‘You never move on’: Robert Irwin shares pain of losing father Steve

Robert Irwin was just three when his famous dad and wildlife warrior Steve Irwin died. At 20, it’s a ‘shadow’ that walks with him daily. He reveals to the Mental As Anyone podcast how that death shapes his life.

The shadow is constant. The loss still bites. And the pain remains.

Robert Irwin has revealed how he deals with constant reminders of his late father.

A spitting image of his dad — wildlife warrior and household name Steve Irwin — the 20-year-old has valiantly continued his father’s conservation legacy.

“It (the pain) never goes away. It doesn’t matter what age you are, I know people who never even met their dad and that is incredibly painful,” Irwin said.

“I know people who recently lost parental figures, they had a brilliant, long, wonderful life, and passed away peacefully and that is so bloody hard, it doesn’t matter.”

A young Bob celebrates his second birthday at Australia Zoo with his dad, ‘Crocodile Hunter’ Steve, mum Terri and sister, Bindi. Picture: Lou O'Brien

Irwin was just three when his 44-year-old father died after being pierced in the chest by a stingray barb as he filmed on the Great Barrier Reef in 2006.

Older sister Bindi was eight at the time. The siblings have continued their dad’s work alongside their mum, Terri, at Queensland’s Australia Zoo.

“When it happens, it is horrible. It doesn’t matter what situation you’re in, whoever it is, anyone who’s in your life and who you love that’s gone, it’s gonna hit you like a train,” he explained. “So it’s just a matter of accepting the fact that you don’t ever really go wake up one day and go, ‘OK, all right, I’ve moved on, I’m good’.

“It’s just not it, you will never move on. But it’s this shadow that you’ve always got that eventually, instead of it just being within you consuming every day, it walks beside you, that sort of thing.”

Irwin spoke about his father in a wide-ranging interview as part of the new Mental As Anyone podcast.

The series explores how individuals across the spectrum of fame and success manage their mental health with each episode offering practical tips as to how guests deal with life’s struggles. Future episodes will feature the likes of Colin Fassnidge, Ant Middleton and Grant Denyer.

Robert Irwin in Sydney. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

“There’s no wrong or right way to grieve,” Irwin said.

“Some people might not want any reminder of that person they’ve lost.

“For me personally, every time someone comes up to me in the street, it happens every single day: ‘here’s this story about your dad’, or ‘here’s this’ or ‘here’s that’ or even people will come up and say, ‘I remember where I was when I got the news’.

“I welcome that. I love it when I see a picture of dad or, or footage, I actually love having his presence around.

‘I GET LITTLE PIECES OF HIM BACK’

“And living in Australia Zoo, you walk around … he’s everywhere. The images and the pictures and the video and the sound, he’s still part of everyday for me.

And personally, in my grief journey … I love that.

“And having lost someone at a very young age, I love getting little pieces of him back. It is easy to feel as though time passes and every passing year you’re further from someone, but you have to think every passing year I hear a new story or I see a new picture of me and dad.

“It’s almost like every year I actually get closer, it’s like every year I get a little bit more of him back.”

While celebrating his globally famous ‘Crocodile Hunter’ father, Irwin has not lived in his dad’s shadow.

He has made his own mark, growing up in the public eye on television.

Mental As Anyone spoke to Irwin before he issued a cease and desist letter to One Nation and Pauline Hanson over its use of a character with his likeness in a cartoon series, Please Explain.

Most recently he stepped out into his first big TV hosting gig, joining comedian Julia Morris to co-host reality show, I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!

He’s the youngest Gold Logie nominee since Delta Goodrem in 2004. Kylie Minogue is the youngest Gold winner — she was just 19 when she picked up the gong in 1988.

Pictured at Elizabeth Bay in Sydney are the 2024 Gold Logie Award nominees, Sonia Kruger, Tony Armstrong, Andy Lee, Robert Irwin, Larry Emdur and Julia Morris. Picture: Richard Dobson

“I have always known my purpose, my ‘what gets me out of bed every day’, what makes me passionate, what I love,” he explained.

“I’m very, very, very lucky that I found my calling at a very young age and so I get to pursue that every day, which fills me with a lot of pride.

“The fact that I have a platform, I don’t take for granted, I see it as an incredible opportunity to make change. I have a platform to hopefully say, ‘it is OK to have a bad day, here’s some tips to get through things, I’m able to spread a message of positivity.”

Despite his level of fame, Irwin says he leads a very ‘normal’ life. Boring, in fact.

“It’s interesting for as public as it all is, I definitely still get to live a very authentic … existence,” he said. “In terms of the family dynamic, we’re the most undramatic boring people in the world, which is awesome. What we do is absolutely nuts. You’re jumping on crocs, you’re saving wildlife, you’re doing this, doing that. But in terms of the Irwin family dynamic, we’re just like, proper, just vanilla ice cream, like we are so boring. There’s nothing wrong with having a boring family dynamic. In fact, that’s what you’re shooting for.”

* A new episode of the Mental As Anyone podcast drops Tuesday morning at 6am.

Originally published as ‘You never move on’: Robert Irwin shares pain of losing father Steve