‘I have had a mental health awakening’: Robert Irwin on prioritising his wellbeing
Robert Irwin might be known for wrestling crocs and wrangling celebrities in the jungle, but he admits he also wrestles with self doubts and mental health challenges, too.
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Right now, Robert Irwin is somewhere above South Africa’s Blyde River Canyon celebrating the grand finale of I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!
It’s been his second season hosting the hit show alongside Julia Morris, and Irwin has slipped into the role in much the same way as he slips the odd carpet python around his neck – casually, and with a dash of trademark Irwin good humour thrown in.
It seems like everything Irwin, who has recently turned 21, touches turns to gold (or at least gold with a hint of khaki), from his television and modelling appearances, award-winning nature photography and global conservation projects to his transformation from the little kid in khaki with the – let’s face it – questionable haircut to the bona fide heart-throb.
But – and this is every bit as important to Irwin as any of those accolades, if not more so – he wants other young people to know that he wrestles with the same self doubts and mental health challenges that they do.
“You know, I think it’s so important for someone like me who is so chronically positive to say, ‘I’m having a bad day’,” Irwin says.
“We all do and it doesn’t matter who you are or what you do. It’s okay, even if you look like you are at the top of your game, to say, ‘I’m not doing so well today.’
“Whatever you have going on – if you’ve won the lottery or your fish just died – if you’re struggling, you’re struggling, and it’s really important to talk to someone about it.”
Irwin says that he has had to address his own mental health challenges.
“I have had a mental health awakening recently. A lot of things weigh heavily on me and it’s something I have been trying to talk more about,” he says.
“I have never been busier, my profile is at a higher level and it can be really difficult to prioritise mental health, but we all need to.
“Mental health stress can come when your life changes quickly, when things move quickly, and it becomes like a backlog in your mind. When it hits you, it’s like: ‘Wow, I haven’t dealt with that stress or grief or anxiety’ or maybe it’s something you can’t even put your finger on, and it can spiral.”
Irwin says his mental health awakening brought with it a desire to use his increasingly growing platform positively.
“Everything I do, I guess, is magnified in some way, whether it be loss or relationships or choices I make, all the milestones every 21-year-old goes through, and I hope I can use the voice I have to help other young dudes just figure things out.”
Irwin says his way of dealing with stress or anxiety is to talk to his family and close friends.
“For me, I am really grateful to have such a close family. I can get out and do the things that make me feel good, and I have the tools to use to help, but not everyone has those things, I know that. I want to encourage young people to look around and try to find that person or organisation they can talk to.”
Irwin counts all the members of his family – mum Terri, sister Bindi, her husband Chandler and their daughter Grace – as his “North stars”.
“My family is my true north, I can always count on my mother, she has been a pillar of strength to me, she listens and she encourages me. I want to do so many things, and she will always say that the most important thing, no matter what you do, is to be authentic to who you are. She’s been through it all, she can say: ‘Here’s a way to handle grief, here’s some solutions’, and then she’ll give you the space to figure it out in your own way.”
Asked what 21-year-old Robert would say to young Robert, Irwin doesn’t hesitate.
“The biggest thing is don’t sweat the small stuff. Don’t sweat it. Don’t get concerned in any of the little things that happen, don’t get caught up in them.
“I feel like I have crammed 40 years into my 20, and I am so grateful to have this life, I’ve got so much to do in it. We all do, so do the things that make you happy, do it all and feel it all, the good and the bad, the triumph and the defeats, feel it, sit in it and move on to the next thing, don’t think about it, do it. Be in it, right now.”
And right now, Robert Irwin is preparing for the I’m a Celebrity Grand Finale, crowning the king or queen of the jungle, and reflecting on his own time in South Africa.
“Oh man, Africa is one of my favourite places. It’s so near and dear to me, our family has wildlife conservation projects here, we partner with the Cheetah Outreach program in Cape Town, we work with the anti-poaching group the terrific Black Mambas and just being in South Africa is magic, showing up to set in this little treehouse above the enormous Blyde Canyon, there’s chacma baboons walking across set, you really are in the wild and everything you see the celebrities going through, they are really going through.
“It’s a complete detox from reality, they are living by their wits, they are incredible people having life-changing experiences.”
So, would he do it himself? Would he swap his hosting duties for a season of camp life? Irwin laughs. “Look, I will jump off whatever – a plane, a helicopter, a cliff and I will happily sit in a pit of snakes but I am not doing those eating trials, it’s never going to happen. Sure I would eat good sources of protein, crickets, worms, but that ridiculous other stuff, not going to happen.”
For now, Irwin is happy in his hosting role, working alongside the woman he says helped him find his feet in the African jungle.
“Oh, Julia, she is hilarious, such a wonderful person, it’s so easy to see that high voltage charisma and energy, but you also realise very quickly she’s one of the most intelligent people in any room. Any nerves I had about co-hosting disappeared very quickly the first time I went in, and that’s down to Julia.
“She trusted me, so I trusted myself. I go to her for advice, with very niche questions sometimes. This show means so much to so many people. I felt a lot of pressure, but she said to treat it like Australia Zoo. We have 400 to 500 people working there, and I’m a Celebrity has a huge crew, all sorts of people working on it … it’s the same great energy and passion, and that was really a great way for me to look at it. Just bring the same love and energy to it.”
The truth is, Robert Irwin brings a lot of love and bucketloads of energy to everything he does, just like his father, the late Steve Irwin did. And if things ever do get a little much, he’ll remember what his dad said.
“My father believed, and I do too, that you have to get out into the middle of nowhere, just disconnect from the business and reconnect with nature. Everything melts away when you don’t see another car for 12 hours, when you sleep in a tent under the stars.”
Irwin laughs, as any weight he might be carrying falls from his shoulders.
“Or, as Dad said more simply: ‘Get some red dirt up ya nose’.”
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