"I guess I've always lived the glamorous life of a star. It 's nothing new - I used to spend down to the last dime"
About this Quote
The subtext is equal parts bravado and confession. Spending down to nothing isn't framed as hardship but as evidence of a core philosophy: intensity over prudence, experience over security. It's also a sly rebuke to moralizing about money. Mercury doesn't ask to be excused for excess; he treats it as continuity, almost honesty. If you were drawn to Queen for the maximalism, he's telling you it wasn't marketing. It was him.
Context matters because Mercury's stardom was built in an era that demanded mythmaking while policing queerness. The "glamorous life" becomes armor and performance art, a way to control the narrative when so much of his private self was scrutinized or forced into coded language. There's an edge of fatalism, too: if the world is going to watch, you may as well give it a show, even if it costs you everything.
The line works because it flips aspiration into identity. Not "look what fame gave me", but "this is who I've always been, with or without your permission."
Quote Details
| Topic | Money |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Mercury, Freddie. (2026, January 17). I guess I've always lived the glamorous life of a star. It 's nothing new - I used to spend down to the last dime. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-guess-ive-always-lived-the-glamorous-life-of-a-31256/
Chicago Style
Mercury, Freddie. "I guess I've always lived the glamorous life of a star. It 's nothing new - I used to spend down to the last dime." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-guess-ive-always-lived-the-glamorous-life-of-a-31256/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I guess I've always lived the glamorous life of a star. It 's nothing new - I used to spend down to the last dime." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-guess-ive-always-lived-the-glamorous-life-of-a-31256/. Accessed 6 Feb. 2026.




