So far there are few details about how Queen frontman Freddie Mercury actually suffered from AIDS, which he succumbed to in 1991 at the age of just 45. Apparently the singer was in far more pain than was previously known.
In an interview with the Sunday Times Magazine, guitarist Brian May revealed that Mercury lost a foot due to his illness. “The problem was his foot, and sadly there was very little of it left,” said the musician, colleague of the singer. “He showed it to us at dinner one day and said, ‘Oh Brian, sorry to upset you.’ And I said, ‘That doesn’t upset me, Freddie, except the fact that you’re going through so much pain.'”
Freddie Mercury didn’t want to talk
In the interview with the British magazine, May also suggested that all Queen members knew about Mercury’s illness: “Of course we all knew that he had AIDS, but we didn’t want to know. He said, ‘You’ve probably noticed that I’m struggling with this and I don’t want to talk about it and I don’t want it to change our lives, but that’s the situation.’ And then he just carried on like that.”
As Brian May announced in a statement on his own website and on Instagram, he was not informed by the journalist from the “Sunday Times Magazine” about the publication of the quotes shown here. The conversation was actually supposed to be about a new book called “Queen in 3D.”
Instead, it’s all about the tragic revelation of Mercury’s suffering from AIDS. May was angry about this: “I am angry and disgusted. It’s been a long time since I experienced such a form of journalism and such a betrayal of trust. People, please ignore this rubbish.” However, he did not comment further on the matter.