Ah yes, 68 yrs old. Some people have this impression that aging can actually be stopped. Surprise on you! Sure, Mary could have her hair colored to take out all the gray; I bet with some makeup on she looks younger than her years, but if people think a 68 yr old with no makeup on is going to somehow pass for 40, well you're in for a very rude awakening. And hate to break it to you all, but putting on weight in the years after menopause is very common and then there's gravity which always has it's way. Compare pics of Rog and Bri now with themselves 20 yrs ago. Notice them aging?
As for Mary and receiving all she did in Freddie's will, that was his choice. Did anyone ever legally contest Freddie's will? (answer: no). There's no way the other members of Queen would care how Freddie divided up his estate in his will. Why would they? It's not like the 3 other band members were going to be beneficiaries in Freddie's estate. There was nothing in Freddie's will that limited the remaining Queen members from doing what they wanted to do with the music or his likeness.
On the other hand Mary does seem like a lonely person to me--probably was utterly lost and sad for years after Freddie died. Perhaps still is. Her sons are grown and living their own lives. She is surrounded by all the memories of Freddie in an estate that still has his furnishings (allegedly). The decades pass but the loss remains forever, and while fans feel deeply how Freddie was amazing and can never be replaced, imagine knowing him as intimately as Mary (and Jim) did. The tragedy of Freddie is as real as the triumph and genius of his talent. I read Hutton's book and I like it for the insight into those last years and appreciated the intimacy of it all, including dear Freddie's death.
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@ runner_70
To me, there is nothing insulting in Jim's book. In fact, we learned from this book how Freddie really was brave. Regardless of the illness he continued to work, making songs, singing and recording. How he tried to continue normal life as much as possible. I understand why Jim wanted to tell the world their story. He wanted everyone to know that the truth was different from the one that even today is in the media.
I like the book but I don't mind if someone doesn't like it. Everyone has their own opinion.
Ok. Mary inherited the house and money. But if it's true that Freddie wanted Jim and others to stay in the house and told them that it would be so, likely he had a reason why he believed that really will happen. Only Freddie knew what reason was but if he believed in her word, he was very wrong.
To me, there is nothing insulting in Jim's book. In fact, we learned from this book how Freddie really was brave. Regardless of the illness he continued to work, making songs, singing and recording. How he tried to continue normal life as much as possible. I understand why Jim wanted to tell the world their story. He wanted everyone to know that the truth was different from the one that even today is in the media.
I like the book but I don't mind if someone doesn't like it. Everyone has their own opinion.
Ok. Mary inherited the house and money. But if it's true that Freddie wanted Jim and others to stay in the house and told them that it would be so, likely he had a reason why he believed that really will happen. Only Freddie knew what reason was but if he believed in her word, he was very wrong.
Didn’t Freddie get a house for Jim besides money?
And why would Mary want to raise her children with all those dudes and their lovers in her house? Certainly Freddie wouldn’t have expected that.
And why would Mary want to raise her children with all those dudes and their lovers in her house? Certainly Freddie wouldn’t have expected that.
MisterCosmicc wrote:
Didn’t Freddie get a house for Jim besides money?
And why would Mary want to raise her children with all those dudes and their lovers in her house? Certainly Freddie wouldn’t have expected that.
If Freddie didn't expect that they really stay in the house as long as they want, why he said it to them then? Just for joking? Or did he say it just to something to say?
I don't think he would be joking about it.
I believe he had some reason that he thought they would stay in the house. I think If he didn't expect it he wouldn't mention it.
But who knows. We can only have our own opinion about it.
Thistle: It was just the way Mary said it on the interview "A gay" somehow belittling Freddie and looking down her nose at him for betraying her love for him, she was bitter and very jealous of all Freddie's lovers and there was loads.
I don't think Freddie understood that if he didn't specify in his will that Jim and whoever else could stay on at Garden Lodge for whatever time, that it wasn't something he or they could expect to happen, and certainly not enforceable. That's the part of Jim's book I felt sad and angry about--that they were told one thing and then were dismissed. And it's not like Garden Lodge didn't still need to be run...certainly the gardens needed tending. The coldness of behavior by Mary towards people she had known for many years (if that was accurate) and who certainly cared for and about Freddie seemed unnecessary and harsh. The other part that really bothered me is how Freddie cut Peter Straker out of his life just like that, no discussion, because Straker had asked Freddie if he was sick (with AIDS). Peter was described as being a devoted friend.
It seems to be a hot discussion. I hope that I'm gonna check over here for grademiners review and this would help me a little bit. It is almost impossible to find the real truth. Maybe we should start a new discussion?
Imagine this version of events:
1991: Peter, Joe and Jim are still living at the house, Freddie has said they can stay but didn't write anything down. He knew at that time that Jim and Joe were both not very well and didn't expect them to live much longer than he himself did. Joe didn't, actually, but Jim did, as we all know.
Freddie dies, Mary asks Jim, Joe, and Peter to leave the house. Jim feels hard done by, and I can understand that but at the end of the day it's no longer his place to live. The three of them are able to find new places to live (history unfolds and Joe lives only another year, Jim 19 years, and Peter makes a career out of Freddie's memory which is actually understandable but he has been a little crass at times).
Mary stays on in the house, at first she's a bit haunted by Freddie's memory and legacy and finds things difficult. As was always the case she isn't interested in talking to the media, she never was when Freddie was alive, and she isn't now that he's dead although she did make a video for the fan club convention in 1992, and spoke to the media on the anniversary of Freddie's death in 1992 (videos on YouTube).
