one for Freddie. I had it before I met him in person.

R.W. : So my question will guide us nowhere...Can we see this ink job in one of your movies ?

B.V. : I don`t do this kind of films :)

R.W. : So the only thing we have is our imagination...when/ how long did he know that he has AIDS / HIV ?

B.V. : For six years..( short thinking gap)...yes....

R.W. : Do you spoke with someone about that ?

B.V. : No

R.W. : Do you know how he dealed with his situation ?

B.V. : Yes

R.W. : Are you willing to describe it more completely ? Was he willing to talk about it ?

B.V. : No one asked him about that subject....In the beginning there was no need to do that. He knew that I was in knowledge of his situation. That`s it...there wasn`t much discussion about that matter.

R.W. : Was he willing to accept pity ?

B.V. : No, he was very strong...he doesn`t complain about what was going on. He hides...he wasn`t willing to show his problems that way. The last one and a half year, he had massive problems ( pain-wise)
But he didn`t complain...he was very much like a wounded animal...looking for shelter.

@ 13.55 General talk about AIDS / loneliness, not Freddie related at first, but then it comes back to the subject..

B.V. : Well you get lonely when you have it ( AIDS) That`s the bad thing for the people who are infected. I have a lot of people with that destiny in my circle of acquaintances.
It has turned into usual business...Since Freddie passed...since Sunday...today is Friday...three other died...the last one died last night. A 26 year old boy. It´`s strange to say but it turned into usual business
...just like a flu or a harless surgery...it`s "normal

R.W. : Ok, let`s put the focus to morealive Freddie Mercury. You get quoted with something like " That man takes away all my strenght "

B.V. : We lived together for one year...very intense. I had rehearsals a for theatre shows at the time, well and at some point I felt just "empty" he took all my energy, but I wanted it that way
I was fascinated by him and he obviously had the same feeling for me. We get along together very well...a good time...yeah and a very exhausting period in one package.
It was a crazy year...it was great..but in the end I was taken to the hospital for two weeks.I was unable to work...

R.W. : Watching Freddie on stage it`s hard to belive( Barbara cuts him off)

B.V. : He was a bundle full of energy. he was full of life. He explodes...

R.W. : And that was ok ? Even in the Munich scene ?

B.V. : For sure...

R.W. : He get along with the Bavarian way of life ?

B.V. : Yes...it alway depends on the people you get in touch with...doesn`t matter if Munich or Hamburg...

R.W. : You had the chance to meet charakters like Freddie Mercury and Fassbinder ( director). Do they have something in common ?

B.V. : Ha...yes of course. both are compareable somehow. Now and then I think they should have met...but on the other hand...both were such volcanos..and then I think
No that relationship would be more like a fight...both of them were too intense and dynamic loaded with such an energy...It would`t work out
One of them would have been forced to step back a little for the sake of that (hypothetical)liasion. But Fassbinder would admire Freddie for his talent...he was such a talented person
He was gifted in so many ways...he played the piano, he composed, he sings...his voice was getting better and better when he dropped smoking and drinking ( some Fans might disagree with that) His voice was outstanding
( a few words about herself)...but I`am happy to share a bit of my life with him..I `

I `am happy and sad, all at the same time

At 17.44 telephone poll resuts. Yes 48% No 52% a little chat about the result, not Freddie related.

R.W. : Many Thanks Barbara Valentin

The original I have written on my PC is scaled properly...but that doesn`t work out with the copy and paste process on this forum. I get myself a huge cup of coffee now.

Hope the coffee was good.

Thank you for this.

Wonderful! It contradicts the 'official' line that Freddie knew for sure about his diagnosis in 1987.

I think that he might have officially known in 1987 but had a feeling what he was going to be dealing with a lot earlier than that.

Maybe there were some changes in Freddie's health or general sense, even not diagnosed officially, that is why he may start to wonder about that before 1987.
Barbara said six years before, so the question is: was it said approximately (+- year or so), or some changes in Fred's health had started to begin in 1985 (maybe at the end of the year)?

Sorry, but I can't not think of Alan Partridge when I see the translation "sex-wise"...!!!

Didn't Mary Austin also confirm 1985 or just "he knew on the last tour"?

He didn't get to know officially in 1987 - that's factually incorrect.

He knew officially in 1985. We've had a few sources confirm this. As soon as the first HIV test became available in 1985, he took the test, numerous times (the false positive/negative rate at the time was high, so people would re-take it many times).

The 1987 biopsy was almost certainly to verify if a lesion he had was Kaposi's sarcoma. It obviously resulted that it was, which is why in 1987 he was diagnosed as having full-blown AIDS (probably amongst other reasons, for instance his low CD4+ T cell count). You can also see the 1987 biopsy as having completely without any shadow of a doubt confirmed that he was infected. But, realistically speaking, the 1985 tests already showed to a very very high degree of certainty that he had HIV.

Why he never told Jim this in 1985, I don't know. Barbara Valentin knew, as did Mary.

PS: Some of the confusion about when he "knew" stems from the fact that the first tests were frequently not accurate, as I mentioned above. So I suppose people sometimes remained doubtful about their status, even if they took the test multiple times and tested positive. But once an opportunistic infection like KS would appear, then that would give them confirmation beyond any room for doubt that not only did they have HIV, but it had progressed to AIDS. That's why the 1987 date keeps cropping up, although Freddie knew by 1985.

Yes, Mary Austin confirmed various times that Freddie knew about his HIV status before the Magic tour. Obviously, he had the first AIDS related symptoms in April 1987 (Jim Hutton book). Fans and friends usually overlook this fact generously because if we compare facts and dates we must admit that Freddie did not bother to tell Jim Hutton about his HIV status and did not use any protection, either before he developed the first symptoms. At the time it meant he was exposing his lover to a deadly illness without warning him.

This not telling Jim business is very worrying, from a moralistic point of view. It's been touched upon many times, and many times Freddie has been defended using reasoning such as "he wasn't sure he had HIV", or "Jim knew there was a risk", or "who are we to judge - those were different times", etc. etc.

The fact is it is morally reprehensible (criminal actually) to hide your HIV status from someone you are having sex with.

It's interesting that Freddie had a dark mark in his right arm as early as Rock In Rio 1985. He still had the mark in Live Aid (next to the big mark). Sure, I'm no doctor so I've no idea if it was KS or not. I read that KS is an AIDS-defining symptom, so could he have been in AIDS-stage as early as 1985?

What mark are you talking about? Can't remember


[QUOTE] [b]Biggus Dickus wrote:[/b]

It's interesting that Freddie had a dark mark in his right arm as early as Rock In Rio 1985. He still had the mark in Live Aid (next to the big mark). Sure, I'm no doctor so I've no idea if it was KS or not. I read that KS is an AIDS-defining symptom, so could he have been in AIDS-stage as early as 1985?[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE] [b]dive2063 wrote:[/b]

What mark are you talking about? Can't remember


[QUOTE] [b]Biggus Dickus wrote:[/b]

It's interesting that Freddie had a dark mark in his right arm as early as Rock In Rio 1985. He still had the mark in Live Aid (next to the big mark). Sure, I'm no doctor so I've no idea if it was KS or not. I read that KS is an AIDS-defining symptom, so could he have been in AIDS-stage as early as 1985?[/QUOTE]

[/QUOTE]

A mark or two in his right arm near the pit.