After losing dad Steve Irwin at a young age, Bindi Irwin developed separation anxiety — to the point where she would become worried when her loved ones left a room.
During the Feb. 3 episode of the A Life of Greatness podcast, the wildlife conservationist, 26, revealed that though mom Terri Irwin “kept us going” after her famous father’s tragic death in 2006 — and ensured that she and brother Robert Irwin always “felt loved” — she still suffered some “scary” anxiety afterward.
“After losing Dad, I was so worried about losing Mom and Robert that I had a lot of separation anxiety,” Bindi (who was 8 at the time of Steve’s death) revealed on the podcast, noting that she “would get so worried if they left a room.”
“It’s scary when you lose the strongest person in your life,” she added of dad Steve, who died unexpectedly at age 44 in a stingray attack while snorkeling and filming off the coast of Australia.
Following the conservationist’s tragic passing, however, Terri became the strongest person in Bindi’s life.
“My mom is the reason Robert and I are who we are,” she explained. “No matter what was happening in the world, she was there for us. And I don’t know how she did that when dad passed away, because the whole world shifted and landed on her shoulders and yet, through it all, she was there for me and Robert — and still is, emotionally and to help us navigate.”
When Steve died, Terri “suddenly … became a single parent” to Bindi and Robert, who was 2 at the time, the conservationist added. “I don’t know where she found that strength, but I’m in awe of her every day.”
The 26-year-old — who is now a mom to daughter Grace Warrior, 3, with husband Chandler Powell — also opened up about coping with the death of her dad more broadly, describing her grief for him as a “scar” on her heart.
“Grief is a funny thing in that it changes over time,” she said on A Life of Greatness. “But I remember when I was little and dad had just died and every adult I saw would say to me, ‘Time heals all wounds,’ and I remember thinking, ‘What in the heck does that mean?’ ”
Now, Bindi knows “that information is wrong.” Time, she explained, “changes your grief [and] your perspective, but I know firsthand that the grief and sadness and the feelings of loss from losing dad, those feelings are just a part of me — it’s like a scar on your heart.”
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“But the way I’m now able to view the loss of dad has changed,” she continued. “So instead of only feeling devastation, I’m now able to feel love and light and warmth too. I remember the times we had with him, and I feel the greatest sense of wanting to make him proud and carry on his work.”
“But as an 8-year-old, people telling me that I might forget about him actually made me a bit scared,” she said. “None of us were prepared for losing dad [and] none of us were prepared for the outpouring after he was gone. It was unbelievable.”
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