Mary gets pissed off when people write on the wall of her house (rightly so, actually), and she doesn't particularly like being hounded in the street by fans hanging outside the door. She's gracious enough not to ask them to leave when they're there, but she does ask that they don't film her. She's obviously very shy and always has been. She'd pose for the cameras with Freddie but that was the limit of things as far as publicity went for her.
Mary settles into the house and mews, makes adjustments to the place over time, sells the mews eventually (they're now a holiday cottage as far as I know), fans get annoyed with her that she's not opening the house to the public or making it a museum (why should she?), and her refusal to give interviews leads the press to print whatever they want about her. In 2000 she lets HELLO! magazine into the house to show people around.
IN those first few years she had to deal with the house, the estate, the judgement of the fans, undergo a trial by media, and deal with Freddie's ashes AFTER spending five years watching her best friend in a terminal decline. Over time she gets used to her new life and actually goes through her middle age and now her early old-age (she'll be about 70 now I think) as a happy and contented woman, living in a beautiful home, and not really caring what anyone has to write about her. She has her own social circle outside of Queen and the media, and doesn't keep in touch with Freddie's family (which is in itself a little strange but whatever, who cares), and raises a happy family over the decades since Freddie's death.
Imagine she's not living a reclusive life, coping with loss every day, and she might actually just be getting on with things, being rather boring, and simply not paying any attention to forums like this. Yeah there's the odd run in with RBKC planning department etc, but that's not unheard of in London....
It would also be funny if she's actually ON this forum but I doubt it.
1991: Peter, Joe and Jim are still living at the house, Freddie has said they can stay but didn't write anything down. He knew at that time that Jim and Joe were both not very well and didn't expect them to live much longer than he himself did. Joe didn't, actually, but Jim did, as we all know.
Freddie dies, Mary asks Jim, Joe, and Peter to leave the house. Jim feels hard done by, and I can understand that but at the end of the day it's no longer his place to live. The three of them are able to find new places to live (history unfolds and Joe lives only another year, Jim 19 years, and Peter makes a career out of Freddie's memory which is actually understandable but he has been a little crass at times).
Mary stays on in the house, at first she's a bit haunted by Freddie's memory and legacy and finds things difficult. As was always the case she isn't interested in talking to the media, she never was when Freddie was alive, and she isn't now that he's dead although she did make a video for the fan club convention in 1992, and spoke to the media on the anniversary of Freddie's death in 1992 (videos on YouTube).
Mary gets pissed off when people write on the wall of her house (rightly so, actually), and she doesn't particularly like being hounded in the street by fans hanging outside the door. She's gracious enough not to ask them to leave when they're there, but she does ask that they don't film her. She's obviously very shy and always has been. She'd pose for the cameras with Freddie but that was the limit of things as far as publicity went for her.
Mary settles into the house and mews, makes adjustments to the place over time, sells the mews eventually (they're now a holiday cottage as far as I know), fans get annoyed with her that she's not opening the house to the public or making it a museum (why should she?), and her refusal to give interviews leads the press to print whatever they want about her. In 2000 she lets HELLO! magazine into the house to show people around.
IN those first few years she had to deal with the house, the estate, the judgement of the fans, undergo a trial by media, and deal with Freddie's ashes AFTER spending five years watching her best friend in a terminal decline. Over time she gets used to her new life and actually goes through her middle age and now her early old-age (she'll be about 70 now I think) as a happy and contented woman, living in a beautiful home, and not really caring what anyone has to write about her. She has her own social circle outside of Queen and the media, and doesn't keep in touch with Freddie's family (which is in itself a little strange but whatever, who cares), and raises a happy family over the decades since Freddie's death.
Imagine she's not living a reclusive life, coping with loss every day, and she might actually just be getting on with things, being rather boring, and simply not paying any attention to forums like this. Yeah there's the odd run in with RBKC planning department etc, but that's not unheard of in London....
It would also be funny if she's actually ON this forum but I doubt it.
MiracleS....probably the most accurate representation of what happened that I’ve ever read.....
@miraclesteinway agreed. people have no idea what life has been like for her before and after Freddie's death.
people really only see what appears on the surface. they don't know the detail, or the reality.
people really only see what appears on the surface. they don't know the detail, or the reality.
Jim's book on Freddie was a disgusting betrayal of the trust Freddie put on him. Freddie was a very private person, and was hounded by the press in a way that made his bandmates angry. I lost all respect fo Jim after reading his book.
Reckon she's got a host of blokes willing to drop their standards for a shot up her - winkle your way in there, profess undying love for her, avoid the pre-nuptual and BINGO!
@Miracle Steinway, sounds like that could actually be reality. Imagine being loved, adored, and trusted by Freddie Mercury. What an amazing life she had in her younger days.
HelloDelilah wrote:@Miracle Steinway, sounds like that could actually be reality. Imagine being loved, adored, and trusted by Freddie Mercury. What an amazing life she had in her younger days.
and how ultimately futile that love would be. they both share a love that endures two decades of "rock n roll". they are there for each other through thick and thin, soulmates, confidants and best friends.
perfect in almost every way - save for "you know what".
brENsKi wrote:
HelloDelilah wrote:@Miracle Steinway, sounds like that could actually be reality. Imagine being loved, adored, and trusted by Freddie Mercury. What an amazing life she had in her younger days.
and how ultimately futile that love would be. they both share a love that endures two decades of "rock n roll". they are there for each other through thick and thin, soulmates, confidants and best friends.
perfect in almost every way - save for "you know what".
@brENsKi, Exactly. Perfect in almost every way. It’s crystal clear who was top priority in Freddie’s life. Mary was his rock whom he could turn to for everything.
@MiracleSteinway, your post was excellent and spot on.
@MyHumanZoo Totally agree.