Talking with Lucy Lawless

Best-known for her role as Xena in Xena: Warrior Princess, Lawless is also involved in a number of different charities.
By Good MagazineFri, Mar 05 2010 at 4:11 PM EST  29 Comments

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Welcome to our series Talking to a Famous Person. In this series we publish our conversations with high-profile nonprofit founders, actors and everyone in between. 
 
Known internationally for her role as Xena in Xena: Warrior Princess, Lawless has had a diverse career onstage, behind the camera, and working with organizations to help children in need around the world. Lawless was named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" by People magazine in 1997, the same year she first appeared on Broadway in the remake of Grease. Her long career spans music, television, film and the stage. In addition to working on blockbuster films like Bedtime Stories and Eurotrip, she has also appeared as a guest star in episodes of The Simpsons, The X-Files, Just Shoot Me!, Veronica Mars, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Burn Notice, Less Than Perfect, Flight of the Conchords and Battlestar Galactica. This year you can catch Lawless on Spartacus.
 
  
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Beyond the studio sets, Lawless is involved in a number of different charities, many in her home country of New Zealand. Read on to learn more about Lawless' charity work, her views on climate change skeptics, and the strangest Xena fan request yet (hint: it involves an axe).
 
GOOD: You are perhaps most involved in the Starship National Children’s Hospital in New Zealand, having recently jumped from a building to raise money and awareness for the new Puawaitahi center for investigating alleged child abuse. How did you get involved with the board and what is your involvement on a day-to-day basis?
Lucy Lawless: After reports of a particularly vicious child abuse case, I and a few other highly visible New Zealanders got involved to say "No more." Sadly, the reality is that child abuse is never going to be expunged totally but they are finding that getting trained assessors from the police, social workers, and doctors under one roof dramatically improves communication and efficiency in catching kids before they fall through the cracks. Letting battered and sexually abused kids "fall through the cracks" is in itself an obscenity. Anyway, the idea of multi-agency centers is so sensible, you'd think they would be the model in every town in the world.
 
As as actress there is no role for me in a multi-agency center. Families there require dignity and privacy and what celebrities do is help create noise and attention. However I do sit on the board of the fundraising arm of the Starship Hospital which means showing up to the board meetings once a month. Really, I just do what I'm told. They are an amazing organization.
 
You’ve been involved with a variety of different charities, all over New Zealand and the world, how do you find out about different causes? Do organizations approach you or do you prefer doing independent research and seeking them out?
People seek me out. They want me to do everything from rep autism to lobby the government about free left-hand turns. I try not to jump on every bandwagon. There's a lot of need out there but I believe it's important to be more effective in fewer areas. So I stick to the few things I desperately care about.
 
What is one under-the-radar charity or nonprofit that you’re involved with that you think everyone should know about?
They are not under-the-radar but I think NGOs like World Vision are fantastic. They have learned through much trial and error the psychology of not just being helpful but of being helped. They know that if you don't give a community ownership of a project, so that their own sweat is in the building of that road/well/school, there will be no pride nor ownership after the fact. They also cooperate very well in the case of natural disasters to divvy up the work so that doubling-up precious resources is avoided. Don't believe that propaganda about them selling several photos of the same child. I won't say it is impossible that such a mix-up has occurred, but on my trip to Bangladesh I saw there is no end of children in poverty!
 
After Climategate and other reports questioning climate change science, many people worldwide are still skeptical about global warming. What would you say to disbelievers to get them to change their minds?
I think the people running climate change denial campaigns are sociopaths. They don't want you to get off the grid in any sense because then you'd be autonomous and they couldn't make you buy their poison.
 
Since your Xena days you’ve done concert tours and you have also been involved in Broadway productions. If you could play a part in any Broadway production which would it be and why?
Annie in Annie Get Out Your Gun. Dumb- *** story but great, great songs.
 
A lot of your charity work is focused on helping young children. What is one story that exemplifies why you continue to stay so involved? When working with sick or underprivileged children, what is the one thing you hope to leave them with?
I noticed that many of the street kids I met in Bangladesh were abandoned at the age of 4 where (and I am only guessing here), a child individuates from the parents, who themselves were born into material and emotional poverty. Often the mother would put her 4-year-old on the roof of a train with no food or money and send the kid off to god-knows where. If they don't fall off, they may end up at the end of the line at Dhaka Train Depot, living under concrete benches, beaten by the police with a length of hose and being preyed upon by sexual predators. I saw an 8-year-old girl shot up with heroin.
 
