“Freddie came to me looking a little nervous; ‘Mum, I’m not quite sure how to tell you this but I’m not going to be Farrokh Bulsara anymore. From this day on, I’m going to be known as Freddie Mercury, but I want you to know that this is the name I’ll have on stage, and back home, I will be the boy you always knew. Are you okay with this?’ “And I said to him, as long as you love me and respect me, everything will be alright.” He said, ‘That will always be mum!’
I often told him I didn’t like his clothes and dresses, and tried to get him to cut his hair, but he would explain it was something you have to do when you are in the pop world and gradually I learnt to accept it.
Whatever he did or wore I always saw in him the same child I knew, he would tell us lots of jokes and I could always connect with him.
Freddie kept a strict division between his work and his home all his life. If I ever asked he would say, ‘Mum that is business, and this is family.’ He was kind and very respectful both to myself and his father.
We tried to instil good values into him, like respecting the family and giving 100 per cent to whatever he did and although he wasn’t religious, he respected our ways.”
Jer Bulsara 2012 Interview