Barbara and Freddie

Thank you for that musicland!! Captainjory- im still reading Peters first book and have to get the other books. Seen some interviews Peter gave of her, I haven’t herd him say anything bad

I dont know if Peter is much better. He is msking a living out of his kissandtell stories about Freddie

Hi RadioDaDa,

Freestone has a chapter on Barbara Valentine ( and Mary Austin ) in his second book :

Evans, David; Freestone, Peter. FREDDIE MERCURY - What He Left Behind: The Story of What Happened after the death of Freddie Mercury (Kindle Locations 1007-1011).
Tusitala Press. Kindle Edition.


(excerpt)
" ...I would like to start by examining two of Freddie’s most significant relationships in greater depth to try and shed some light on WHY he liked certain people and WHAT was important to him about a friend’s character and personality. I refer to his life with two women friends, Barbara Valentin and Mary Austin.

....Barbara made Freddie feel instantly at home, never a stranger in this strange city in the same way that James Arthurs and Tony King did in New York......."

Kokax- I will for sure order this book and read it once im done with the first. Runner- I have to respectfully disagree with you about Peter, even though alot of people feel the same way you do. Were talking about a man who devoted a chunk of his life to Freddie. Yes it was a job and he was paid for it, But a job like that i feel can not be done unless your totally dedicated to that person, especially someone like Freddie. . Today, yes Peter is out there and im sure continues to make his living talking Freddie business but the crazy thing is there is still a demand to hear about him. This forum, the Montroux experience , even direct contact to Freddies friends, its all still relevant and wanted. I messaged Peter 5 times and asked questions. He responded to 3 of them. I wasnt expecting him to respond 1 time. The guy cares. Comparing him to anyone who negatively affected Freddies life i think is a pretty bad comparison.

Peter didn't do a kiss and tell. I've never read him claiming to have had sex with Freddie, unlike Barbara, Runner_70...

I wonder why other friends of Freddie have not came out of the woodwork to make money out of knowing him, like Peter Straker for example?
I did read about Freddie turning up at Barbara's house all upset asking her to help him when he found out he was HIV Positive.
But basically what we read in the press and in magazines maybe false. Other stories i read about Freddie was that he had a three some with Barbara and Jim,
but i find that strange as Jim always looked uncomfortable in here company.

Happystar.. There is a lot of crap written. Of all i seen i really have a feeling that Peter Freestone and even Thor and Lee in these Forums are genuine people who are speaking truthful and from the heart. And if they happen to make a few bucks now or down the road speaking of Freddie then who cares as long as its true and from the heart. One story i recently seen is Freddie cutting Straker out of his life his last year. I dont know if this is covered in Freestones book but every interview ive ever seen of Straker hes never said that

[QUOTE] [b]happystar wrote:[/b]

I wonder why other friends of Freddie have not came out of the woodwork to make money out of knowing him, like Peter Straker for example?
I did read about Freddie turning up at Barbara's house all upset asking her to help him when he found out he was HIV Positive.
But basically what we read in the press and in magazines maybe false. Other stories i read about Freddie was that he had a three some with Barbara and Jim,
but i find that strange as Jim always looked uncomfortable in here company.[/QUOTE]

It wasn't Jim! Also Jim said Freddie and Barbara were not sexual in any way. This comes from someone I know who knew Jim.

It was implied by Barbara that she was involved in threesomes with Winnie and F, but why not one gay man but TWO would want someone like her in their bed, doesn't make much sense. Seeing as according to Jim, F didn't even like the cats in the room with them, when they were getting down.

Freddie didn't see Barbara for 8 months (until June 1986). He went to Munich to talk with her and to see her. Phoebe wrote in his book that Barbara was in a coach after a concert (July 1986).

