Brian May has weighed in on rumours that fellow Queen legend Freddie Mercury fathered a secret lovechild after an affair.
The 77-year-old responded to reports which emerged earlier this year that the Queen frontman had a secret daughter who was kept away from the spotlight.
May was stunned by the news and has admitted he doesn’t believe it. His wife, former EastEnders icon Anita Dobson, explained she asked her husband after hearing the rumours.
The 76-year-old stated: “I said to Brian, ‘do you know about this?’ and he said, ‘Do you believe this?'”
Lesley-Ann Jones made the revelation in a recent biography, claiming she had DNA proof to back up the claims she published in Love Freddie in May this year.
The book stated that the child had been the result of an affair with the wife of a close friend of Mercury’s in 1976.
Dobson, however, argued that Mercury was too prominent a figure to have kept such a secret from leaking.
“There must be lots of people who have children that we don’t know about,” she commented.
Speaking to The Mirror, the actress added: “It’s just because it’s him. Because he’s iconic.
“And the type of animal that he was, it seems inconceivable that he would have a child with someone we don’t know about.
“If he does have one where is she – step forward. If she exists. Maybe it is just more fake news.”
The revelation is based on 17 volumes of Mercury’s detailed personal journals, which he gave to his daughter before his death from AIDS-related pneumonia in 1991.
The existence of Mercury’s daughter was understood to have been known only to his closest circle, including his parents, sister, fellow Queen band members and Mary Austin, the love of his life.
It’s thought the daughter, referred to only as “B” in the book, now lives in Europe where she works as a medical professional and is also a mother herself, making Mercury a posthumous grandfather.
“He was a hands-on, devoted dad,” Jones told the Daily Mail. “He described fatherhood as the fulfilment of his most cherished ambition and as the greatest blessing of his life.”
In a handwritten letter included in the book, B writes: “Freddie Mercury was and is my father.
“We had a very close and loving relationship from the moment I was born and throughout the final 15 years of his life.
“He adored me and was devoted to me. The circumstances of my birth may seem, by most people’s standards, unusual and even outrageous. That should come as no surprise.
“It never detracted from his commitment to love and look after me. He cherished me like a treasured possession.”
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According to Jones, Mercury had his own room at the family’s home and visited them frequently.
He maintained a close relationship with his daughter, speaking to her every day when he was away on tour or in the recording studio.
