"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.
