An LA rock musician has shared how his Playboy Playmate wife blasted him with a handgun when she became convinced he was her decades-long tormentor, the late serial killer and cult leader Charles Manson.
When 1960s beauty Victoria Vetri, who appeared in horror classic Rosemary’s Baby, shot husband Bruce Rathgeb he even heard her mutter: ‘No more Charlie, no more Charlie.’
Bruce survived the murder attempt and revealed how Victoria had been best friends with Manson’s most famous victim, actress Sharon Tate, and how she had even come to blame herself for Sharon’s murder as well as living in fear of Manson for decades.
Former Playboy Playmate Victoria Vetri shot husband Bruce Rathgeb in 2010, allegedly thinking she had shot cult leader Charles Manson
Rathgeb, a Los Angeles rock musician, even heard her mutter: ‘No more Charlie, no more Charlie’
Bruce says stunning Star Trek actress Victoria (left) even had threesomes with Sharon (right) and her film director hubby Roman Polanski and was meant to be at Sharon’s home the night of the slaughter, only avoiding the horrific slaughter because she felt ill earlier in the day and had left
Speaking about his ex wife’s mental deterioration because of Manson, Bruce said: ‘There is no doubt about it. I took the bullet meant for Charles Manson.
‘I wish that she really had had the opportunity to kill him. She would have done the world and herself a favour. She ended up being a victim of his just like those who were killed. Instead she shot me and I lost the woman I loved, thanks to Manson.’
Speaking about his ex wife’s mental deterioration because of Manson, Bruce said: ‘There is no doubt about it. I took the bullet meant for Charles Manson’
Bruce says stunning Star Trek actress Victoria even had threesomes with Sharon and her film director hubby Roman Polanski and was meant to be at Sharon’s home the night of the slaughter, only avoiding the horrific slaughter because she felt ill earlier in the day and had left.
The 1968 Playmate of the Year is even said to have met Manson two weeks earlier when the psychopath, infamous for having a Nazi swastika tattooed onto his forehead, visited pregnant Sharon’s home.
She muttered, ‘He looks like a weirdo!’ to her pals then later became convinced Manson had overheard her, her comment fuelling his rage which prompted the bloodbath.
She was so distraught after pregnant Sharon was killed, her blood even used to write ‘Pig’ on the for to her home, that LA cops keep a discreet watch on her for two months because she was convinced Manson and his so-called ‘Family’ of brainwashed followers would make her their next target.
Four others alongside Sharon, then eight-and-a-half months pregnant, died in the bloodbath.
Roman Polanski, who was in England when the killings happened, even gave her the Glock 9mm handgun which she used decades later to shoot her hubby, to protect her from Manson and his goons.
But her fear of Manson never evaporated, even after he was arrested and sentenced to life in jail in 1971.
Vetri feared Manson, from the moment he ordered the murders, even after he was arrested and sentenced to life in jail in 1971. LA cops kept watch of her for two months and Roman Polanski gave her a Glock 9mm which she would later use on her husband
It caused her career to nosedive and according to Bruce she never got over Sharon’s death and always feared Manson’s followers would one day take their revenge on her.
Whenever Manson appeared on TV or in the news in America she is said to have turned white and shaken with dread.
Then, in 2010, her mind warped by the years of fear she used the gun to try to kill the man who she thought had targeted her for death.
Revealing the bullet’s entry wound into his back and the scars on his left side where surgeons tried and failed to take it out, guitarist Bruce explained: ‘Victoria was an ‘It’ girl of the 1960s. She was stunningly beautiful.
‘She was friends with lots of big Hollywood players and used to go to ballet classes with Jane Fonda.
‘Sharon and Roman became friends after she appeared in his movie Rosemary’s Baby which, ironically, was about a Manson-like antichrist being born.
‘They all got on well and as it was the sixties, she told me they even ended up in bed together for threesomes.
Whenever Manson appeared on TV or in the news in America she is said to have turned white and shaken with dread. Then, in 2010, her mind warped by the years of fear she used the gun to try to kill the man who she thought had targeted her for death, ultimately shooting her husband
The shot entered through his back and doctors tried to retrieve the bullet but ultimately failed
‘Sharon was very close to her, they were really good girl friends. Two weeks before the murders she told me she was at Sharon’s house when a man she later realised was Manson paid a visit.
‘She remembered this weird-looking guy turning up at the house by himself, unannounced.
‘She couldn’t remember what he said when Sharon or whoever it was answered the door but she remembers saying to everyone in the house, ‘Oh this guy looks like a real creep.’
Bruce, then a chef and part-time musician, met Victoria in 1981 in an LA café where he was working. She used to drive in a classic AMC AMX two-seater sports car, originally painted ‘Playboy Pink’ and given to her by the magazine in 1968 when she became a playmate.
