Emotional Terri Irwin reveals son Robert’s struggle after Steve’s death
Terri Irwin has opened up in a new interview about how her two young kids coped after the death of their father, Steve Irwin.
The 53-year-old spoke to Anh Do about how “hard” it was back in 2006 to tell Bindi and Robert – who were just 8 and 2 years old at the time – that that their dad had died.
In the upcoming episode of Anh’s Brush With Fame, Terri emotionally explained how her children took the unimaginable news.
“I think Bindi grasped it, she understood…” she said.
“But it was harder with Robert. He just wasn’t connecting.”
When Anh probed a little deeper, Terri revealed in tears: “He would sit in the bathtub and cry, ‘I just want my dad.'”
Steve died at the age of 44, after a tragic accident where a stingray barb punctured his heart whilst filming his show off the coast of Queensland.
As fans across the world mourned his death, Terri explained how she had to go to great lengths to protect her kids from the media.
“I’ve literally got them rolled up in blankets on the back seats of vehicles to keep them from being photographed at their most vulnerable,” she said.
In the episode, Terri also reflects on some of her favourite memories within her 14-year-marriage to Steve, including when he proposed to her after working at the zoo one day.
After only eight months of dating, Terri could think of a “million reasons why” the pair should wait but confessed that something inside of her knew it was the right decision to say ‘yes’.
Robert, who is now 14 and has grown up with the same passion for wildlife as his dad, attended the Logies on the weekend with a snake – just like Steve did in 2003.