Xena: Warrior Princess star Lucy Lawless has traded her TV armour and sword for a real estate empire, quietly amassing a $45m fortune away from Hollywood.
The New Zealand actress owns several properties in her hometown of Auckland, with her primary residence located in the wealthy coastal suburb of Mission Bay.
The entertainer and her husband, TV producer Rob Tapert, purchased a Georgian mansion in 1998 for $NZ4.2m as their family home.
According to reports, the action icon converted two of her four properties, worth a combined $10m ($US7m), into a massive, eco-friendly garden.
The estates are estimated to be worth around $21m to $28m ($US15m-$US20m).
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Lucy Lawless as Xena: Warrior Princess.
The property plays follow a successful international real estate footprint that started during the height of her TV fame.
In 1998, Lawless and Tapert paid $2.3m ($US1.525m) for a home in Studio City, California.
They later sold the home in June 2008 for an undisclosed sum after listing it on the market for $5.6m ($US3.7m).
The actress has used her property wealth to build a fiercely private life away from Hollywood.
Her daughter, Daisy, with first husband Garth Lawless, was born in 1988, while she shares two sons with Tapert: Julius, born in 1999, and Judah, born in 2002.
All three children have chosen lives entirely out of the spotlight, and Lawless refuses to post photos of them on social media.
The TV star said her children always preferred life in New Zealand to Hollywood.
“They actually prefer New Zealand, they’re a lot closer to the earth and the elements there,” Lawless said in 2006.
“We can go to the beach daily there and they don’t have quite the same freedom in LA. It takes us 45 minutes to get to school, the traffic is hideous.
“However, I do really love it here and I feel we have the best of both worlds.”
The New Zealand actress owns several properties in her hometown of Auckland. Picture: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images for SXSW Sydney
The global fame that built her empire started when she was cast as Xena in an episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys in 1995.
Actress Vanessa Angel was originally cast in the part but fell ill, forcing producers to search for a local actress in New Zealand to fill the role.
The appearance was so well-received by fans that producers launched a stand-alone spin-off series.
Debuting in September 1995, Xena: Warrior Princess became an instant international hit, overtaking Hercules as the top-rated syndicated drama series on US television in its second season.
The show ran for six seasons and 134 episodes before ending in 2001.
Lawless was cast as Xena in an episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys in 1995.
Since the series wrapped, Lawless took guest roles on Two and a Half Men and The L Word, plus a recurring role on Battlestar Galactica.
Her most notable post-Xena TV role was Lucretia in Spartacus from 2010 to 2012.
She played Ruby in Ash vs Evil Dead from 2015 to 2018 and starred in My Life Is Murder from 2019 to 2025.
On film, she appeared in EuroTrip (2004) and Boogeyman (2005), later focusing on local New Zealand cinema.
Her most recent role was in the 2025 drama Pike River, co-starring Kiwi actress Melanie Lynskey.
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