‘She thought that Manson actually overheard her and later she convinced herself that her comment triggered his anger and made him determined to carry out the killings. She blamed herself for Sharon’s death.
‘On the night of the killings Victoria was meant to be at Sharon’s house for dinner but because she had felt ill she stayed at her home in the Hollywood Hills.
‘She was devastated. In total shock. Inconsolable.
‘She knew she would have been killed if she had been there, too. She was terrified she might be next and cops followed her around for months afterwards to make sure she was safe.
‘He career just nosedived afterwards. She was never the same. She was too scared to work and hardly went out of the house.
‘Manson was arrested five months after Sharon was killed but that didn’t bring her any peace of mind. One of his followers tried to kill the then President, Gerald Ford, in 1975 and she was convinced they would come after her, too, at any time.’
Bruce, then a chef and part-time musician, met Victoria in 1981 in an LA café where he was working.
She used to drive there in the same car, a classic AMC AMX two-seater sports car, originally painted ‘Playboy Pink’ and given to her by the magazine in 1968 when she became a playmate.
The car is now owned by famous US talk show host, Jay Leno.
‘We had chemistry from the start,’ Bruce said.
‘I was always faithful to her but she was worried about getting older and losing her looks. And once again, Manson had been in the news because one of his followers had been up for parole,’ explained Bruce about the night when his wife shot him
‘She was a lot of fun and great to be with. That was during the good days she had when she was able to put Manson out of her mind for a time.’
The couple eventually married in 1987 at the home of one of Bruce’s family members in La Jolla, California.
‘Those were the best years but Manson was always rearing his head,’ Bruce recalled. ‘He would always turn up on the news for one reason or another and whenever he did, Victoria would turn as white as a sheet and shake with fear. It would take her days and a lot of consoling from me to get back to normal.’
As the years passed, Victoria’s terror of Manson only worsened, leading to the shooting incident in 2010.
The couple had been arguing on the day it happened, Bruce remembers, because she had been worried about ageing and him having affairs with groupies.
‘I was always faithful to her but she was worried about getting older and losing her looks. And once again, Manson had been in the news because one of his followers had been up for parole.
‘I was struggling to deal with her so I loaded up a trolley with my bass guitar and some belongings and was going to spend the night at a friend’s house.
He added: ‘I recall her eyes were black, literally black. It was like she was possessed. She was totally emotionless. I said, ‘I love you, please, you’re not going to shoot me?’
‘I walked out of our apartment and was waiting at the elevator when I realised Victoria had followed me out and was carrying the handgun Roman had given her.
‘I recall her eyes were black, literally black. It was like she was possessed. She was totally emotionless. I said, ‘I love you, please, you’re not going to shoot me?’
‘She lifted up the gun, I turned, and she shot me in the back. I thought I was dead but I could smell burning flesh and cordite from the gun firing.
‘I was still conscious and could see her calmly turn and walk back to the apartment. As she did so, I could hear her say, quietly, ‘No more Charlie, no more Charlie.’ She thought I was Charles Manson.’
A neighbour called the emergency services and days later Bruce woke up in hospital with scars on his back and side.
Victoria was arrested and later agreed to a plea deal, saying she was guilty of voluntary manslaughter. She was sentenced to nine years and the 73 year old could be released as early as May next year
Victoria was arrested and later agreed to a plea deal, saying she was guilty of voluntary manslaughter. She was sentenced to nine years and the 73 year old could be released as early as May next year.
‘Even after being shot I still loved her,’ Bruce said.
Manson, 83, who directed the killings but never directly slaughtered any of the innocents himself, died of natural causes on November 19
‘I went to court for a handful of appearances but my health was bad and I couldn’t be there as often as I liked. Her fear of Manson didn’t come out at the trial because she plead no contest.
‘We used to exchange the occasional letter and I last spoke to her in 2013. In 2016 she sent me divorce papers completely out of the blue. I signed them because I thought it was the best thing to do.’
Manson, 83, who directed the killings but never directly slaughtered any of the innocents himself, died of natural causes on November 19.
Bruce added: ‘Victoria will be clicking her heels now that Manson is dead, I have no doubt she has heard about it and that she’ll be cock-a-hoop about it.
‘Friends are even joking that she and I should give it ‘one more shot’ when she gets out of prison next year.
‘I do want to see her but I think that after all that has happened, it will only be as friends.’
The last time the two spoke was in 2013 but three years later, Victoria sent Bruce divorce papers for him to sign and he did. The couples divorce papers
Bruce added: ‘Victoria will be clicking her heels now that Manson is dead, I have no doubt she has heard about it and that she’ll be cock-a-hoop about it’