17 November 1978, 05:07 hrs New York City
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This topic seems to keep coming up. I suppose it's biographical information pertinent to his death and therefore the cessation of his music, although it does seem like some people on here are attracted to discussing the more morbid aspects of life.
My only contribution is that in 1987 Freddie found out he had AIDS. His test showed, according to Peter Freestone, that he had full-blown AIDS and was not simply HIV positive. I would reason that he was testing fairly regularly by that point and knew that he was infected before then.
I posted on this forum before about a friend of mine who worked in the testing clinics in the 1980s. Around 2002 or could have been 03, 04, memory isn't all that reliable (before I personally knew about this forum) she told me that the clinic where she worked tested Freddie's sample and it proved positive. They were sworn to secrecy and not one of them leaked anything to the press as far as she knows. According to her it was about 1984, 85, and she didn't work for the clinic much longer after that. Now whether it was actually 1987 and she got her year wrong, I don't know. What she told me was that she was waiting for the story to break about Freddie for the best part of a decade before he died (1984 to 1991 is the best part of a decade), and that she knew he was ill long before the public suspected anything.
This would tie in with Mary Austin's account. It's difficult to know because the AIDS timeline around the early 80s is still very murky. People were only just becoming aware of what it was and how it worked, and some people didn't realise it was sexually transmitted. Some infected people would go in to denial (quite a natural reaction), and others would probably have more readily accepted.
There are accounts of Freddie's general health not being so good around 1984-85, so perhaps that ties in with some kind of flare up. That said, anything is possible. Catching a cold or flu can't necessarily be attributed to a complication of early-stage HIV even in an infected person, and without actually going back to the year 1984 and being Freddie's doctor and living Freddie's life, we're probably never going to know.
By the way in 1986-7 Freddie possibly did feel his career was sagging. He was working on that solo project which he abandoned in favour of Barcelona, he may have felt a little down after the massive tour with Queen (the massive, and hugely successful tour), and the Kind of Magic LP did well but it wasn't the kind of success which he craved. The Mr Bad Guy LP was a failure, and perhaps he still felt that niggling somewhere inside, and he also knew he was ill and probably going to die. That he went on to produce music at all after this was a miracle. Excuse the pun...
My only contribution is that in 1987 Freddie found out he had AIDS. His test showed, according to Peter Freestone, that he had full-blown AIDS and was not simply HIV positive. I would reason that he was testing fairly regularly by that point and knew that he was infected before then.
I posted on this forum before about a friend of mine who worked in the testing clinics in the 1980s. Around 2002 or could have been 03, 04, memory isn't all that reliable (before I personally knew about this forum) she told me that the clinic where she worked tested Freddie's sample and it proved positive. They were sworn to secrecy and not one of them leaked anything to the press as far as she knows. According to her it was about 1984, 85, and she didn't work for the clinic much longer after that. Now whether it was actually 1987 and she got her year wrong, I don't know. What she told me was that she was waiting for the story to break about Freddie for the best part of a decade before he died (1984 to 1991 is the best part of a decade), and that she knew he was ill long before the public suspected anything.
This would tie in with Mary Austin's account. It's difficult to know because the AIDS timeline around the early 80s is still very murky. People were only just becoming aware of what it was and how it worked, and some people didn't realise it was sexually transmitted. Some infected people would go in to denial (quite a natural reaction), and others would probably have more readily accepted.
There are accounts of Freddie's general health not being so good around 1984-85, so perhaps that ties in with some kind of flare up. That said, anything is possible. Catching a cold or flu can't necessarily be attributed to a complication of early-stage HIV even in an infected person, and without actually going back to the year 1984 and being Freddie's doctor and living Freddie's life, we're probably never going to know.
By the way in 1986-7 Freddie possibly did feel his career was sagging. He was working on that solo project which he abandoned in favour of Barcelona, he may have felt a little down after the massive tour with Queen (the massive, and hugely successful tour), and the Kind of Magic LP did well but it wasn't the kind of success which he craved. The Mr Bad Guy LP was a failure, and perhaps he still felt that niggling somewhere inside, and he also knew he was ill and probably going to die. That he went on to produce music at all after this was a miracle. Excuse the pun...
Whats with all the aids stuff? Everyone knows freddie died of man flu!
Whats with all the aids stuff? Everyone knows freddie died of man flu!
Just after Christmas 1978, Freddie had what he thought was a most severe bout of flu, and the remainder of the Jazz tour then started late January 79.
First up, sorry for the blank messages - the Quote function is failing me
The ELISA HIV test was cleared for release in March 1985 in the UK, so that is probably when your friend's lab tested him. So even if Freddie was suspicious (likely) he didn't KNOW for definite, and therefore, Mary did not know either. Mary IS capable of being wrong, despite being close. (Think of the three different coming out as gay stories she has, as someone mentioned above). She also said in The Mysterious Mr Mercury that he didn't tell her til much later.
The only illness evidence I can think of with Freddie in 85 was his Simon Bates interview where he said he'd been unwell and of course the throat infection during the Live Aid period, and like you said, may not necessarily be due to HIV. Going to discount Valentin's account of all his symptoms because nothing she ever said ties in with anyone else. This is the woman who claimed he strangled her, then denied it, then claimed he tried to drown her lol. So lets put her to one side.
If he was going to implode, he'd have surely done it in 1983/4 when Queen were inactive, or not getting on well. He was in Peter Freestone's opinion 'very emotional' at that time. Mack gives an account of him being very upset that he'd lost control of himself and ended up in a dumpster at this time too. It seemed like his career was uncertain and his personal life was spiraling out of control at that time.
Conversely in 1986 his life seemed to be back on track having got rid of subversive influences from his life. He appeared to clean himself up, stop sleeping around and clubbing and inventive again.
