New Freddie Mercury biopic is slammed for ignoring 'the love of his life', an Austrian soft-porn star named Barbara who cared for him during his dying days

  • New biopic Bohemian Rhapsody stars Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury 
  • The film focues on his early career leading up to his famous Live Aid appearance 
  • However, Freddie's biographer says the movie misses out a key woman in his life
  • Barbara Valentin, a soft-porn star, cared for Mercury after his AIDS diagnosis, she says, and was a bigger figure in his life than ex-girlfriend Mary Austin
  • Austin's relationship with Mercury inspired the singer's hit Love of My Life

By Jo Tweedy For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

It's set to light up the box office ahead of Christmas but new Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody has been slammed by the late singer's biographer - for ignoring 'the love of his life' in the film.

The blockbuster, which stars actor Rami Malek, 37, as the charismatic Queen frontman, makes no mention of Austrian soft-porn star Barbara Valentin, who, says biographer Lesley-Ann Jones, the singer loved deeply.  

While the film does feature Mary Austin (played by Lucy Boynton), who Freddie dated in the Seventies and who inspired the Queen song Love of my Life, Jones says it was actually Valentin who was closer to the singer.

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Barbara Valentin, born in Vienna but dubbed 'the German Jayne Mansfield', was said to have been the love of Freddie Mercury's life...but there's no mention of her in the new film about the Queen singer's life, says Freddie's biographer Lesley-Ann Jones

Barbara Valentin, born in Vienna but dubbed 'the German Jayne Mansfield', was said to have been the love of Freddie Mercury's life...but there's no mention of her in the new film about the Queen singer's life, says Freddie's biographer Lesley-Ann Jones

The one-time couple ended up dear friends, with Barbara, who died of a stroke at 61, moving into the home Freddie shared with his long-time love Jim Hutton to care for him as he succumbed to AIDS before his death in 1991

The one-time couple ended up dear friends, with Barbara, who died of a stroke at 61, moving into the home Freddie shared with his long-time love Jim Hutton to care for him as he succumbed to AIDS before his death in 1991

Rami Malek, who stars in the new biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, took on the role of the singer after Sacha Baron Cohen pulled out of the film

Rami Malek, who stars in the new biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, took on the role of the singer after Sacha Baron Cohen pulled out of the film

Speaking to the Telegraph, Jones said: 'I'm a bit annoyed about this film because they've left out the other one completely.

'Mary Austin is kind of the grieving "widow" that we're all used to hearing about but there was another woman'. It's an airbrushing of someone who was so vital to him.'

Valentin, who died of a stroke in 2002 at the age of 61, cared for Freddie following his diagnosis with AIDS and during his dying days, says Jones.  

Freddie is thought to have enjoyed an affair with the pneumatic soft-porn actress who, though born in Vienna, was dubbed 'the German Jayne Mansfield' before later offering her a room in the house he shared with his final partner, former Savoy Hotel hairdresser Jim Hutton.   

Mercury died on November 24th 1991 at the age of 45 due to complications with AIDS.

The film has already been hit with controversy after comedian Sacha Baron Cohen walked out on the biopic after being lined up to play Mercury. Original director Bryan Singer also walked out on the movie half-way through filming. And some critics have suggested that his affairs with men, and his illness, are not accurately represented in the film.

Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury in a scene from the the film about the legendary band

Rami Malek, 37, as Freddie Mercury in a scene from the the film about the legendary band

The full Queen line-up: John Deacon, Roger Taylor, Freddie Mercury and Brian May

The original Queen line-up, from left: John Deacon, Roger Taylor, Freddie Mercury and Brian May

While Mary Austin, also a girlfriend of Freddie's, does feature in the film, Lesley-Ann Jones claims that his relationship with Barbara Valentin was more significant, calling her the 'love of his life' 

While Mary Austin, also a girlfriend of Freddie's, does feature in the film, Lesley-Ann Jones claims that his relationship with Barbara Valentin was more significant, calling her the 'love of his life' 

Mercury was born in the then-British colony of Zanzibar, in 1946, but sent to boarding school in India when he was just seven — a childhood trauma which some suggest caused his chronic insecurity and insatiable yearning for attention and affection.

The family moved to England when he was 18, settling in Feltham, under the Heathrow Airport flight-path. While they maintained many Parsee traditions, Mercury papered over the traces of his roots and sought out the fleshpots of Swinging Sixties London.

When studying to be an illustrator at Ealing Art College he met the eventual Queen drummer Roger Taylor and helped run his flea market clothes stall.

The outfits they sold were so camp they were dubbed ‘the two queens’ (even though Taylor is heterosexual and Freddie then purported to be so), and it was then that Mercury began wearing the billowing blouses and tight flared trousers that became one of his sartorial trademarks.

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