Peter Freestone - Freddie Mercury - An Intimate Memoir by the Man Who Knew Him Best (Chapter one):

"On July 11 and 12, 1986, the band returned to Wembley with A Kind Of Magic under their belts. Freddie had flown the New York Daughters specifically to see one of these shows. He knew it was going to be something to be proud of. He hired a coach for the show which left Garden Lodge with all his guests including Straker, Mary Austin, Wayne Eagling, Gordon Atkinson, Gordon Dalziel and Graham Hamilton, Barbara Valentin and Trevor Clarke. It was my job to ensure that the coach was laden with goodies for the trip out for the guests and on the trip back
when Freddie himself joined in. This was to be the start of one very long party. I don’t think there are many stars who would indulge in this kind of behaviour. I don’t know that there are that many of his equivalent status who would have that many friends who would come together at one time to celebrate their friend’s success. And they certainly wouldn’t have travelled on a bus!"


In fact, Freddie kept the distance from very close friends including Barbara during his decline. Is this "evidence"? Quite possibly he didn't want Mack (he told it in an interview), Barbara, Montserrat, Straker & Co - friends and colleagues who spent considerable time with him) - see how much he was suffering . Could the distance be evidence that they weren't " real" friends? Certainly not!

Phoebe's words in his first book "Peter Freestone - Freddie Mercury - An Intimate Memoir by the Man Who Knew Him Best "(Chapter five):


"It does seem strange that in his final year both Barbara Valentin and Peter Straker who were amongst the most important figures in his life were sidelined. There are reasons that I know of for
this. There could be many more. The first is that Freddie really did not want people he was close to watching his deterioration. He
didn’t want to put people he loved through the pain of watching him die and being unable to do anything about it. He had spent many wonderful hours with these people going out enjoying
themselves, giving them a great time and he didn’t want to have these people seeing him frail and tired. These people also reminded him of what his life used to be like, a life which he could no longer enjoy."

RadioDada, I read a lot of books about Freddie and I also read Phoebe's second book but I always read positive comments about Barbara...Phoebe liked her a lot :) Barbara has never said bad things about Freddie and not all that we read in the articles is the truth. There are a lot of fake news. About Straker there are two different versions of his story during Freddie's last period of life. Phoebe wrote that Freddie didn't want to see him because he didn't change his lifestyle during Freddie's last period of life (he drank, he was a clown) so Freddie suffered a lot because he thought about and there you will can find Straker's version https://www.irishmirror.ie/showbiz/celebrity-news/freddie-mercury-cut-best-friend-9311760 .

Radio DaDa, HappyStar,
“There is a lot of crap written”
Definitely….and crap recycles and gradually turns into “ facts” multiplied over and over again ....

he thought about his past*

sorry I accidentally deleted a part of the sentence :)

Freddielive4ever. Thank you for that great response. Reading all these forums it’s hard to separate fact from fiction which is why I plan on reading these books from people that lived with him rather than people that just wrote about him.
Kokax- who knows what’s true or not. I tend to believe the actual people speaking in these documentaries. There is no turning back from that. Something written in an article, who knows. I’m personal friends of a high profiled family here in NY and know the truth about certain things in their lives. When articles were written I knew certain things were bullshit just to sell the papers. Every interview I seen Barbara in, she never said anything outlandish or raunchy regarding Freddie.

Peter Freestone also said somewhere (maybe you tube, I remember watching it) that Peter Straker came along to a restaurant one lunchtime to meet Freddie and was drunk and over doing the dramatics. Freddie was embarassed.

For all the bad press Straker has had about this, I actually get the impression that Freddie would be friends again with him in a heartbeat, if he was brought back to us. He was good friends with him for a very long time. And Straker does care. I watched an interview with him, Phoebe and Mike Moran. It was obvious Straker cares and by all accounts, Freddie was loyal to those who cared. I think it was probably a case of Freddie was too sick to patch things up and Straker didn't catch on quick enough to change his approach and be more helpful as a friend at that time.

Smokeyquartz. I’ve never herd that before. I would think something like that would be patched up quick. They were like family.

Hi RadioDaDa

“ who knows what’s true or not …”
Fully agree ? I was referring more to "non-fact-checked" tabloid articles being quoted on forums, here and there mixed with personal opinions.

There’s no turning back from actual people.... Of course not.

As for BV : Perhaps she provokes quite a bit of jealousy among certain women fans, hence these bouts of deliberate distortions. lol :)