You'll Be Seeing More Of... Lucy Lawless
January 1999 - Cable Magazine UK

New Series - Xena: Warrior Princess, Sky One, starts Saturday 9th, 6:00pm

Feisty, Amazonian and a crusader for good over evil, Xena is Nineties icon who fights her own battles and boasts a fan club that runs the gamut of gender and age. She now looks set for global domination - not only is she a hit in Turkey, she's even broadcast in Iran, although, allegedly, a curfew on cleavage forbids a glimpse of her trademark gilded bodice. But who is the woman behind the copper corset? Cable Guide checks out both Xena and her alter ego, Lucy Lawless.

Xena

Age: born in 1995, contracted to live until the millenium and possibly beyond...

Appearance: Leather-clad, sunkissed, raven-haired beauty who packs a terrifying punch.

Place of birth: Somewhere in the Xena-verse

Background: The character of Xena first made an appearance in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. She led an evil rampaging army who were out to kill Hercules. But, by the end of the episode, she realized the error of her ways and became Hercules' ally.

Love life: Has an on-off relationship with Hercules.

Children: A 10-inch plastic Xena action doll (pictured) who regularly plays with Lucy Lawless' real-life daughter Daisy.

Hobbies: Globetrotting, martial arts, crossing time barriers and meeting interesting people, such as Julius Caesar, Jesus Christ and Odysseus.

Xena-isms: 'Well ain't love a bitch', 'Tie him up!', 'Been there, done that, didn't work', 'Stop staring at me before I take your eyes out!'

Lucy Lawless

Age: 29

Nickname: Unco (short for unco-ordinated).

Appearance: Casually dressed, fair-skinned and athletic.

Place of birth: Auckland, New Zealand.

Background: Always a bit of a tomboy, one of Lawless' early jobs was working as a miner for an Australian gold-mining company in Kalgoorlie. She then worked in TV commercials for a while before landing a job on a TV programme called Funny Business. After co-hosting a travel programme in New Zealand, she found her niche as Xena in Hercules and the Amazon Women. Her own programme followed in 1995.

Love life: in 1987 Lucy married her childhood sweetheart, Garth Lawless, a bar manager. They divorced in 1995. She married the executive producer of Renaissance Pictures, Robert Tapert, in March 1998.

Children: Daughter Daisy, who was born in 1988.

Hobbies: Yoga, opera, jazz, languages (as well as English, she speaks German, French and some Italian).

On being a role model for women: 'I'm aware that people are looking at me - and in particular young people. But I don't think anybody really wants to be Xena.'