Robert Irwin: ‘We are so boring’
Wildlife warrior Robert Irwin has spoken of the family dynamic behind one of Australia’s most famous names.
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Australia’s favourite wildlife warrior Robert Irwin has lifted the lid on the dynamic we don’t see behind the cameras in one of Australia’s most famous families.
“It’s interesting for as public as it all is, I definitely still get to live a very authentic … existence,” the 20-year-old tells the latest episode of the Mental as Anyone with J.Mo podcast. “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.”
Irwin is the son of late crocodile hunter Steve, who died tragically at the age of 44 after being pierced in the chest by a stingray barb filming on the Great Barrier Reef in 2006.
He was just three at the time. Older sister, Bindi, was eight.
The siblings, along with mother Terri, have continued their dad’s important conservation work at Queensland’s Australia Zoo. As a family, they are globally famous and yet they manage to keep their private lives just that, private.
Irwin is nominated for the prestigious Gold Logie this year, up against I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! co-host Julia Morris and other industry veterans like Larry Emdur and Sonia Kruger.
He is the youngest Gold Logie nominee since Delta Goodrem in 2004.
“I have always known my purpose, my what gets me out of bed every day, what makes me passionate, what I love,” he said. “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. So 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.”
Irwin said each day brings new reminders of his father, who was much loved in Australia and abroad.
“Having lost someone at a very young age, I love getting little pieces of him back,” he said. “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.”
* A new episode of Mental As Anyone is released each Tuesday.
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