The fall and rise of Xena Horse spill behind her, Lucy Lawless charges ahead

USA Today
01/15/97
By Page D3
2 photos

COMMENTARY
WHOOSH is mentioned as being at the Burbank I Convention (01/97). Two fans and Lucy Lawless are quoted.

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   The last time Lucy Lawless was in Los Angeles, she was recovering
from a nasty fall.

   The star of the syndicated Xena: Warrior Princess fell
off a horse while taping a skit for The Tonight Show With Jay
Leno in October and suffered four fractures. Lawless spent
a couple of weeks in the hospital, then went on The Tonight
Show to laugh with Leno about it.

   Xena, set in a mythical barbaric world, is filmed in Lawless'
native New Zealand, but Sunday she was at the Burbank (Calif.)
Airport Hilton for the first Hercules/Xena convention, a sold-out
gathering that attracted 400 fans who dressed for the occasion
in medieval costumes.

   "I can't believe all the fuss," said Lawless, 28, who signed
autographs and posed for pictures with fans, both young and old.

   Although Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is TV's top syndicated
drama, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena
aren't far behind, easily outrating Baywatch, Highlander and
Babylon 5. 

   "There are very few women like Xena on TV," said fan Laura Drane
of Los Angeles. "She's funny and powerful."

   Adds fan Minerva Adams of Redondo Beach, Calif., "She's a strong
role model."

   Besides affording fans the opportunity to dress up, the convention
also sold the usual assortment of goodies, from T-shirts ("Xenaites
Forever!") to newsletters (Whoosh! The International Association
of Xena Studies). 

   Lawless flew in from New Zealand to appear at the convention,
do a guest spot for NBC's Something So Right (as herself)
and meet and greet station managers this week in New Orleans at
the National Association of Television Program Executives convention.

   Lawless has been back at work a month, with doubles handling her
stunts. She hasn't gotten back on a horse, and "I'm not going
to be pushed into it. I want to recover fully."

   She looks back at her accident as a "bad dream -- I don't care
to remember it." But it was big news back in New Zealand, where
one headline read, "Go Where No Kiwi Has Gone Before."

   It even brought Lawless and her 8-year-old daughter, Daisy, closer
together. "She's more proud of her mom now that the show is such
a success," Lawless said. "Originally, she hated it. She blamed
Xena for the breakup of my marriage. But not anymore."

   Lawless' take on Xena's popularity: "There are a lot of people
out there who have suffered from some kind of abuse -- women,
gays, kids -- and they all relate to Xena.

   "She's always fighting the good fight." 

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