Brian May’s wife, Anita Dobson, has revealed her husband’s reaction to the rumour that Queen bandmate Freddie Mercury has a secret daughter.
An upcoming biography about the frontman, penned by Lesley-Ann Jones, contains claims from a woman known as B that she is Freddie’s daughter, conceived during a fling with the wife of a close friend in 1976.
In the book – titled Love, Freddie: Freddie Mercury’s Secret Life and Love – it is claimed that those close to the singer, including his bandmates, were aware of his daughter’s, now 48, existence.
However, EastEnders icon Dobson, 76, revealed that she and her guitarist husband, 78, were left shocked by the claims.
‘Why wait this long? Brian thinks it’s a load of rubbish,’ she told The Telegraph.
‘I knew Freddie really, really well – I was a good friend of his – and I think Brian would trust me with that knowledge.’
In a separate interview with The Mirror, the Doctor Who star said ‘we’d all like to meet’ the woman claiming to be Freddie’s daughter.
‘There must be lots of people who have children that we don’t know about. It’s just because it’s him. Because he’s iconic,’ she continued.
‘And the type of animal that he was, it seems inconceivable that he would have a child with someone we don’t know about.’
B has claimed that she and her alleged father had a close relationship ‘from the moment she was born and throughout the final 15 years of his life.’
A passage from the book, as seen by The Independent, reads: ‘He adored me and was devoted to me.
‘The circumstances of my birth may seem, by most people’s standards, unusual and even outrageous.
‘That should come as no surprise. It never detracted from his commitment to love and look after me. He cherished me like a treasured possession.’
One of Freddie’s closest friends and former partner, Mary Austin, previously cast doubts on the secret child claims.
Talking to The Times, Austin, who inherited much of Mercury’s estate, said she would be ‘astonished’ if the claims were proven to be true.
‘Freddie had a glorious openness, and I cannot imagine he would have wanted to, or been able to, keep such a joyful event a secret, either from me or other people closest to him,’ Austin said.
Austin says that, if the We Will Rock You star did have a daughter, it would have brought him ‘tremendous joy’, as well as to his parents and ‘everybody who cared about him.’
While she believes that Mercury’s parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara, would have ’embraced her with all the love in their hearts’, she ‘does not remember Freddie ever speaking about creating a family.’
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.