I know it's likely he had found out he was HIV+ by this period, but nonetheless he was settled in his home with Jim - Terry Giddings even remarked that he was in a 'happy place' just before he discovered he had full blown AIDS. Furthermore, despite his secret diagnosis, he sounds jokey, and enthusiastic for future projects in his David Wigg interviews.
The ELISA HIV test was cleared for release in March 1985 in the UK, so that is probably when your friend's lab tested him. So even if Freddie was suspicious (likely) he didn't KNOW for definite, and therefore, Mary did not know either. Mary IS capable of being wrong, despite being close. (Think of the three different coming out as gay stories she has, as someone mentioned above). She also said in The Mysterious Mr Mercury that he didn't tell her til much later.
The only illness evidence I can think of with Freddie in 85 was his Simon Bates interview where he said he'd been unwell and of course the throat infection during the Live Aid period, and like you said, may not necessarily be due to HIV. Going to discount Valentin's account of all his symptoms because nothing she ever said ties in with anyone else. This is the woman who claimed he strangled her, then denied it, then claimed he tried to drown her lol. So lets put her to one side.
If he was going to implode, he'd have surely done it in 1983/4 when Queen were inactive, or not getting on well. He was in Peter Freestone's opinion 'very emotional' at that time. Mack gives an account of him being very upset that he'd lost control of himself and ended up in a dumpster at this time too. It seemed like his career was uncertain and his personal life was spiraling out of control at that time.
Conversely in 1986 his life seemed to be back on track having got rid of subversive influences from his life. He appeared to clean himself up, stop sleeping around and clubbing and inventive again.
I know it's likely he had found out he was HIV+ by this period, but nonetheless he was settled in his home with Jim - Terry Giddings even remarked that he was in a 'happy place' just before he discovered he had full blown AIDS. Furthermore, despite his secret diagnosis, he sounds jokey, and enthusiastic for future projects in his David Wigg interviews.
Lol what accounts were there of Freddie not being in good health in 84 and 85? The only person who made that claim was Barbara and she lied about absolutely everything. Peter never mentioned Freddie being ill or not being in the best health in 84 or 85. Nobody suspectedanything until later on. And I'm sorry, but I just don't believe you and your friend being someone who just happened to have tested Freddie's blood. How did she know it was his blood? He used a fake a name to test under. The only person who had his real information was his doctor. I'm American but I worked in an LGBT youth center for years and when we tested, we NEVER were able to view the person's personal information and if they used a fake name, that's all we had. The doctor was the one who had their info and they (by law) were not allowed to tell anyone what their real name was. Even if your friend saw Freddie come in the clinic, she would have no way of knowing that was Freddie's blood and she certainly would not have been told the results and to not talk to the press. Freddie would not use a name that could be easily traced back to him. Every biography on him said what his birth name was. He wouldn't use that to test under.
As for Mary I think she either said 84 to "outshine" the already lying Barbara in the 'I knew him best' trash show, or she genuinely got her years mixed up.
Let's stop putting all our confidence in 2 women who weren't around him daily and start focusing on the man (and men) who were. Peter Freestone is the most trustworthy source. He never said Freddie's health wasn't the best in 84/85. We know he tested in 87 but the earliest he tested before that (if he did) Peter said was 86. 1984 is just not possible.
As for Mary I think she either said 84 to "outshine" the already lying Barbara in the 'I knew him best' trash show, or she genuinely got her years mixed up.
Let's stop putting all our confidence in 2 women who weren't around him daily and start focusing on the man (and men) who were. Peter Freestone is the most trustworthy source. He never said Freddie's health wasn't the best in 84/85. We know he tested in 87 but the earliest he tested before that (if he did) Peter said was 86. 1984 is just not possible.
Horse shit. Your friend happened to be in the clinic that tested his blood and she managed to find out who he was (without getting fired) despite him not using his real name? Yeah and I'm Freddie's bastard son, nice to meet you.
Whether the story told by the friend of miraclesteinway is true or not, there would have been people interacting with Freddie at the clinic. I'm talking about the people physically taking the sample etc. Sworn to secrecy or not, co-workers do talk about stuff with each other, even if they're not supposed to. It's human.
Biggus Dickus wrote:
Whether the story told by the friend of miraclesteinway is true or not, there would have been people interacting with Freddie at the clinic. I'm talking about the people physically taking the sample etc. Sworn to secrecy or not, co-workers do talk about stuff with each other, even if they're not supposed to. It's human.
The people who took his blood (more likely just one person) weren't likely to talk. My mother was a nurse for 26 years. She said people got fired for less so they wouldn't risk it. Especially with a celebrity. The guys story is crap but also how did Freddie get tested in 84 when the test wasn't available until the next year? Did he time travel perhaps?
Here's what Peter Freestone said on this subject in his blog: http://www.freddiemercury.com/en/ask-phoebe/blog-70
Did you read the text properly Zimmerman? Miraclesteinway did say and I quote "According to her it was about 1984, 85." Btw why the hell are the quote and edit buttons invisible to me.
Biggus Dickus , so i'm not the one who don't seeing the edit buttons.."glad" to be welcome to the club then))
Villiers , I like your way of thinkin' but you got one thing arguable - statement that Freddie was in good health in 1984-85. Even if we assume, that Freestone (except Jim and maybe Joe) is the man who knew him best Freddie still can have some secrets from him about his daily conditions and/or minor pathologies. For ex. we don't know how low was his pain threshold or sensitivity to medications...
Villiers , I like your way of thinkin' but you got one thing arguable - statement that Freddie was in good health in 1984-85. Even if we assume, that Freestone (except Jim and maybe Joe) is the man who knew him best Freddie still can have some secrets from him about his daily conditions and/or minor pathologies. For ex. we don't know how low was his pain threshold or sensitivity to medications...