Highlights
- Freddie Mercury’s alleged daughter, known as B, has died aged 48 after a long illness.
- Her existence emerged last year through a biography by Lesley-Ann Jones.
- She suffered from chordoma, a rare spinal cancer that began in childhood and later returned.
- Mercury is said to have given her personal diaries shortly before his death in 1991.
Long battle with rare cancer
Freddie Mercury’s “secret daughter” has died at the age of 48, her family has said.
The woman, known publicly only as B, died after a prolonged fight with cancer. Her widower told the Daily Mail that she had chordoma, a rare cancer affecting the spine. The Telegraph understands the disease first appeared in childhood, went into remission, and later returned.
B leaves behind her husband and two sons, aged nine and seven.
Identity revealed through biography
B’s existence became public last year with the release of Love, Freddie: Freddie Mercury’s Secret Life and Love by biographer Lesley-Ann Jones.
According to reports, Mercury affectionately called his daughter “Bibi”, “trésor” – French for treasure – and “my little froggie”.
Jones told The Telegraph that she was aware during the writing process that B might not live to see the book published.
“I knew all along, while we were writing the book, that she may not live to see it published,” she said. “The fact that she did was a miracle.”
She added that B’s illness played a key role in her decision to come forward.
“The illness was the deciding factor in her decision to contact me, to tell me Freddie’s story,” Jones said. “She did not do it for money… The mission was always to give her father back his truth.”
Childhood illness that returned
Jones said B’s chordoma had affected the base of her spine in childhood and had been in remission for many years before returning later in life.
“She always knew that it would,” Jones said.
B is understood to have contacted the author knowing her time was limited, wanting to place her father’s story on record.
Growing up in silence
In August, B spoke publicly about what it was like to grow up knowing Mercury was her father while the world believed he had no children.
She said she never wanted to “share” her father with the public.
“After his death, I had to learn to live with the attacks against him, the misrepresentations of him, and with the feeling that my dad now belonged to everyone,” she said.
“I cried and mourned my dad, while fans all around the world mourned Freddie. When you are 15, it’s not easy. I had to become an adult without him, and live all the structuring moments and events without his support.”
Diaries handed over before death
The book is based on 17 handwritten diaries that Mercury is said to have given B three weeks before he died on November 24, 1991, from health complications related to Aids.
Fans were surprised by the claim that the Queen frontman had a daughter, conceived accidentally in 1976 during a fling with the wife of a close friend, a year after Bohemian Rhapsody became a hit.
Shock among those close to Mercury
Mary Austin, Mercury’s former partner and lifelong friend, who inherited about half of his estimated £9 million estate, is alleged to have been unaware of B’s existence.
B said she was “devastated” by that response.
For decades, it had been assumed that Mercury left no children. With B’s death at 48, the story of the daughter he kept hidden has now ended as quietly as it began.
