The world was shocked by the passing of Murder, She Wrote star Angela Lansbury on Tuesday (11 October).
Aged 96 and just days away from her 97th birthday, Lansbury’s family confirmed her death in a statement that read: “The children of Dame Angela Lansbury are sad to announce that their mother died peacefully in her sleep at home in Los Angeles at 1:30 AM today, Tuesday, October 11, 2022, just five days shy of her 97th birthday.”
And while Lansbury died in Los Angeles and spent most of her time there, it has emerged that she once felt forced to flee the City of Angels with her family for a sinister reason.
Lansbury previously revealed to The Mail that she left LA’s palm trees for Ireland’s rugged countryside in the 60s in a bid to pry her daughter from the clutches of Charles Manson.
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Yep, *that* Charles Manson. The notorious cult leader who orchestrated the murder of Hollywood star Sharon Tate.
Speaking in 2014, Lansbury explained that her daughter Diedre, now 69, had become involved with a crowd headed up by Manson, sharing: “There were factions up in the hills above Malibu that were dedicated to deadly pursuits.
“It pains me to say it but, at one stage, Deidre was in with a crowd led by Charles Manson.”
Lansbury explained that both Diedre and her older son Anthony, now 70, had ‘fallen under the sway’ of drugs, telling the paper: “It started with cannabis but moved on to heroin.”
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It was Lansbury’s kids’ drug use that pushed them into ‘unsavoury circles’, prompting the doting mum to up sticks and move to County Cork, Ireland, where her mother was born.
Of Diedre’s relationship with Manson, Lansbury said: “She was one of many youngsters who knew him — and they were fascinated. He was an extraordinary character, charismatic in many ways, no question about it.”
She continued: “I said to Peter [Shaw, her husband], ‘We have to leave’. I was drawn to Ireland because it was the birthplace of my mother and it was also somewhere my children wouldn't be exposed to any more bad influences.”
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Once they settled in Cork, Lansbury didn’t work for a year and learned to cook, and before long, her kids got back on the straight and narrow.
“Anthony pulled right out of his bad habits quite quickly. It took Deidre a little longer, but she finally got married and she and her husband now live in Los Angeles, where they run their own Italian restaurant,” said Lansbury at the time.
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Topics: Celebrity, Parenting, Los Angeles, World News