Moët Et Chandin
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.
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c.jory
c.jory
c.jory
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.
YAWN
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.
Dustin Zimmerman
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.
Biggus Dickus
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.
Dustin Zimmerman
[QUOTE] [b]Biggus Dickus wrote:[/b]
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.[/QUOTE]
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?
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.[/QUOTE]
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?
Invisible Woman
Here's what Peter Freestone said on this subject in his blog: [url]http://www.freddiemercury.com/en/ask-phoebe/blog-70[/url]
Biggus Dickus
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.
Seed_Of_Rhy
[b] Biggus Dickus [/b], so i'm not the one who don't seeing the edit buttons.."glad" to be welcome to the club then))
[b] Villiers [/b], 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...
[b] Villiers [/b], 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...
c.jory
I think Villiers is saying that the main source used to claim Freddie was showing signs of illness in 1984/5 is not a good one, not that it is impossible for him to have been ill at all.
We do know he had a some kind of flu/viral infection in late March 85, and then throat infection in July 85. They could have been just normal illnesses; we'll never know. They didn't seem a big deal in any case and he appears to have completely recovered from them. He was certainly fit enough to tour from August-October 84, then from April-May 85 with no problems.
The only other source for illness is from compulsive liar Barbara Valentin who came up with all this bizarre stuff about throat tumours, him practically dying and coughing his lungs up during a threesome with another man and her calling her gynaecologist because he had a fever! No one else has mentioned such ailments, (Peter Freestone mentioned he'd had a couple of fits that a doctor said was due to too much cocaine) at least not until he was officially diagnosed and symptomatic.
So it's just one more thing in a long line of Valentin statements that cannot be verified by other close people, like Jim and Peter, who were open about the REAL symptoms he was suffering when he became "full blown".
We do know he had a some kind of flu/viral infection in late March 85, and then throat infection in July 85. They could have been just normal illnesses; we'll never know. They didn't seem a big deal in any case and he appears to have completely recovered from them. He was certainly fit enough to tour from August-October 84, then from April-May 85 with no problems.
The only other source for illness is from compulsive liar Barbara Valentin who came up with all this bizarre stuff about throat tumours, him practically dying and coughing his lungs up during a threesome with another man and her calling her gynaecologist because he had a fever! No one else has mentioned such ailments, (Peter Freestone mentioned he'd had a couple of fits that a doctor said was due to too much cocaine) at least not until he was officially diagnosed and symptomatic.
So it's just one more thing in a long line of Valentin statements that cannot be verified by other close people, like Jim and Peter, who were open about the REAL symptoms he was suffering when he became "full blown".
miraclesteinway
Actually there was an HTLV-III test in 1984.... but anyway whatever kind of test Freddie had doesn't mean that my story is crap. My source on the other hand, could have been bullshitting. I was definitely told this story by a woman who was definitely a microbiologist who tested samples from the Harley Street Clinics in the mid-1980s. She told me that the testing of Freddie's specimen was "about 1984 or 1985" and given the tendency for people's memory to become cloudy over time, that might even mean 1987. When she said that she knew before it was public knowledge, well there was that one story in 1986 about Freddie testing positive and being accosted by a journalist at the airport, but let's face it, at the time the story was refuted and Freddie went on to complete the Barcelona project, appear in public, and it was only really when Queen didn't tour The Miracle LP that things started to really heat up in the press. Yes there were some flurries of activity before then, but Freddie wasn't subjected to the constant hounding until much later on. I'm rambling... back to my original point....
My original point is yes I was told that story, I suspect that the lady who told me this was telling the truth, but it's highly possible that she got the year mixed up in her mind. There are many times I've said things like "in 2004 I did....." only to find out later it was 2006, or 2001, or 1998. It happens. Hell, I even say "a couple of months ago" when actually it happened a couple of years ago. Everyone does that. Remember, most people in the world are not doing internet searches trying to piece together Freddie Mercury's AIDS timeline. Most people are too busy doing other things.....
My original point is yes I was told that story, I suspect that the lady who told me this was telling the truth, but it's highly possible that she got the year mixed up in her mind. There are many times I've said things like "in 2004 I did....." only to find out later it was 2006, or 2001, or 1998. It happens. Hell, I even say "a couple of months ago" when actually it happened a couple of years ago. Everyone does that. Remember, most people in the world are not doing internet searches trying to piece together Freddie Mercury's AIDS timeline. Most people are too busy doing other things.....
Moët Et Chandin
Another unsupported snippet from the "Sonebody To Love" book was that " Freddie Mercury did not visit the Mineshaft until 1980". If you watch the video for Don't Stop Me Now, recorded in Jan 1979, Freddie can be seen wearing a TShirt advertising this very club under his leather Jacket. Now he was unlikely to have got that shirt from the local Walmart, souvenir shop, or a local drug store. The person who accompanied Fred on his early visits to NY gay clubs 77-78, before he hired Pheobe , and could've probably given more details was Paul Prenter. Details on NY clubs visited, or whether Freddie was a regular at the Mineshaft before 1980, or just doing a couple of visits for a reconnaissance exercise before returning a couple of years down the line
Moët Et Chandin
It remains as secret as Freddie wIshed it to be at the time, a time when Queen were in the ascendancy to conquering the US