A woman claiming to be the "secret daughter" of Freddie Mercury, has spoken out for the first time, amid scepticism from the late singer's best friend.
This comes ahead of the release of a new biography of the late singer, which claims that he fathered a child in 1976, following an affair with a close friend's wife.
The book, titled, Love, Freddie: Freddie Mercury's Secret Life and Love, which is to be released in September, is co-written by his daughter, who is only referred to as "B", alongside Lesley-Ann Jones.
According to B, the book was based on 17 handwritten diaries which Mercury gave to her shortly before her death in 1991.
When the book's details regarding Mercury's secret child became public in May, several of the late Queen frontman's closest pals said they were sceptical of B's claims.
At the time, Mercury's ex girlfriend and close friend, Mary Austin said: “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".
“The truth is that I am simply not the guardian of such a secret,” she added. “I’ve never known of any child, or of any diaries. If Freddie had indeed had a child without me knowing anything about it, that would be astonishing to me".
Queen's Brian May has said that he wanted to remain "neutral" on this issue, with his wife Anita Dobson describing B's claims as "fake news".
Breaking her silence, B has said that Austin's comments left her "devastated", adding: “She has not yet read the book, yet she apparently makes this statement. I don’t understand why".
B also claimed that she had a “very close and loving” relationship with her father, who she says treated her “like a treasured possession”.
She added: “I didn’t want to share my dad with the whole world. 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".
“I cried and mourned my dad, while fans all around the world mourned Freddie,” she added. “When you are 15 years old, it’s not easy. I had to become an adult without him… For 30 years I had to build my life and family without him… I needed to have my dad just for me and my family. How could I have spoken before?”.
Co writer Jones also stated that they have DNA evidence to back up these claims.
“Please rest assured that the requisite verification was obtained, legal teams have been involved, but that such measures are private and not shared publicity”, Jones said.
Freddie Mercury died aged 45 in 1991.
