New Idea (NZ) July 14, 2001 pg. 10-11

RIP Xena,
long live Lucy
By Cathy Griffin, LA Bureau

Lucy Lawless has big plans for life after Xena - and they include having more children. In a rare and frank interview, Lucy talks about putting her children first and keeping her family together in New Zealand for five years, before returning to the stresses of Hollywood.

'I see myself as a person who has unlimited potential, like everybody else in the world,' she says, trying to get comfortable in an overstuffed chair in the huge, breezy den of her seldom-used hill-top home overlooking a half-dozen film studios in Los Angeles.

'The difference between somebody who is perceived as a success and somebody who never tried to achieve anything is that they didn't jump on the first impulse to initiate a project or work with someone,' she continues.

As she talks, she keeps a wary eye on her stocky little tow-headed son, 19-month-old Jullus (Ju-Ju), playing with plastic monster toys on the floor.

'I have to get out and make my own career, rather than wait for managers and agents to put me in touch with the 'right' people.

'I don't want to kick myself at 80 for not trying something. I won't let myself be afraid of anything, and that includes taking time off to have children.'

And at 33, the tall, blue-eyed, dark-haired beauty says she is contemplating having more children in the near future.

'And nobody can tell me it isn't a good idea... I'm not living for someone else's idea of a perfect worid,'says Lucy defiantly.

"I could have no children and a career, but I couldn't have a career at the expense of my children. It would make me unhappy if they're not happy.

'Fifty years from now, I don't want my daughter to say that I was a strong, independent woman who had the world by the balls, but was a rotten mother because I wasn't there for her. That would be my greatest regret of all.'

Ultimately, she wants it all balancing a 'happy, healthy' home life with hard work in short spurts.

It's hard to do, but far from impossible, as she worked up to her eighth month of pregnancy on Xena and returned to the set four weeks after giving birth to Julius.

Her stunt double did her daring deeds during the pregnancy, but it was hell for months afterwards.

She just thanked her lucky stars that Julius was completely safe, never hungry, always clean and with her 24 hours a day, at home and at work.

But she was severely tested straight after her brief maternity leave, when she had to wear the trademark leather miniskirt and brassy breastplates while kicking the daylights out of a wussy male monster of questionable origins.

'That was a very difficult experience for me, because I did not feel physically up the job yet,' she recalls, suppressing a groan. 'My body was way too delicate to do things like jumps. I felt like my intestines wouid fall out, but it had to be done and l'm grateful that I was able to do it.'

Besides her husband, Xena's cast and crew became the closest family Lucy - one of seven children from the Auckland suburb of Mount Albert - had for six years.

'It was an incredible gift to do what you love to do with people you love to work with every day,' she says, smiling.

'I also learned that in a one-hour action show, you must surrender to the (shooting) schedule and not expect to have a social life off the set.

'We went through lots of stuff together, including divorces, marriages, babies, houses bought and sold and somebody's wife dying. Looking back, six years together was probably enough.

'Any longer and we may have ended up hating each other.'

Her husband Rob Tapert is 'without a doubt my best friend and the most fun company l've ever had'.

Xena's toughest fight The two-part series finale of Xena: Warrior Princess (A Friend In Need - Part I and A Friend In Need - Part II) aired in the US during the weeks of June 11 and June 18, 2001. The episodes were directed by Lucy's husband, Rob Tapert ('because he is a masochist'). The last take was at sunrise on Saturday, March 24, 2001, though there were some individual pickup shots the following week and dialogue looping. It is the fifth time Xena has died in the series, but her death still shocked fans woridwide.

Rob, a 46-year-old American, and Lucy exchanged vows at St. Monica's Catholic church in California on March 28, 1998, in front of 300 invited guests.

At the time, he was also executive-producing Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and had a number of feature films to his credit, including Hard Target, The Evil Dead, Darkman, and Time Cop.

'Our relationship works because we care about the same things,' she explains.' We care about entertaining people. We care about working. We like to laugh. We care about the quality of every single day and we give it our all... we don't do anything by halves.'

The immediate future, says Lucy, may not involve their working together.

'Rob prefers action television - I want to expand into drama and comedy - preferably in feature films. I'm flattered by several offers, including an edgy New Zealand-Canadian drama production.

'For the next five years or so, I want to be close to Auckland for my daughter, Daisy, then think about moving to L.A.

'Right now she needs the stability provided by both parents. Plus I want my son and daughter to get to know each other.

'Daisy was a little suspicious of him at first, but he soon became irresistible.'