Freddie Mercury 'secret lovechild' fury as tell-all faces huge blow from Mary Austin

Longtime Queen fans and Freddie Mercury's inner circle have diverted their fury to author Lesley-Ann Jones as she prepares to publish a bombshell book about late singer Freddie Mercury. This year, the rock biographer will release Love, Freddie, based on his personal diaries given to her by his alleged secret daughter.

Alongside the novel, Jones will also release a Channel 5 documentary, which she is currently filming in Switzerland ahead of the book's September 5 release date. According to MailOnline, the author has come "under attack" by his fans but refused to back down from the schedule. Criticism of Jones, including misogynistic smears, has also been circulating in a WhatsApp group of former staffers who questioned the validity of the love child claims, as "no one" in the "inner circle" ever heard talk of a daughter.

The publication revealed that one former associate wrote: "I don't understand why he didn't leave his only child something in his will.

"I'm not saying it's a crock, but as it's the [SLUR DELETED] writing yet another book about a dead person, the facts are not looking good at the moment."

As for the late singer's real inner circle, Mary Austin, who is famously known as the love of his life, is reportedly planning to deny she knew anything about his daughter in an interview with a Sunday newspaper.

Freddie's live-in personal assistant, Peter Freestone, who worked with the legend for 12 years until his death, also slammed the allegations on social media.

He fumed: "I never saw any diaries. I never saw any child," but added: "I'm not saying they don't exist... It was a surprise to me when I heard. Very much."

Freddie's former bandmate Brian May has remained tight-lipped about the allegations and simply smiled when I asked him about the book at a recent Live Aid 40th anniversary event.

Whereas, his wife, actress Anita Dobson, previously stated: "I think there have always been rumours. The person to ask would be his [Freddie's] sister, Kashmira. But even then, I think, sometimes if people keep secrets, they do really keep those secrets."

Elsewhere, Jones has hit back at the criticism and said: "There are a lot of extremely nasty comments being made, and some people are trying to discredit the book.

"What I would say is that the real inner circle, the other members of Queen, and Freddie's sister, would have denied this if they could, weeks ago, when the story broke."

According to the book, Freddie accidentally fathered the child, only referred to as "B", during a fling with the wife of a close friend in 1976, the year after Bohemian Rhapsody became a hit.