She was murdered at her London home when her son Antony stabbed her with a kitchen knife, killing her almost instantly. Antony was found at the scene of the crime, and later confessed to and was charged with her murder. Barbara was born and raised in Boston. In January , when Barbara was aged 11, her father, Frank, committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning from the exhaust of his car in the garage.
After the life insurance payment had been collected, Barbara and her mother moved to New York City , taking up residence in the Delmonico Hotel. As a young woman living in New York City, Barbara became a prominent socialite. She was one of New York's ten most beautiful girls, gaining her regular modeling contracts with Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. Her social status and beauty resulted in frequent invitations to high society parties, allowing her to date various wealthy admirers.
She also suffered mental health problems like her mother, and was a private patient of psychiatrist Foster Kennedy. An invitation to Hollywood for a screen test with the actor Dana Andrews [3] did not lead to film stardom, but did lead to a friendship with fellow aspiring actress Cornelia "Dickie" Baekeland. After Barbara falsely told Brooks Baekeland that she was pregnant, [2] the couple quickly married in California.
At the time of the marriage, Barbara listed her profession as painter, while Brooks listed his as writer. She also drank heavily, and both she and her husband participated in extramarital affairs. Barbara gave birth to a son, Antony Baekeland, in August From the summer of onward, with Antony aged eight, the Baekeland family led a nomadic seasonal existence, maintaining their home in New York while being mainly based in Europe.
Renting houses and villas in London, Paris , Zermatt , Cap d'Antibes , and many parts of Italy , Barbara and Brooks continued to live extravagantly, entertain guests, and have affairs. In , at which time the family was based in both Switzerland and the Spanish resort of Cadaques , the year-old Antony met Jake Cooper, a bisexual Australian man. Cooper introduced Antony to various hallucinogenic drugs, which they traveled to Morocco to obtain.
