Nearly two decades after Steve Irwin’s death, his son Robert has stepped fully into the spotlight—not just as a wildlife conservationist, but as a record-breaking television star. But as the family’s public profile has grown, the private pressures behind the khaki shirts have become harder to contain. From a years-long rift with his grandfather to a fresh wave of media scrutiny, Robert is now speaking out about what it really means to carry the Irwin legacy. Steve Irwin’s love story with Terri began in 1991, when she traveled to Australia while visiting wildlife rehabilitation facilities.
Steve described their meeting as love at first sight, while Terri recalled thinking he seemed like an environmental Tarzan—larger than life and impossible to forget. They were engaged four months later and married on June 4th, 1992and a film of their honeymoon, which involved trapping crocodiles, became the first episode of The Crocodile Hunter. The couple settled in Beerwah, Queensland, and welcomed Bindi in 1998 and Robert in 2003and The family’s rise to global fame was swift, with the series reaching more than 130 countries and around 500 million people, but fame never shielded them from loss. On February 11th, 2000, Steve’s mother, Lynn, died in a car accident.
Years later, the family faced controversy when Steve carried newborn Robert near a 3. 8-meter saltwater crocodile while feeding it, sparking international outrage and later prompting Queensland to tighten crocodile handling laws involving children and untrained adults. On September 4th, 2006, the Irwin family’s world collapsed. While Terri was trekking through Tasmania with Bindi and Robert, Steve was filming an underwater documentary at Batt Reef near Port Douglas.
During the shoot, the barb of a short-tail stingray pierced his chest and struck his heart. Steve was 44, Bindi was eight, and Robert was still just a toddler. A private funeral was held five days later, followed by a public memorial at the zoo’s Crocoseum that drew an audience reported at more than 300 million people across Australia, the United States, and Asia. Terri was left to raise two young children, run Australia Zoo, protect the family name, and keep Steve’s mission alive.
She later described feeling completely lost, but said she could not disappear because her children needed her, the zoo needed her, and millions were watching the family’s next move. Even as a toddler, Terri noticed Robert seemed unusually natural around animals—he watched them closely, moved comfortably around them, and seemed to understand the world his father had loved. As he grew, the resemblance became harder to miss: the same excitement, expressions, bright energy, and confidence around wildlife. Terri said those similarities brought both pride and grief, because a sudden burst of excitement from Robert could make her feel as if Steve had entered the room again.
Robert was homeschooled at Australia Zoo to fit around his wildlife work and media schedule. Photography became one of his earliest personal interests, and he later said it gave him an individual way to continue his father’s work rather than simply copy it. He began taking photos at age six, later receiving a Canon EOS 700D, and by age 15 he had graduated high school. Television had been part of his life almost from birth, but as he got older, being Steve Irwin’s son was no longer enough.
He needed to prove there was more to him than a famous surname. By age 8, Robert had completed enough training to feed alligators and freshwater crocodiles under expert supervision. In 2013, he received his first Logie nomination for Most Popular New Male Talent for Steve Irwin’s Wildlife Warriors. He also co-authored children’s books and joined a six-year campaign led by Terri to stop bauxite strip mining at the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve on the Cape York Peninsula.
The Queensland government eventually passed legislation protecting the reserve from mining. On his 10th birthday, Robert fed his first large saltwater crocodile at the Crocoseum, and later co-hosted the Discovery science series Wild But True. His photography also gained recognition, with Australian Geographic naming him junior runner-up in its nature photographer of the year competition in 2016 for an image of a large male saltwater crocodile resting on a riverbank in northern Queensland. Beginning in February 2017, Robert became a regular guest on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, bringing animals into the studio with confidence, humor, and real knowledge.
The chemistry worked because he never looked like he was reading a speech. Steve had made 17 late-night appearances before his death, so viewers naturally saw history repeating itself, but Robert also kept adding new parts to his own career. In April 2018, he joined Terri and Bindi to unveil Steve’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. That same year, Robert began running Australia Zoo’s daily crocodile feeding demonstrations, taking on a job once closely linked with Steve, and co-starred in and co-produced Crikey!
