Former bandmate opens up about Freddie Mercury’s health battle

Queen guitarist Brian May has revealed that Freddie Mercury suffered from traumatic complications before he dies from AIDS, aged 45 in 1991. 

May, 66, said in an interview with The Times that Mercury did not want his fans to know how much he was suffering. 

The singer in fact only revealed his illness in a statement 24 hours before his death, and May says that AIDS was not something he wanted to discuss publicly. 

“Of course, we all knew [he had AIDS], but we didn’t want to [acknowledge it]. He said: ‘You probably gather that I’m dealing with this thing, and I don’t want to talk about it, and I don’t want our lives to change, but that’s the situation.’ And then he would move on,” May said.

In the interview, he revealed that by the time Mercury died, he had lost almost all of one of his feet to complications. 

“The problem was actually his foot — and, tragically there was very little left of it,” May said. 

“Once, he showed it to us at dinner. And he said: ‘Oh, Brian, I’m sorry I’ve upset you by showing you that.’ And I said, ‘I’m not upset, Freddie, except to realise that you have to put up with so much terrible pain.’”

May also expressed regret that Mercury did not live long enough to benefit from the antiretroviral drugs that became available just months after he died. 

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