Bohemian Rhapsody: Rami Malek reveals the biggest 'SHOCK' about Freddie Mercury and sex

Everybody thinks they know Freddie Mercury. His life and death were splashed all over the media and now the new movie has taken the story to a new generation. Bohemian Rhapsody has been a spectacular success across the globe and introduced new fans to Queen and Freddie, as well as bringing the beloved icon back to life for his devoted fans. But many people, including the film’s own stars, have been surprised about what has emerged about the outrageous icon. Malek and his co-star Lucy Boynton reveal the surprising truths of Freddie’s sex and love life.

Everybody thinks of Freddie as a gay man, although the film makes clear how much he struggled with his sexuality. In fact, many have been surprised to learn just how important one woman was throughout his life. Freddie found happiness towards the end of his life with Jim Hutton, but Mary Austin (played by Boynton) was the “love of his life.”

At the start of Freddie’s career, the pair shared a full physical and emotional relationship. Freddie thought he would spend the rest of his life with her – and he did, though not quite in the way he first imagined.

Malek told Film 4: “Quite frankly she is the heart of the movie and you would never think the woman in his life would be the heart of the story – not the Freddie Mercury I thought I knew.

“She was the love of his life, the person he says he trusted most, his common-law wife and the (only) person to this day who knows where his ashes are.”

Lucy said: “We are so aware of the stage Freddie Mercury but this film looks more intricately at his quieter side, the more vulnerable, child-like side of him. And at that side is Mary. (Together) they were the stillness in the centre of this very wild, colourful and dynamic and frenzied world that was his life. It sounds like these two very shy people saw each other with a greater clarity than so many are granted and brought this light out of each other. They were like magnets.”

Lucy revealed that Brian May himself was her greatest source of information about that relationship. He had originally introduced the pair to each other. May, of course, has been one of the main driving forces behind the movie, shepherding it to the big screen for almost ten years.

Boynton added: “It shines a light on that and the impact of people in his life who you wouldn’t necessarily know about like Mary and his relationship with his family and with Jim Hutton, as well. So it gives a more three-dimensional insight into why he is the way he is.”

Mary and Jim were the principal partners in Freddie’s adult life and both were still at the heart of his world when he died on November 24, 1991. He was only 45-years-old.

In the early 1970s he had a relationship with Mary Austin. The couple were together for several years and lived together in Freddie’s west London home, but reportedly broke up when the singer revealed his sexuality. The Queen song Love of My Life was dedicated to Mary.

In the mid 1980s Freddie began seeing hairdresser Jim Hutton, who he lived with until his death of AIDS-related pneumonia in 1991. Jim, who died in 2010, said Freddie died wearing a wedding band that he gave to him.

In the final months, Mary Austin moved back into the Kensington home as primary companion and carer, supported by Freddie’s friends, family and band mates. It was Mary who telephoned Freddie’s mother and sister to tell them of his death. 

The new film, made with the blessing of the band and Freddie’s sister, Kashmira, restores Mary’s place in Freddie’s incredible story.

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY IS OUT NOW