Lansbury turned down work for a year to focus on saving her children from drugs and the clutches of the Manson cult.
Since the passing of beloved actress Angela Lansbury, tributes and fond memories continue to flood in regarding The murder she wrote star. Writer and photographer Christopher Moloney tweeted how the influence of notorious cult leader Charles Manson on her daughter’s life partly led her to make an important life decision.
Angela Lansbury told a story about her daughter who got caught up in a Hollywood debate. He would take the girl out of school and have her steal money and food from her parents for him. Concerned, Lansbury moved the whole family to Ireland. husband was Charles Manson.”
Lansbury said she moved to County Cork for a year in the 1960s to save her then teenage daughter and her son, Anthony Shaw, of drug use, saying:
“It started with cannabis, but then turned to heroin. There were factions in the hills above Malibu devoted to deadly pursuits. It pains me to say it, but at one point Deidre found himself in a crowd led by Charles Manson. She was one of many young people who knew him and they were fascinated. He was an extraordinary character, charismatic in many ways, no doubt about it. I said to Peter [Shaw, husband]’We have to leave.'”
Lansbury added:
“So we rolled up our sleeves and the family moved to a house I found in County Cork. I was drawn to Ireland because it was my mother’s birthplace, and it was also a place my kids wouldn’t are exposed to even more bad influences. […]
Charles Manson had a habit of targeting the young and children of the rich
Lansbury discussed the path her children could have chosen had she and her husband not intervened, Lansbury said:
“It fills me with fear. Peter and I had no idea what was going on. But then we had no experience with drugs. We didn’t realize how important it was to find a pipe in a drawer. Why should we? And when we did, we didn’t know how to help them. Also, there were no experts at the time who could give advice to the parents of children from good families who used drugs and sometimes overdosed. It was like an epidemic.
“Certainly, I have no doubt that we would have lost one or both of our two if they hadn’t been transferred to a very different environment, the simplicity of life in Ireland. Finally we found a doctor who prescribed methadone, a heroin replacement, who helped with the withdrawal symptoms when Anthony and Deidre were weaned off the hard drugs. We were so lucky to see what was going on just in time.”
Manson remained in prison until he died in 2017 at the age of 83, having been denied parole 12 times.