Now it wasn’t just that Xena was bisexual and kinda liked her gal pal and they kind of fooled around sometimes, it was ‘Nope, they’re married, man.'

When you decide to become an opera singer, it's a commitment that allows nothing else to interfere. Even your family - and I have a young daughter - has to take second place.

I am not intimidating. I am a woman's woman. I love hanging out with women. And people are really inspired by this show.

For the first time in my life, I put my body and reputation on the line to stand up for my beliefs and do the right thing. I hope I've encouraged other people to do the same.

I get to do all these really nice, little culty things. It seems to be the world that keeps inviting me back.

My plan is to shock people with what I can do, because I've got a few sides to me that I've never used on screen.

I was sitting in the looping studio late one night, and I had this epiphany that they weren't paying me for my acting, for God's sake, but to own me. And from then on, it became clear and an awful lot easier to deal with.