Freddie Mercury and Munich – that’s a (love) story in itself. From 1979 to 1985, the Queen singer and his band were almost constantly guests in the Bavarian capital, recording records in the “Musicland” studio and celebrating wild parties. What is still hardly known: During his first time in Munich, he lived in a 200 square meter apartment owned by actress Barbara Valentin (known for numerous Fassbinder films, who died in Munich in 2002).
However, a love story did not develop between the artists, as Valentin’s now 49-year-old daughter, Minki Reichardt, told “Bild” in an interview: “The two were very close to each other and often slept in the same bed, but they did not have a sexual relationship. Freddie was into men and was with, among others, Winnie Kirchberger, the owner of the ‘Sebastianseck’ restaurant.”
No idea about Queen
The actress met Mercury in the gay scene, where she frequented and knew her way around very well. Both quickly became friends. However, Valentin had never heard of Queen, as her daughter said.
At times, the residence on Maximilianstrasse was like a shared apartment, says Reichardt. Only with the subtle difference that the singer “usually had his entourage with him,” “including his secretary Peter ‘Phoebe’ Freestone, his bodyguard, his cook… They all sat on the bed with my mother. But the cook worked for next to nothing because Mercury was rarely hungry. Valentine’s daughter: My mother always said: ‘Freddie eats like a bird!’”
Freddie Mercury was very generous
According to her own statement, 17-year-old Minki had little use for Queen. However, she was happy that Freddie Mercury generously supported her passion for Munich nightlife. Reichardt: “Back then I started going out in the evenings and of course – like teenagers do – I asked my mother for money. She then said to Freddie: ‘Come on Freddie, give her some money.’ Freddie rummaged around in his tight jeans, pulled out some bill and handed it to me. This could be a 10-mark note or a 100-mark note. Freddie didn’t know anything about German marks and he didn’t care about money anyway.”
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Incidentally, a Queen biographer recently complained that Barbara Valentin was inexplicably missing from the Freddie Mercury biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody”. In general, Mercury’s time in Munich is unsatisfactorily omitted.