After six seasons, the New Zealand actress is retiring her amazon character Xena the heroine on Xena: Warrior Princess.
"One thing for certain, no one is getting my Xena outfit. I've had so many ups and downs over the last six years in that outfit that I've earned the right to keep it," says Lawless.
She also has her share of physical scars to remind her of her years on Warrior Princess.
"Everyone who does a very physical job will have scars to show for it. Being in a series like Xena is almost the same as being an athlete or a stunt person.
"I did most of my own stunts. It wasn't that difficult because I was an athletic person before I started acting.
"For 10 months, I was working with a gold mining crew in the Outback measuring the earth. I'd leap over snakes and swerve my truck to avoid kangaroos that would literally jump over the hood.
"I blew out more tires than I care to remember. It seemed I was forever changing tires so Xena was a bit of a cakewalk after that."
Lawless says she wasn't always a tomboy.
"As a child I was a real girl. My brothers used to tease me which is how I developed my good right cross.
"I was also smart but I learned quickly at school that being cute and brainy was a bad combination so I played dumb and turned into the class clown.
"That was my way to survive in a rough school environment."
Lawless says she will be dividing her time between New Zealand and Los Angeles.
"I have a daughter (from her first marriage) who lives with her father in New Zealand so I want to spend as much time as possible near her.
"My husband (producer Robert Tapert) is working in L.A. so I have to be there with him and our son."
Lawless says she definitely won't go back into a TV series any time soon, but admits she is "looking for a very un-Xena-like feature film to do soon. I want to break my image as quickly as possible."
Lawless says she is not that recognizable once she doffs her costume.
"The truth is I'm much smaller and paler in person so even my fans don't recognize me in passing."
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