Mary Austin

Kuijpy....it's not just you, I've always had the same feelings regarding Mary.

Sweetandtenderhooligan....I could add more to what you posted, but, I've given my opinions on the subject of Mary, not so nicely, either and, some people don't like hearing what I think....lol....not that I care what others think, but, at some point, it becomes redundant.

Mary Austin made herself available as Freddie's alibi-girlfriend for a long time after they had split up. She must have been doing pretty well pretending to be someone she wasn't, otherwise Mercury wouldn't have used her. He was living a false life, at least partially and he invited her to live it with him. She might have kept going that route when the great pretender left for his final tour...

The comment about Mary not helping with Freddies care when he was ill, thats what Peter and Joe were paid to do surely? Mary was probably busy bringing up her own family so wouldn't have had time to be at his beck and call every day and night.

Freddie knew he was dying for year and had plenty of time to change his will. He didn't so he got what he wanted and Mary got what was legally hers. The fact that Freddies staff got very little is pretty irrelevant. I would say its normal to leave what you have to those you love and not the staff who run your business.

As for Jims book, he got what Freddie thinks he deserved, he's not the first person to feel hard done by over a will, he wont be the last. Why would Mary want him floating around her house after Freddie was gone? If Freddie wanted his house staff to live there as long as possible, it would have been in his will. Jim was entitled to write a book from his perspective and entitled to what he got from Freddie in the will. That's all he was entitled to. Welcome to the harsh realities of life.

Not having a go at Jim, he seemed like a nice genuine guy, Mary also seems genuine. I don't see how anyone can criticise either based on Freddies will to be honest, Freddie was supposedly an intellectual guy, so would have known the mess he was leaving behind by not changing his will if that's what he wanted and he was that worried about all of them. Seems obvious where his loyalty sat.

[QUOTE] [b]philip storey wrote:[/b]

I would say after reading Jim's book that Mary was always a bit fake and a bitch. . . . .
To be left the Garden Lodge all the money and royalties was insane and she still receives royalties now.Wonder how Brian and Roger and John feel about that.? . . . . . .
. . , . . . . .I think Jim had every reason to dislike her and if you read the book it makes you very sad for Jim.[/QUOTE]

I think what your missing is that Mary remained a loyal friend to Freddie

Jim's book while being an interesting read gives only his side of the story and just maybe he never got on with her, who really knows. It's clear that he thought he should have been given more than he was, but why. He was in Freddie's life for a lot shorter time than Mary.

As far as Brian, Roger and John are concerned why would they be bothered or worried about who was named in Freddies's will. They're each worth millions as it is. The money that is still made in Freddie's name wouldn't be theirs if he was still alive and it was clearly up to Freddie were that money goes and indeed his estate in general.

Even if I had kids or was pregnant, I would be there for my friend who was dying. She wasn't and only she knows why.

excerpt, " Mercury & Me" :
J. Hutton : "When I opted to stay away from administering Freddie's medication I thought it was for the best, and perhaps in many ways it was. But if Freddie and I lived our time again, I would get much more involved and want to know everything."

"‘I didn't feel, ‘Oh I've got to wait a year after Freddie's died before I can start playing the field again..." ( interview with J. Hutton in 1994, Caroline Phillips, Evening Standard ).

Is this some kind a competition "Who took more care of Freddie? Mary or Jim"?

These are serious things. Would you so easily dare to give someone injections, transfusions, etc.? In some situations it's easier for someone who is not so close with patient (such as a partner) to do it.

I don't know how much Jim had lovers and partners after Freddie and I don't care. It doesn't diminish the love he had for Freddie. Jim had to continue life as much as he could.

OK, I think it is going too far suggesting either Mary or Jim loved Freddie more if they'd administered personal care and/or medications. They both clearly WERE there for him when he needed them - in life and when he was dying. If one of them had said "Right, I just can't do this - I'm flying to Australia for a year and am going to pretend it isn't happening." well then you can criticise... yet, even then - how many of you have had to watch someone you deeply love become a shadow of their former self while dying. It is not easy. And you can understand if a person could not cope.

