Aricles Annex - Xena: Warrior Princess Magazine Articles
| Newfoundland Herald November 20-26, 1999 |
|
Lights, camera...pampers
article by Kathy Tracy
| Newfoundland Herald November 20-26, 1999 |
|
As Xena, Warrior Princess, Lucy Lawless has battled man and god, evil Eastern spirits and every kind of demon in between.
But in this, the fifth season, she'll face her biggest challenge - going through pregnancy and becoming a new mother. Not surprisingly, Xena's unborn child becomes a magnet for all kinds of attacks from the Warrior Princess' enemies, which gives Xena a new purpose in fighting for the side of good. Although the father and circumstances of her pregnancy have not yet been revealed, all will be explained in a special episode next January.
Real life
In real life, however, Lawless and her husband Rob Tapert, executive producer of Xena, have already welcomed their baby boy into the world. On October 17, eight-pound, 13 ounce Julius Robert Bay Tapert was born in New Zealand. Conveniently, the birth occurred during a regularly scheduled production hiatus. A spokesperson for the couple assured fans, "Mom, dad, big sister Daisy, and baby are all doing well."
And just as the fictional Xena is going to have her hands full coping with a baby, Lawless will have a little juggling to do herself. Even prior to having a newborn, Lawless had to be one of the most in-demand celebrities on television - with a frequent flyer account about ready to burst.
"A lot of people ask me to do things, and I would like to, but they don't realize how busy I am, and tired, so tired," she sighs.
Worst time
The worst time came about a year ago when her work schedule and personal appearance schedule collided head-on.
"Every time I had a break, I had to buzz off to do some five-day trip to Los Angeles, do some show, go to Vegas, do some show, to Florida and come back and start work the next day. I was so incredibly burnt out."
Stress level
Adding to her stress level was that she and Tapert had just moved into a new home. One day, she finally realized she was so drained, both physically and emotionally that it was on the brink of becoming "something kind of serious. I was just out in the rain and the cold and was really sick of it. I knew I needed some fresh skills for dealing with it because it wouldn't go away and I couldn't just quit. And despite having everything in the world, I wasn't enjoying it, so I knew there was something wrong with me."
No easy job
Feeling herself being swept away by the demands being placed on her, Lawless took a week off to reassess her life and made changes to the way she was living.
"It was what I needed at the time and the best thing I ever did."
It just goes to show that it's not easy being an American pop culture icon and a New Zealand national treasure. Pretty heady stuff for the daughter of a politico father and social working mother, Juliet, who Lucy calls "a tireless community worker."
Born in Mt. Albert, Aukland, New Zealand, Lucy was the fifth of seven children, and the oldest girl in the Ryan family and attended convent school, which had a profound affect on her.
Risk taker"I realized at a very young age I would die and that really scared the hell out of me. So I learned to go for it and take the risk."
With four older brothers, that was a wise attitude to take. Lawless recalls a "a fairly rough-and-tumble childhood" that would prepare her well for playing Xena. "I had a good kick, could throw a punch and I learned not to cry."
While in high school, she appeared in many musicals and plays, but acting was hardly her passion. After briefly attending Auckland University, Lawless dropped out of college and took off to Europe "to go grape picking on the Rhine" with her high school sweetheart, Garth Lawless. Language was no problem as Lucy is fluent in German, French and Italian.
They backpacked their way around Europe until they ran out of money and headed back down under to Australia. Lucy and Garth ended up in Kalgoorlie, an outback town 500 miles from Perth. There, both she and Garth went to work for a gold-mining company in the small Outback town of Kalgoorlie where she dug and mapped the mines and drove a truck. She only quit because she had to - Lucy was pregnant. She was 19.
Quickie marriage
She and Garth got a quickie marriage and headed back home, where she gave birth to her daughter, Daisy. It was this settled, domestic life that spurred Lucy to pursue an acting career. A born ham, she had appeared in musicals and plays in high school but music had been her first love then. Now with a daughter to help support, she realized she didn't have the passion to pursue a singing career, but thought she could make a go of it acting.
Lucy joined a local comedy troupe and got her first TV break in the show Funny Business. After that, she spent eight months in Vancouver studying at the William Davis Centre for Actor's Study, returning to New Zealand in 1992, where she was hired to co-host a television travel show, Holiday. But it was getting cast as Xena for a special three-part Hercules story arc that introduced Lucy to the world. So successful was the character that Lawless suddenly found herself starring in a spin-off that would eventually overshadow Hercules - much to the occasional frustration of that series' star, Kevin Sorbo.
Xena's appeal
Part of Xena's appeal, Lawless believes, is that she is "a woman as strong as any man or woman has ever been, who lives by her wits, but is also a fighter. She's a very human hero, who knows all about the darker side of human nature since she must battle it within herself every day." Plus, she adds chippily, "it's certainly true that chicks kicking butts rocks."
Despite now being married to Xena's executive producer, Detroit-born Rob Tapert, Lawless says there are no plans to pull an X-Files and move production away from New Zealand to America.
Best scenery
"We've got such a great system here, the film industry is really efficient, and we've got the best scenery."
And despite having recently purchased a home in the Studio City neighbourhood of Los Angeles, Lawless says she would still prefer to call New Zealand her primary residence. When Xena finally hangs up her swords and breastplate, Lawless would ideally like to do a couple of movies a year and spend the rest of the time with her family.
However, at the moment, because of the baby, Lucy admits, "I must say that any thoughts about my career have sort of melted into the distance."
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