Lansbury has been married twice, first to the actor Richard Cromwell, when she was 19 and Cromwell was 35. Cromwell and Lansbury eloped and were married in a small civil ceremony on September 27, 1945. The marriage ended in divorce in 1946, but they remained friends until his death in 1960. In 1949, she married actor and producer Peter Shaw, and they remained together for 54 years until his death in 2003. She acquired a step-son, David, from Shaw's first marriage. They had two children of their own, Anthony Peter (b. 1952) and Deirdre Ann (b. 1953). While Lansbury repeatedly stated that she wanted to put her children before her career, she admitted that she often had to leave them in California for long periods when she was working elsewhere. She brought up her children to be Episcopalian, although they were not members of a congregation. She has stated that "I believe that God is within all of us, that we are perfect, precious beings, and that we have to put our faith and trust in that."