| Whatinthewhatthe? 12.07.2004 21:48 |
Yes, let's hear it for Mary Austin, the safe harbour in a stormy Freddie sea! She could have told and sold her story for mega-pounds but her dignity and grace speak volumes for her feelings for Freddie. She has spoken with several magazines but she never told intimate things that no doubt many wanted to know. Do you think she should have "come forward" like other peers and told "her side of the story"? Or is it best for her to be left with her memories and let everybody guess? I believe she has done the proper thing by not going the "tell-all" route like others did. She stuck by Freddie through good and bad times and yes sickness and health. We all should be blessed with friends like that! |
| VGB 13.07.2004 01:15 |
i agree with you, although I'm still not sure what all details anyone else would want to know? |
| Sonja 13.07.2004 01:54 |
I agree. And Freddie knew what a great and loyal friend he'd found in Mary. Despite all the lovers Freddie had throughout his career I think that Mary always remained the love of his life. |
| Sonja 13.07.2004 01:55 |
Sorry double post. |
| frejorobri 13.07.2004 03:35 |
I agree. I respect Mary for always honouring Freddie's privacy and memory. That's what Freddie wanted. I was also pleased when I read about the result of the tragic incident where a maintenance crew were careless and killed some of Freddie's Koi fish-and Mary sued them.Good for her!She sticks up for Freddie,because that's exactly what he would have done. Mary loves Freddie deeply and has always been devoted to him-in good times and bad. |
| [StArMaN] 13.07.2004 05:37 |
"Mary sued them.Good for her!She sticks up for Freddie,because that's exactly what he would have done." mmh, maybe freddie would have said "forget'em" lol and Brian add "all dead all dead" ;) |
| pma 13.07.2004 05:40 |
The only one? Hey, Peter Straker (for example) hasn't written about Freddie either... or did I miss his book? "5 Queens, a Faghag and a pizza place?" Oh yeah I think I did. |
| Whatinthewhatthe? 13.07.2004 10:23 |
It goes to show how many real "friends" Freddie truly had. Right till the end! |
| agneepath! 11994 13.07.2004 10:32 |
Wasn't Mary the one, who also benefited most from Freddie's will? |
| Brian_Mays_Wig 13.07.2004 10:33 |
Why would she want to sell her story for 'mega-pounds'??? She inherited mega, mega pounds. Im sure if she was broke then it would have been sold over and over again! |
| Brian_Mays_Wig 13.07.2004 10:34 |
VGB wrote: i agree with you, although I'm still not sure what all details anyone else would want to know?Yes, I thought Jim Huttons revelation that Freddie pissed himself just before he died was a bit too much! |
| Brian_Mays_Wig 13.07.2004 10:37 |
Sorry, me again! Im not knocking Mary by the way, i might have sounded a bit harsh on her, Im sure we'd all love friends like her. And shes still a fine looking woman too ;) |
| geeksandgeeks 13.07.2004 11:09 |
I respect her no more or less than I respect the ones who DID write about Freddie. They're all human, and they did what they could for him. |
| Whatinthewhatthe? 13.07.2004 11:55 |
It may have been much too traumatic for her to write anything. After all, she, like others in Freddie's circle, literally watched Freddie dying every day. Seeing someone who was once bright and vital and full of life wasting away due to an illness is indeed traumatic. I watched my own mother succumb to cancer in only three and a half months earlier this year and it was something I do not want to witness ever again in this lifetime. You want to remember that person as they once were, not how they were toward and at the end of their life. I really recoiled when I first read Peter's and Jim's account...they made me weep for Freddie's suffering. (And this was years before my mother's death.) |
| egret 13.07.2004 14:09 |
I think the memoirs include some horribly sad details about Freddie's physical deterioration because of Freddie's position as a very famous AIDS victim. While the main point of the memoirs is of course to remember their friend, another point on their agenda is an argument for compassion and concern for AIDS victims. Also, of course, if you spend time nursing someone, their physical deterioration becomes part of your memory of them, which is partly why nursing a loved one is so emotionally difficult. Also, in much writing of this genre, the body and its physicality come to stand for truth -- it's that which is missing, of which one is bereft, so the writing tries to recapture its presence. Alright, I'll stop with the literary criticism, but I don't think either Freestone's or Hutton's memoirs are exploitative. |
