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"No hugs please and don't bring me your babies - I'm not Jesus." It's a bizarre but necessary disclaimer from Lucy Lawless as she faces 300 of her biggest fans at the annual Xena Convention in London.
Lawless, 40, comes on stage to a rapturous standing ovation after
an introduction featuring a montage of Xena clips set to the song Sisters are Doing it for Themselves. The attendees line up to ask Lawless questions, everything from "what is your guilty pleasure?" to, "have you ever thought about doing Xena, the musical?"
Lawless spends more than two hours with her fans. At all times, she is polite, entertaining, engaging and seems to hold a genuine affection for this dedicated group. She speaks French to the French fans and asks one of her aides to help with sign language for one of her deaf fans.
This is the 13th Xena convention. Lawless has appeared at most of them, but is still amazed at the level of attention. "It's a crazy thing. I didn't know what to expect from an English audience," she admits. "They've come from all over, from Brazil and Spain and it's unbelievable, but it's nice to connect with them because they are good fans," she says.
This convention is one of the few to be held outside America, but the fans still arrive in their droves, many of them wearing T-shirts adorned with her image. There's even a brave handful dressed in Xena costumes which they've painstakingly made themselves.
"It's really humbling to be up there," says the Kiwi star. "They are not complete morons these people, they have perfectly full lives but there is something child-like in someone who is allowing themselves to be like that so you don't want to squish that," she says.
Xena: Warrior Princess debuted on television screens in 1995. A spin-off from Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, it quickly gained a huge international audience and cult following. It also made Lawless a household name. She played Xena for six years, winning an especially loyal following among the gay community who were intrigued by her ambiguous relationship with her travelling companion, Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor).
The show ended seven years ago, but her relationship with it has done anything but. "It was just a gig to me, but I am so grateful for everything it gave me. It gave me a husband (executive producer Rob Tapert), it gave me my kids (sons Julius, 8, and Judah, 6; she also has daughter Daisy, 19, from her first marriage), good times, great friends and six magical years," says Lawless.
She quickly moved on to more TV and film work, and other obsessive fans. Lawless spent two years as Cylon infiltrator D'Anna Biers in the sci-fi series Battlestar Galactica.
"They are not as obsessive, there is a different tone to them," she says. "With Galactica, they are really serious about their art form and about sci-fi, whereas Xena was all about warmth and humour; serious about nothing. I'm very happy to have both," Lawless laughs.
Today's convention appearance is more of a struggle than most. Lawless is a little worse for wear after performing a sell-out gig the previous night at London's Islington Academy. Tonight she will do another.
Her incarnation as a singer is relatively recent. Last year, Lawless was runner-up in US show, Celebrity Duets, and her fans demanded more. So she went on the road, performing back-to-back sold-out shows in the US. She got as much attention for her skimpy outfits as for her singing ability.
"I love it but I really hate it too," she admits. "It gives you lots of highs and adrenaline but when I go away from it and back to my real life I really dread getting those turbines going again because it's a lot of work."
Lawless is under no illusions about making it as a serious musician. "I just don't see myself as that. I guess I am a communicator of some sort. I don't know how that works, but it seems to spread a lot of love. I know it's not very Kiwi to talk that way but it seems to be what we are doing here."
For the second time that day, Lawless comes on stage to deafening applause and any suggestion of musical credibility - or lack of it - is forgotten.
Lawless is wearing leather chaps over fishnet stockings. For the first song, I Was Made for Loving You, she wears a demure, longsleeved black top. But, by the second number, this is peeled off to reveal a black lacy number which leaves little to the imagination. Her fans go crazy.
"My acting career feeds the singing career," she says. "This is just a fun way to connect with the fans, but my primary job is still acting... this is just the cherry on the top."
Lawless says she has no firm plans to take her show on the road. The last time she sang in New Zealand was also her first time, when she accompanied Dave Dobbyn on his summer tour. "It's the hardest place to do a gig. I'm sure it will happen but I feel very loved at home anyway without it."
After tonight's gig Lawless will head back to Los Angeles. After a run of bit parts on TV series and in small, low-budget films, Lawless has hit the big time with a role in the new Adam Sandler movie, Bedtime Stories, filming now and due for release in the US on Christmas Day. (No New Zealand release date has yet been announced.)
"I play Guy Pearce's wicked girlfriend. I've got my short black wig back on and my mission in the film is to destroy Adam Sandler's love life. I love it!" Lawless laughs.
