‘He said, “I think I’m bisexual.” I told him, “I think you’re gay.” And nothing else was said. We just hugged.’
‘I thought, “He’s been very brave.” Being a bit naive it had taken me a while to realise the truth. Afterwards he felt good about having told me. He said. “I realised I had a choice. The choice was not to tell you, but I think you are entitled to your own life.” And I thought, “Yes, as much as you are entitled to yours.”
She decided it was time for her to move out, but Freddie insisted that she shouldn’t move too far away from him. ‘Eventually we found a place near him, which he wanted me to have. It was perfect for a single person such as myself. His music publishing company bought it for me for £30,000. I could see Freddie’s own flat from my bathroom. I thought, “Oh, I’m never going to get away!”‘
‘But I didn’t mind. I was very happy there. It was small, but I’m quite happy with small places. My family were very poor.’, she remembers. ‘There were five of us and my parents had a terrible time making ends meet, but they managed. Life was always a struggle for them.’
Mary’s life today is very far from such struggle. She shares her magnificent house with Nick, the 48-year-old London businessman she married two years ago. Without telling anyone, they wed on Long Island with just Mary’s two sons, Richard and Jamie, by their side.
‘I think Nick was very brave to take me on, really. I come with a lot of baggage, a huge chapter in my life. At first because of the past and the broken affairs, I wasn’t entirely sure about marriage. Then someone said, “You don’t know until you try.”‘ ‘But as life unfolds, I can now be happy with him. I can appreciate what I had and what I now have and move on. I was getting there, but I think I could only have moved on by meeting somebody.’
‘When I met Nick everything came around a lot quicker. I wanted some stability for myself and the children. I felt that this man could give us that – stability in a loving family way. I’d lost my family really when Freddie died. Even the boys that worked in the house for him were my family, but they all moved on. Freddie was everything to me, apart from my sons.’
Freddie had been as thrilled as her about the arrival of her first son and used to visit her in hospital. He taught the little boy to say his first words, ‘tractor’ and ‘guitar’.
Now Freddie’s generosity has allowed Mary to educate both her sons privately. ‘In some ways, I think there was definitely a part of Freddie that would have liked a family life, a happy home and children,’ she says.
‘I don’t know how much of a great heterosexual he would have made.’ ‘I used to think originally that I’d lost him to being gay. But then if he had been totally heterosexual I think I would eventually have lost him to another woman, particuarly when the fame came along. Women followed him even though they suspected he was gay.’
One of Freddie’s favourite things was giving parties. The more outrageous the better. He flew his friends to Munich for a spectacular black and white drag ball; to Ibiza for a colourful, open-air party for more than 1,000 guests; and held a hat party at his Kensington home. By this time, even though he was sharing his home with his partner, former hairdresser Jim Hutton, Mary ws always invited to join in the merriment.
Freddie lived with the knowledge that he was HIV-positive for seven years. He was 45 when he died from Aids-induced bronchial pneumonia.
In the terms of his will, Mary was left a 50 per cent share of all his wealth, then estimated at around £10 million, and of future income. His parents and his sister were to receive 25 per cent each. In addition he left Jim Hutton £500,000 and bought him a plot of land on which to build a house in Jim’s home country of Ireland. He also left £500,000 each to his personal assistant Peter Freestone, and his cook Joe Fannelli, and £100,000 to Terry Giddings, his driver and bodyguard.
Mary is also a trustee of the Aids foundation set up in Freddie’s name. The Pheonix Trust, based in Montruex, Switzerland, where Queen have their own recording studios. As he was such a lively and energetic showman, I finally asked Mary whether perhaps, in a way, it was right that he wasn’t allowed to grow old.
Surprisingly, she replied:
‘No, I’d rather it happened the other way round. I should have gone first – I’d rather he miss me that I miss him.