The world was saddened to hear of the passing of ‘Murder She Wrote’ icon Angela Lansbury yesterday and many decided to share stories of her life around the internet with the strangest one definitely involving her relationship with notorious cult leader/serial killer Charles Manson.

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In a strange turn of events, it turns out that Lansbury’s daughter Deirdre actually met and ‘fell in love’ with Manson, but she was so spooked out by his demeanour that she moved the whole family over to Ireland to get away from him. That might have seemed like a bit of an overreaction at the time, but boy did it turn out to be one of the best decisions in history.

Check out the full story below, courtesy of a Daily Mail interview from 2014:

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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.

Both Deidre and Anthony had fallen under the sway of drugs. It started with cannabis but moved on to heroin.

Deidre was one of many youngsters who knew Manson — and they were fascinated.

He was an extraordinary character, charismatic in many ways, no question about it.

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.

So I refused all work for a year and simply kept house.

I bought Elizabeth David’s books and learnt how to cook properly.

It was a wonderful time in my life.’

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.

It fills me with dread. Peter and I had no idea what had been going on,’ she admitted. ‘But then we had no experience of drugs. We didn’t know the significance of finding a pipe in a drawer. Why would we?

And when we did, we didn’t know how to help them. Nor were there any experts back then who could offer advice to the parents of kids from good families who were using, and sometimes overdosing on, drugs. It was like an epidemic.

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.

In the end we found a doctor who prescribed methadone, a heroin substitute, which helped with the withdrawal symptoms as Anthony and Deidre were weaned off hard drugs. We were so very, very lucky we spotted what was happening just in time.

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What a crazy story hey? I suppose just going to rehab or something like that didn’t exist back then? Or if it did then it wasn’t as effective as moving to rural Ireland and living the simple life? I suppose the Manson part is a big factor here.

Fair play to Angela Lansbury on this one though. Seems like it was exactly what her children needed, even if it meant completely uprooting her life as well. Could have ended up so much worse for all of them considering what Manson and his followers ended up getting up to a few years later. I guess all those years on’Murder She Wrote’ really did rub off on her.

For more of the same, check out this 14 year old cult member exposing the awful truth about Manson’s cult. See what I mean?