Then & Now: Gabrielle's Jaw-Dropping Post-Xena Makeover
Gabrielle actress looks very different these days – but she can still bust those moves!
Girl Power Zeitgeist
After appearing in a single episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Lucy Lawless was cast in her own spinoff series, Xena: Warrior Princess in 1995. The multi-award-winning show saw Xena and her companion, Gabrielle, traveling around quasi-fantasy landscapes as strong female protagonists who perfectly fit the ‘girl power’ theme of the time.
Life after Xena
New Zealander Lucy Lawless has had a successful career on stage and screen since, as well as releasing two albums. Gabrielle actor Renee O’Connor has had fewer acting roles than her one-time ally but has moved into producing and directing.
2021 saw the pair reunite when they appeared in an episode of My Life is Murder together. Not that many fans of Xena: Warrior Princess would have noticed. While Lawless may have been recognizable as ‘the one who played Xena,’ O’Connor looks a lot different from the blonde Greco-Roman warrior she was in the 1990s.
Now 52, she’s defied the entertainment industry trope of having cosmetic work done, choosing instead to grow old naturally but gracefully. If you can call 52 old, that is.
These days, she’s sporting a red hairdo that makes her look very different from the actor you probably remember when you think about Xena: Warrior Princess's Gabrielle.
Martial Arts and Theater
But she could still stick up for herself when necessary as she’s a keen martial artist who likes to stay fit and keep in shape. After her time as Gabrielle came to an end, Renee O’Connor learned the arts of taekwondo, karate, nunchaku, and katana.
Her most notable screen role since Xena ended is the 2010 adaptation of Moby Dick. She was very active in theater productions between 2017 and 2019 when she appeared as The Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, Mrs Brill in Mary Poppins, and The Wicked Witch of the West in Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center’s performance of The Wizard of Oz.
On the Personal Front
O’Connor has been married twice. Her first marriage to restauranteur Steve Muir began in 2000, with the couple divorcing four years later. They had met in 1998 while she was still starring as Gabrielle. 2001 saw them welcome a son.
She is now married to fellow actor and director Jed Sura. The pair began dating in 2004, got married in 2017, and have since had a son. They appeared together in 2011 in a short film titled Infinity.