The series brought Lawless an immense amount of attention and she became an international celebrity. While taping an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in October 1996, Lawless suffered a fractured pelvis when the horse she was riding lost its footing in the studio car park. See also: Xena: Warrior Princess in popular culture She made a complete recovery, but several episodes of the second season of Xena were rewritten to focus on background characters to minimise the time Lawless was needed on set.
Xena's ambiguous romantic relationship with travelling companion Gabrielle ( Renee O'Connor) led to Lawless becoming a lesbian icon, a role of which she has said she is proud. She has said that during the years she was playing the role, she had been undecided on the nature of the relationship, but in a 2003 interview with Lesbian News magazine, she said that after viewing the series finale, she had come to see Xena and Gabrielle's relationship as definitely gay, adding 'they're married, man.' This reputation became cemented after her 'graphic lesbian sex scenes' in Spartacus: Gods of the Arena. She has appeared at gay pride events such as the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
