The late Queen singer and Mary Austin were romantically linked for nearly a decade. The iconic Queen frontman met Austin in , a year before the band formed. After dating for a few years, they got engaged in , but it didn't last. Mercury broke it off three years later, according to the New York Post. Though they ended their romantic relationship, Mercury and Austin stayed in each other's lives until his death from AIDS-related complications in β and the two loved each other as if they were married.
To me, she was my common-law wife. To me, it was a marriage. After his death, Mercury left Austin the majority of his fortune, as well as his mansion in Kensington and all of his possessions β which she kept for over 30 years before selling everything in recent years. So where is Mary Austin Now? Like Mercury β whose parents were a court cashier and a homemaker in Zanzibar β Austin grew up in a working class family in Battersea, South London. Both of her parents were deaf and communicated through sign language, while her dad worked as a wallpaper trimmer and her mom as a domestic helper, according to the Daily Mail.
After meeting Mercury in , Austin with in a relationship with the artist for about seven years before he came out to her as bisexual. At the time, Mercury β then 24 years old β and future Queen drummer Roger Taylor were running a clothing stall in Kensington Market, where Mercury and Austin first encountered each other. He was very confident β something I have never been," she added. I liked him and it went on from there. The couple fell in love and moved into a shared apartment on Holland Road in London.
Mercury and Austin's romantic relationship was short-lived, but their friendship spanned decades. A few years after the couple started dating, Mercury proposed to Austin on Christmas Day in She told the Daily Mail that although they were happy together, the proposal was a complete surprise. After a few years, Mercury called off the engagement, and their physical relationship deteriorated. Austin suspected something was wrong, as Mercury wasn't behaving like himself. She believed it was because he was cheating on her, but she realized what was going on when Mercury came out to her in Despite their romantic involvement ending, the two didn't completely separate from each other.
They lived together for two decades until Mercury died. Under the same roof. Austin was at the Kensington home with Mercury during his final days while he suffered from health complications due to his AIDS diagnosis β which he received four years earlier in When Mercury died at 45 on Nov. The singer left his room Kensington mansion to Austin β including all of his belongings inside of it β and the majority of his fortune.
