Wealthy socialite Barbara Daly Baekeland attempted to "cure" her gay son by getting him to sleep with her, then Antony Baekeland stabbed her to death on November 17, 1972.
Savage GraceOn November 17, 1972, socialite Barbara Daly Baekeland was murdered in London by her son Antony — because she allegedly committed incest with him four years earlier.
On November 17, 1972, Antony Baekeland grabbed a kitchen knife and brutally stabbed his 50-year-old mother, Barbara Daly Baekeland, to death. When police arrived at their London home, he was on the phone, calmly ordering Chinese food. He promptly confessed, and after the authorities learned of his schizophrenia, he was eventually imprisoned in a psychiatric facility, where he remained until just a few months before he killed himself at age 34 in 1981.
However, disturbing allegations about Barbara Daly Baekeland’s relationship with her son eventually came to light. In an effort to “cure” his homosexuality, she hired sex workers to sleep with him. But when that didn’t work, she allegedly took matters into her own hands, forcing him into an incestuous relationship while they were staying together in Mallorca in 1968.
This is the chilling story of Barbara Daly Baekeland and her son, Antony.
Why Barbara Daly Baekeland’s Life Was Troubled Even Before Her Son Was Born
By the 1940s, Barbara Daly Baekeland seemingly had it all. She was married to the wealthy, attractive, and charming Brooks Baekeland, whose grandfather was chemist Leo Baekeland, the inventor of the early plastic Bakelite. She was a prominent socialite, she had been called one of New York’s ten most beautiful women, and she’d modeled for magazines like Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.
TIME MagazineBarbara Daly Baekeland’s grandfather-in-law, Leo Baekeland, widely known as the “Father of the Plastics Industry.”
But beneath the glittering surface of money and power was a troubled past and a world of madness.
Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on September 28, 1921, Barbara Daly knew tragedy from a young age. Her father, Frank, killed himself in 1933 when she was just 11 years old. He made it out to look like an accident so that his family would be able to claim the insurance money.
Meanwhile, her mother had had a nervous breakdown a few years before she was born. Daly took after her mother in this way, as she was also prone to erratic behavior. From a young age, she was reputed to have had an unstable personality and was known for her sudden outbursts. Daly also experienced lengthy battles with depression and drank heavily, which resulted in multiple suicide attempts over the years.
She soon married Brooks Baekeland, however, and officially became Barbara Daly Baekeland, world-traveling socialite extraordinaire.
Brooks Baekeland later said that Barbara was beautiful and self-assured, and that he did indeed love her, but that their marriage was a result of Barbara’s trickery. She had apparently lied and told Brooks that she was pregnant so that he would marry her.
But soon afterward in 1946, the couple actually did have a baby, Antony “Tony” Baekeland. That’s when the story of Barbara Daly Baekeland began to take an even darker turn.
Antony Baekeland’s Homosexuality Doesn’t Sit Well With His Mother
The Daily ExpressBorn in 1946, Antony Baekeland lived a life of luxury as his family traveled across Europe.
When Antony revealed that he was gay, his parents were not happy. Barbara Daly Baekeland desperately wanted her son to get married, so she brought him sex workers in an attempt to “cure her son of his homosexuality.”
In 1967, when he was 20 years old, Antony reportedly became involved with an Australian man named Jake Cooper. While Cooper denied that there was any sexual relationship, he did claim to introduce Antony to hallucinogenic drugs.
At this point, Barbara and Brooks’ marriage was on the rocks. They lived an unsteady life. Although their home base was in New York, the Baekelands also spent much of their time abroad, living a nomadic, elite lifestyle in London, Paris, Switzerland, and Italy.
Although the family was financially successful and lived lavishly, they simply were not happy. Brooks described himself as a writer (but rarely took to actually writing) and was an adamant adventurer, both in the sense of being a world traveler and an inveterate womanizer.