| the oppositionist 13.07.2004 17:22 |
agree absolutely with egret. the people who wrote such details about freddie died loved him too- just because jim hutton was freddies gay lover we still seem to assume that he didnt love freddie as much as mary austin did- how can we assume anyones feelings? i think they went into detail because they wanted people to realise the horrid effects of AIDS on people you love and people you dont even know. the shock tactics of saying his bones broke and he wet himself before he died surely must have shocked people into some sort of action against aids? |
| Whatinthewhatthe? 14.07.2004 10:21 |
The shock tactics worked on people who read those books. Very, very sad imagining what spectrum of pain Freddie must have endured the whole time. In that respect, he was superhuman to have withstood that. It must have been endless torture to him, and to the ones who were around him the whole time, twenty-four hours a day. If he hadn't been the person he was, he would have ended up in a hospice and had constant care by licenced nurses. I'm sure that was brought up but never mentioned in any book. I would have preferred to die at home also. My mother (God bless her) was so bad off she went into a hospice and mercifully died five days later. The people who cared for her round-the-clock were absolute angels and I could never thank them enough for what they did for her. If I ever met Peter, I would thank him in the same way!! |
| Sir Archie 'Tiffany' Leach 14.07.2004 15:04 |
She should do the after dinner circuit she'd make a fortune. Look what it's done for Jimmy Cricket and Jim Bowen. |
| frejorobri 15.07.2004 04:28 |
Neil " MOXIE " Glover wrote: "Mary sued them.Good for her!She sticks up for Freddie,because that's exactly what he would have done." mmh, maybe freddie would have said "forget'em" lol and Brian add "all dead all dead" ;)Possibly,but remember how Freddie reacted to his cats dying-holding funerals for them,etc. |
| frejorobri 15.07.2004 04:32 |
Brian_Mays_Wig wrote: Why would she want to sell her story for 'mega-pounds'??? She inherited mega, mega pounds. Im sure if she was broke then it would have been sold over and over again!I'm just a naive young thing,but I'd like to think that even if Mary were broke(which will never happen thanx to Freddie)she wouldn't do that to him-just the special love and closeness they always had together. |
| frejorobri 15.07.2004 04:33 |
Brian_Mays_Wig wrote:I agree.VGB wrote: i agree with you, although I'm still not sure what all details anyone else would want to know?Yes, I thought Jim Huttons revelation that Freddie pissed himself just before he died was a bit too much! |
| frejorobri 15.07.2004 04:36 |
Brian_Mays_Wig wrote: Sorry, me again! Im not knocking Mary by the way, i might have sounded a bit harsh on her, Im sure we'd all love friends like her. And shes still a fine looking woman too ;)Yes she is a beautiful woman - Freddie had exsquisite taste;) |
| frejorobri 15.07.2004 04:37 |
geeksandgeeks wrote: I respect her no more or less than I respect the ones who DID write about Freddie. They're all human, and they did what they could for him.That's true,they did. |
| nazila queena 15.07.2004 05:05 |
I agree ,I think Mary was nearest person to Freddie.they couldn't be just freinds,they were heartfelt & close. Freddie respect to her all the time ,I think it's sufficient to understand her personality. |
| fat bottomed girl 7238 16.07.2004 02:56 |
I've come in rather late on this topic..But I think Mary Austin has no need to 'sell' her story as she was left mega millions in Freddie's will. I think she was the person closest to Freddie and was always there for him in high and low times. The one thing that really aggravates me is that she didn't carry out Freddie's wishes regarding Jim Hutton, Joe and Phoebe.. She 'kicked' them out of the house quicker than you can say ' Flash Gordon' without the personal belongings that Freddie told them they could have. (allegedly - according to Jim's book) So did she have ££££ signs clouding her compassion or did she have another reason for this? Maybe her side of the story would have made her seem less of an ogre to what we have already read. FBG |