Mary Austin has dec lared it would be "astonishing" if Freddie Mercury had fathered a secret daughter without her knowledge

However, Mary - who was close to the singer for two decades - is adamant it's unlikely Freddie could not have kept such huge news secret. She told The Sunday Times newspaper: "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. 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."

She also insisted she had never seen Freddie write a diary and she would be "very surprised" if the singer had started a journal in his later years.

Speaking about her decision to break her silence on the reports, Mary added: "As this particular narrative has grown, I had to say something to prevent my silence being interpreted as confirmation - speaking now is not a decision I have taken lightly.

"I wanted to carefully consider everything being said so I could approach the topic responsibly, most of all for Freddie, who is not here to speak for himself."

The 49-year-old known as B provided a response to Mary's statements through the book's author Jones, saying: "I am devastated by Mary Austin's alleged response.

"For 34 years, the truth of Freddie's life has been distorted, twisted and rewritten, but she said nothing ... Here, she has not yet read the book, yet she apparently makes this statement. I don't understand why ..."

In Love, Freddie, B admitted she struggled with the public mourning for the singer, who died of an AIDS-related illness when she was 15 years old.

An extract from the book, due to be published in September and which was obtained by the Daily Mail, stated: "I cried and mourned my Dad, while fans all around the world mourned Freddie.

"For 30 years I had to build my life and family without him and accept that he wouldn't be there to share the happy moments with us.

"For 30 years, while the rest of the world was reinterpreting Mercury's life, his music and all that he had been, I needed to have my dad just for me and my family. How could I have spoken before?"