Meanwhile, while in Mallorca in 1968, Barbara encouraged Antony to have a relationship with a young Spanish woman named Sylvie, but Sylvie instead had an affair with Brooks, which contributed to the final collapse of the Baekelands’ marriage. Brooks divorced Barbara in 1968 and later married Sylvie.
Barbara Daly Baekeland then moved to London with Antony. That’s when the relationship between the two truly spiraled out of control.
The Fallout Of Barbara Daly Baekeland’s Attempt To “Cure” Her Son’s Homosexuality
Wikimedia CommonsBarbara Daly Baekeland attempted to “cure” her son’s homosexuality by hiring sex workers to sleep with him. But when that didn’t work, she allegedly forced him into an incestuous relationship with her.
The relationship between Barbara Daly Baekeland and her son, Antony, was co-dependent, complicated, and volatile. All the while, Baekeland remained fixated on her son’s sexuality. And when pairing him up with other women didn’t work, she supposedly took matters into her own hands.
Barbara Daly Baekeland’s sister-in-law recalled Barbara saying, “You know, I could get Tony over his homosexuality if I just took him to bed.”
Allegedly, while they were in Mallorca, Barbara Daly Baekeland had forced her son into an incestuous relationship with her. And when they were later alone together in London, the aftershocks of this alleged encounter began to take their toll.
Antony Baekeland was becoming more and more unraveled within the confines of this toxic household. In July 1972, Antony tried to push his mother into traffic, but Barbara was saved by a bystander.
Later that year, he snapped. He reportedly lunged at his mother with a kitchen knife, an attack that she managed to evade. Baekeland didn’t press charges, but Antony did go to see a psychiatrist.
Alarmed by their session, the psychiatrist reached out to Barbara Daly Baekeland, warning her that her son may attempt to kill her.
He told her, “I think you’re at grave risk.” Baekeland’s response was, “I don’t.”
Almost three weeks later, on November 17, 1972, Antony Baekeland did just as his psychiatrist had warned. Inside their London penthouse, Antony fatally stabbed his mother in the heart.
In a letter to his grandmother, published in the 1985 true crime biography Savage Grace, Antony describes how he and his mother got into an argument the day he murdered her.
“During the time preceding what happened a lot of rather strange things were happening. I think my mind was slightly wacky and I was very much under my mother’s powerful influence. I felt as though she were controlling my mind. I can’t remember exactly what started the fight… [S]he ran into the bedroom where I hit her, then she ran into the kitchen. I ran after her and stabbed her with the kitchen knife that was lying on the table… It was horrible — I held her hand and she would not look or speak to me. Then she died.”
A detective on the case is reported as saying that when the authorities arrived on the scene, Antony was totally disconnected from what had happened. In fact, he was calmly ordering Chinese food on the phone.
Antony Baekeland’s Tragic End In The Wake Of His Mother’s Murder
Find a GraveAntony Baekeland was eventually imprisoned in a psychiatric facility, where he remained until just a few months before he killed himself at age 34 in 1981.
In the aftermath of Barbara Daly Baekeland’s murder, Antony underwent intensive treatment at a high-security psychiatric hospital.
He was released on July 21, 1980, thanks to the help of influential friends he’d collected due to his family’s wealth and status.
Upon his release, he moved to his grandmother’s apartment in New York. After less than a week living there, he attempted to repeat the actions he took on his mother, likewise stabbing his grandmother with a knife. She managed to survive and Antony Baekeland was sent to the prison on Rikers Island for attempted murder.
On the day of his scheduled court appearance, March 20, 1981, Antony Baekeland was found in his prison cell with a plastic bag over his head. He had killed himself via suffocation at the age of just 34.
In an epitaph written by Brooks Baekeland, he called his son “an enormous failure of intelligence.” More than two decades later, the tumultuous relationship between Barbara Daly Baekeland and her son would be illustrated in the 2007 film Savage Grace.
After reading the sordid tale of Barbara Daly Baekeland and Antony Baekeland, take a look at the story of Susan Cabot, the actress killed by her son. Then, discover some of the most shocking real-life incest stories from history.
