Lucy Lawless - Lawless Thought of Quitting

Shaken by a close encounter with the hurricane, Lucy Lawless admits that, "Like a lot of people after Katrina, I went through a period of re-examination: 'My God, what am I doing with my life?'

" For a month, I think that if there had been anything else I could do I would have left the business, but I realized there's nothing else I can do,' she says with a slight laugh.

Lawless, you may recall, was in New Orleans shooting her recent 'Vampire Bats' CBS movie when Katrina hit. The troupe rushed out of town with a week's work left to go -- Lucy and the producers were last. She made it to Baton Rouge the night before the hurricane, and the movie was subsequently completed in Canada. 'But after what happened, of course our woes were of little concern,' says the actress.

The former 'Xena: Warrior Princess' adds, 'I received a couple of very touching letters on my website, one about why FDR didn't cancel baseball during World War II -- that escape and entertainment are vital to people, especially in hard times. I decided to relax and stop expecting everything to be so damn deep and meaningful," she says. "Maybe my purpose in life is simply to entertain, and if I'm good at it and it makes me happy, it's all right.'