What can I hope to leave with them? All I can do is support programs in their area. World Vision was amazing. I believe it was started as a Christian organization but the people working there were Hindu and Muslim and Christian all mixed in together. They are fighting poverty and ignorance. I visited one convent where nuns are teaching women's health and baby care — not converting the natives. They live in danger all the time because banditry is rife but they love their people and will not abandon them.
 
Xena: Warrior Princess has attained a cult status. What has been the weirdest request from a Xena fan? Be honest, do people ask to fight with you?
No one asks me to fight. I am being honest. What else is there to be?
 
A guy in a wet raincoat asked me to sign his axe once. I was a bit creeped out by that.
 
What is one thing everyone can do that would have a huge impact on our environment?
Plant something! Anywhere you can, plant something! I am digging up my tennis court and putting in native trees to encourage the native birds to come in. We have bees, which I highly recommend — makes the garden go off.
 
I know we don't all have tennis courts to dig up, but we can all plant a window box or a tree. Just consider the kind of light and drainage and the mature size of the tree. Make sure you can live with it in the long term.
 
A version of this story originally appeared on GOOD. Read it here.
 
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roberta.tavares2@hotmail.com



Lucy é realmente maravilhosa, adoro seu trabalho como xena e agora como Lucretia.Estou aqui no Brasil, mas ligada em todas as novidades de lucy e Renee.Adoraria conhece-las pessoalmente!!Adoro as duas Beijos pra vcs, eu as amo!!!

Mathematics



Xena provides more ammunition to the theory that BEAUTY + BRAINS = A CONSTANT.

No More Xena 4 Me



Projection at its best. I think she is trying to set herself up for the Crissy character in a new Three's Company movie.

Warmist Religion



Insult someone's religion, and they will get nasty.

Science is best done dispassionately, letting reproduceable data lead you to prove or disprove theories (aka... check my work!)

That hasn't happened with the Warmist Socialists, who saw their theories as a way to "change/control society" (the height of educated arrogance), and ignored, hid, and discredited data that showed otherwise.

Lucy Von braun



She should talk.. hawking around in NZ with a nelly scientist who wont answer FOI requests as to why he selectively changed temperature stations that created hockey stick trends on graphs? He was sacked for proposing NZ reduce its population by 75%.. Don't you just love the Nazi lover Xena.

I speak of spouting like a whale



and grozzwacked washes up on the beach.

Tell me, Whacked, have YOU read all the new research coming out? It seems rather doubtful.

The Making of a Skeptic



1. AGW alarmist makes or endorses insane predictions of imminent, terrible catastrophe.

2. Predictions fail to occur, even in part.

3. Questions naturally arise about why the predictions failed to occur.

4. AGW alarmists who made or endorsed the insane predictions smear questioners as "deniers" and "sociopaths" without answering the questions.

5. Questioner's skepticism increases.

6. Repeat.

What do you expect?



Another vapid celebrity who has allowed herself to be convinced that her celebrity status has somehow endowed her with knowledge, and her opinions with weight.

Next.

She must need her meds.



The question was: "What would you say to disbelievers to get them to change their minds?" It had absolutely nothing to do with the "people running climate change denial campaigns", which Lawson chose to attack as "sociopaths".
What the questioner was looking for were the usual AGW/CC talking points like "glaciers and ice caps melting, oceans rising, more heat waves, fires, droughts, floods, hurricanes, snowstorms, unpredictable weather, etc. etc. So instead, she chose to not answer.... More

What?



I'd like to know Lawless' science background. Ad hominem attacks are generally not the best way to get your point across. That quote was absolutely moronic.

Which deniers are the sociopaths?



Which deniers:

The ones, like myself, who acknowledge that the planet is coming out of the Little Ice Age of the 1600s and is warming without the man's intervention

or

The deniers like Michael Mann, whose now discreditted "hockey stick" denied the existense of the Little Ice Age and the Medieval Warm Period. He and the pre Climategate "climate scientists" wanted us to believe that the Earth's temperature was essentiall constant until 1900 when it went on the warming trend.... More

Talking with Lucy Clueless



Lucy, if your intelligence matched your looks you would be an exceptional person. Unfortunately, my advice to you is "Don't give up the day job".
And don't make scathing comments about others without at least taking some time to understand their point of view. People who do that are ignorant and prejudiced fools.
But I do like you, honest!
XXX

Political Pawn.