In terms of personal care and medication AND EVEN BEING THERE AT ALL, you also not only have to think about who was willing or able to do it. You have to think who Freddie wanted to do it and who Freddie wanted to be there. Sometimes those who are ill or dying would rather even their closest loved ones not see them. But WAY more importantly and commonly they may not wish anyone at all to be involved in attending to whatever needs they may have. Would you want every one of your close friends attending to personal matters you once had no need for any help in? Put yourself in Freddie's place. It might be in fact important to a person to have some people who are separate to that, perhaps who they can talk to in a different way or with whom they can more readily keep the feeling that things are as they always were for as long as possible. You may very well want one/some of the people you could just be as much you with to be those people closest to you.

Oh, it is very hard to explain and I could say a lot more, but to be quite frank I don't want to imagine it all for Freddie, or relive any of my own experiences any further than this.

And in all of this we only have this person's word and that person's word: he said, she said. Even thinking about someone as super-lovely and whose word I respect completely such as Peter Freestone - we all see every event from a different perspective - our own and that is not the pure truth. And none of us were there to know the pure truth.

I think it is perfectly fine to prefer Jim or prefer Mary and you can reason however you wish or take whatever information for your conclusions, but you must acknowledge that neither were perfect - both have flaws (as did Freddie himself) and both were important to Freddie and he loved them.

And in terms of who *got* what, that is down to cold hard words and what was written in Freddie's will and that's all there is to that. We will never know Freddie's reasoning for what he left to who. We only know what he left. And it is no-one's place to say that was wrong.

LilMal: Did you make an account just to talk shit about Jim? How sad

I hear Freddie made some music. Does anyone have any further info on this?

So much hate on here and people being judgmental about Freddie's nearest and dearest - makes me sad ;-(
What to any of us really know? Can't we just celebrate the great band and amazing singer that we all love x

Pim, are you joking? Freddie cheated on Jim quite a few times until Jim put a stop to it.

Freddie wasn't a saint. No one is.

Did I just respond to a really old comment? Oh god, this board is messed up. Sorry!

I have read through all the comments and it leaves me with these poignant thoughts. None of us were within Freddie's inner circle, therefore we know not what went on behind closed doors.

One must think that at the time, there were a lot of people grieving and having mixed emotions. That is all part of the stages of grief.

As for Jim's character or Mary's, we cannot go by what people say tit for tat, as we'll never know unless we personally sit down with them and ask them, but sadly, Jim is not around and Mary is not one to divulge too much to us.

Another thing, many of you claimed she didn't work, etc. Not true. She was made a member of the management. Freddie himself asked her to stay on. She chose to remain as his friend for those life-long years. That says a lot about how much Freddie loved her. And to add validity to that comments-there is evidence by Freddie himself in interviews, etc, that he loved her and off to another digression...

There is evidence he loved Jim also, but he stated many times over, that Mary would be burdened by the home. He knew what would happen. He knew all of this. As he penned his will out, did he not foresee all of the drama? I liken to fathom, that yes, indeed so, he certainly did.

Wills and death make people into things that they are not. But it also reveals people's true nature. Notwithstanding as I know not
Mary nor Jim or anyone else within the circle, I can attest that I can only base my judgment on that of Freddie's words over and over. How "none of his lovers could measure up to Mary." How they had a "common law marriage", and what not as I paraphrased it out.

All I know, and all I care, is that I adore Queen and I loved/love Freddie. I was born in 1976, so my entire life I heard Queen on the Radio. I also saw the band through the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of it. I saw AIDS take away Freddie Mercury and his becoming a fragile shell of the man he once was. The Saddest video I ever watched and still think so is "These Are The Days Of Our Lives". Especially the ending.

I cannot explain in more simpler terms that "We don't know what went on behind closed doors" nor shall we ever. If we believed everything that people told us, then "the world is flat", we come from "aliens", etc. No validity whatsoever.

My dears, I leave you with this final wording, "Better one truth, than a thousand lies", Darling, look within yourselves, and there is the truth.