Jordan Karlesson
Freddie Mercury led a complicated life, as captured in the 2018 biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. While he was consummately flamboyant at Queen concerts, the singer kept his romantic life with men on the down low.
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Case in point: Mercury was quiet when offstage, despite his ostentatious persona onstage. Also, Mercury spent seven years with Jim Hutton as his romantic partner — yet the singer never came out publicly.
Similarly, the movie doesn’t really cover their relationship, according to Vanity Fair. The magazine criticized the film for “tweaking and glossing over precious facts.”
The Truth About Freddie Mercury’s Longtime Romantic Partner
In reality, Hutton was a hairdresser who met Mercury at a gay bar in the 1980s, according to Hutton’s 2006 interview with The Times of London.
“Over the course of their relationship, Hutton witnessed historic moments, like Queen’s soaring Live Aid performance in 1985,” Vanity Fair said. “ ‘I was gobsmacked. You could feel the effect his stage presence had on the crowd,’ [Hutton] said of the show, which he watched backstage. ‘Afterwards Elton [John] came and said, ‘Bastard, you’ve stolen it.’”
Hutton told all about their relationship with his book Mercury and Me, released in November 1994.
“He loved his cats,” Hutton reportedly said. “I’d get in from work. We’d lie together on the sofa. He would massage my feet and ask about my day.”
Mercury was diagnosed with AIDS in 1987 and died in 1991. Hutton recalled their last conversation to Vanity Fair.
“It was 6 A.M. He wanted to look at his paintings. ‘How am I going to get downstairs?’ he asked. ‘I’ll carry you,’ I said,” Hutton reportedly commented. “But he made his own way, holding on to the banister. I kept in front to make sure he didn’t fall. I brought a chair to the door, sat him in it, and flicked on the spotlights, which lit each picture. He said, ‘Oh they’re wonderful.’”
While Mercury’s death was tragic, Hutton met a premature end as well. In January 2010, he died after a long fight with cancer at age 60.