This is obviously the latest plan of attack on "so called" climate deniers, using celebs who have no concept of the world outside their "darling luvvy" bubbles to spout unproven propaganda, this is also happening in the U,K & any celeb that doesnt conform to this new religion or speaks against it tend to find their workload dry up overnight,
it seems like free speech is being stifled by the powers that be to enforce their intentions which have nothing to do with climate whatsoever,More

yo don't expect me to think you know science



You are beautiful,but you are definitely missing a lot of knowledge if you believe in "Global Warming",you aren't the smartest person in the world if you believe the Al Gore LIES.

Climategate Country Club



So yet another entertainer is attempting to save team green from humilation while climategate brings down what's left of this worldwide hoax? Those wishing to fight against this type of propaganda from the left are invited to join The Climategate Country Club. A networking site for skeptics who are preparing to fight back:
http://www.climategatecountryclub.com

Lucy in the Sky, without many neurons.



Sorry Lucy but like so many "Celebs" you can't see the wood for the trees.
CO2 is not a poison. Nor a pollutant. Without it, we die. A little more in the atmosphere is GOOD, trees/plants grow more vigorously. We get more oxygen in return. More CO2 means more food. It does not not mean Al Goricized climate catastrophe. Carry on acting, leave the planet in the hands of Mother Nature, who after all has managed well for about 4.5 billion years. Oh and thank the Sun instead of bleating Green.... More

Broken Hearted



Lucy has broken the heart of this 'sociopath.'

Stick with what you know!



Lucy, you are extremely tallented, don't spoil it by making such ignorant comments.

Stirring up the sociopaths



"many of the so called sociopathic deniers are extremely kind, well-educated scientists"

"skeptics may be sincere, care deeply, and have studied the issue in greater depth than she assumes"

Clearly not most of the deniers that Lucy has stirred up here. The level or arguments range from:
"Global Warming is so debunked they changed the name to "climate change."
"spouting like a whale."
"Washed up actress"
"the criminals who are running the global warming.... More

Xena, do the research



Global Warming is so debunked they changed the name to "climate change." Why do you think the NON-sociopaths did that.

washed up actress



nuff said

I enjoy your acting



But the research coming out the past few years is punching serious holes in the Fraud known as AGW/

Perhaps you should READ some of the new research before spouting like a whale.

Lucy, oh Lucy.



There are SO many good websites out there. Below is a discussion that speaks to the facts and not about the players. It's easy to understand. Try this one for starters.

http://www.climategate.com/anthropogenic-global-warming-or-just-natural-...

Unfortunately



climategate.com is now offline. So much data is out there he didn't get hits.

Please Don't Generalize



I'm sorry to read Ms. Lawless's comments regarding AGW skeptics. Clearly, she has been misinformed on the science and the nature of the controversy. Here is an excellent Australian site that might hold her interest long enough to discover that many of the so called sociopathic deniers are extremely kind, well-educated scientists.

http://joannenova.com.au/

In fact, more qualified

AGW Scam



It seems Lucy Lawless needs look into the so-called science behind AGW and she will learning nothing is adding up, instead of parroting her AGW lines from her writer(s). Majority of the people are sceptical of AWG, I guess they all are "sociopaths" according to Lucy Lawless. I wish these Hollyweird people would look at the science first before jumping onto a bandwagon.

Labeling one's critics does not make one's belief true



As much as I enjoy the acting, I am dismayed at her obvious lack of information regarding skeptics and the nature of the AGW social movement.
Lableing those who are skeptical of AGW as sociopaths is a rather regrettable statement from someone whose claim to fame is pretending to be someone she is not, while repeating lines someone else has written for her to memorize.
Perhaps Ms. Lawless would be better off practicing one of the other skills needed in a good actress, namely.... More

Another stupid artsy



"I think the people running climate change denial campaigns are sociopaths"

Well that abut sums my our view of the criminals who are running the global; warming scam.

Lucy, stick to acting, and leave scientific inquiry to those of us who are scientists.

Talking vs Thinking



"I think the people running climate change denial campaigns are sociopaths. They don't want you to get off the grid in any sense because then you'd be autonomous and they couldn't make you buy their poison."

Interesting to see how stereotyping affects the intellect.

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