Her personal life was complicated when she learned that both of her children had become involved with the and had been using ; as a result, Anthony had become addicted to cocaine and heroin.
They then purchased Knockmourne Glebe, a farmhouse constructed in the 1820s which was located near the village of Conna in rural County Cork, and, after Anthony quit using cocaine and heroin, took him there to recover from his drug addiction.
She returned to the role in October 1980 for a ten-month tour of six U.
When she was chosen, it came as a surprise to theatre critics, who believed that it would go to a better-known actress; Lansbury was forty-one years old, and it was her first starring role.