Angela Lansbury Quit Acting And Moved To Ireland To Protect Her Children | "We Would Have Lost Both Our Children"

TV, Broadway, and film icon actress Angela Lansbury, famously known for her roles in "Gaslight" (1944), "Murder, She Wrote" (1984-1966), and "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962), passed away at the age of 96 on October 11th. Following her demise, her family released a statement to NBC, reading, "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."

The late legendary actress had once opened up in a direct interview with the Daily Mail in March 2014 about how her biological children, Anthony and Diedre, had started using drugs in their early teens after which she took them to Ireland which save their lives. With her second husband, Peter Shaw who she tied the knot in 1949 and remained together for 54 years until Peter’s passing due to heart failure in 2003, Angela had two children, son Anthony Pullen Shaw (now 70) and daughter Deidre Angela Shaw (now 69). Their family was a much-blended one. Their close-knit family also included Shaw's son David Shaw, whom he shared with Mercia Squires.

Since the pair's children had started abusing drugs, they decided to move to Ireland to help their kids get off the substances. "It started with cannabis but moved on to heroin," the movie star revealed in the interview. Ireland was also the star's mother’s birthplace which made it an even more appealing place to be in. The actress revealed that she had stopped her acting job for a year and learned to cook while in Ireland. Angela shared, "Something had to be done. 'I said to Peter, We have to leave.' So we upped sticks and moved the family to a house I found in County Cork. 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," she said. 

Soon, the couple's plan started working. Their son Anthony got rid of the habit very quickly and soon, daughter Deidre was also joining him. If they hadn't made this choice and continued staying in Los Angeles, Angela shared that they would have lost one or both of their kids to drugs. "Certainly, I have no doubt we would have lost one or both of our two if they hadn’t been removed to a completely different milieu, the simplicity of life in Ireland. We were so very, very lucky we spotted what was happening just in time," she added. 

Their daughter, Deidre, instead of going into show business, became a restaurant owner with her husband  Enzo Battarrain in west Los Angeles which specializes in Italian food. They named the place, Enzo & Angela. Their son, on the other hand, followed in their footsteps and became an actor with many years of experience. He has starred in films like "The Spy Who Loved Me" (1977), "He Knows You’re Alone" (1980), and "The Jigsaw Man" (1983). He also managed to make a career as a director and directed several movies like "Murder, She Wrote" episodes from 1987 until 2003. He tied the knot with his wife, Lee Speer Webster, in 1980, and the pair share three children. In retrospect, Angela shared, "We (the couple) made all decisions jointly and we helped and supported each other constantly. My career was important to me but our children, Anthony and Deidre, always came first."

References:

https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/celebrity/angela-lansbury-murder-wrote-beauty-beast-star-dies-96-rcna42421
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2574799/Angela-Lansbury-How-drugs-divorce-shaped-life.html

Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Frazer Harrison/Staff