It’s the Irwins with Terri and Bindi, a series that followed the family across four seasons. His photography kept bringing honors, including a People’s Choice Award at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards in 2020 for a photograph of a bushfire burning near the border of the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserveduring Australia’s black summer. The image was later displayed at the Natural History Museum in London. One frightening moment at Australia Zoo showed that the danger connected to the Irwin name had never disappeared.
While filming the fourth season of Crikey! , Robert entered an enclosure with Casper, a 3. 7-meter saltwater crocodile weighing about 350 kilograms. Casper ignored the food Robert offered and instead moved directly toward him, forcing Robert to scale the enclosure wall quickly and escape without injury.
The moment was a sharp reminder that this family did not work with safe props. His career continued expanding beyond wildlife television, however. In October 2023, he replaced veterinarian Chris Brown as co-host of I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here alongside Julia Morris, agreeing to take the role only if the program stopped using wildlife products. Two months later, GQ Australia named him social force of the year, and his first season brought Logie nominations for most popular personality andaward for most popular presenter in 2024.
In September 2024, Robert and South African actress Nomzamo Mbatha became the first global ambassadors for the Earthshot Prize, launched by Prince William and Sir David Attenborough. When speaking about relationships, Robert focused on a very different story, saying he wanted something like the marriage his parents had. He called Terri his hero, describing her as brave, steady, determined, and a great leader, and said that after Steve died, she had the rug pulled out from under her but still found a way to move forward for her children. Robert’s private life, however, was becoming public business.
He had dated Rory Bucky, the niece of Heath Ledger, from August 2022 until February 2024. After that breakup, the public became even more interested in who he might date next, even though Robert said he preferred to keep his personal life private. In April 2025, Robert appeared in an underwear campaign for Bonds, and the photos went viral. He later joked that the zoo suddenly seemed to attract more American visitors.
Terri had mixed feelings about the new attention, recalling that Steve once joked that women barely noticed him until he became the Crocodile Hunter. She said it was nice for Robert to receive flattering attention, but she also admitted, “It’s a lot. ” Earlier that year, reports began claiming Terri was too involved in Robert’s love life. Daily Mail Australia cited unnamed sources who said Robert had been linked to former Australia Zoo staff member Charlotte Briggs and had been advised to move out of the family home and set boundaries with his mother.
The same reports claimed Terri wanted Robert focused on his career and had interfered with plans for Charlotte to join him in South Africa while filming I’m a Celebrity. None of that came from Robert himself, however. In February 2025, Robert won favorite Australian media personality at the AACTA Awards. Two months later, he was announced as the first contestant for season 34 of the American Dancing with the Stars.
By May, he had also taken on a managerial role at Australia Zoo and joined the board of Wildlife Warriors. Then in August, he appeared in Tourism Australia’s Come and Say G’day campaign, which later gathered more than 374 million views worldwide. When Dancing with the Stars began on September 16th, Robert was paired with professional dancer Witney Carson and quickly became a fan favorite. He later performed a jive relay with actress Xochitl Gomez,and his foxtrot to “Footprints in the Sand” earned the first perfect score given to an individual couple that season.
But the most emotional moment came during dedication week in October, when Robert chose to honor Terri. He danced to Phil Collins’ “You’ll Be in My Heart,” and Terri joined him near the end. Robert later said the routine forced him to process grief over Steve while trying to dance, describing the experience as if a weight lifted because he could finally show the full depth of his gratitude toward his mother. Terri later posted the performance and wrote, “I am truly blessed to be your mother.
” By the November 25th finale, the story had become much bigger than a famous wildlife kid trying something new. Robert had sustained an injury that lasted for weeks, but he refused to make the pain his main story line. Whitney Carson and the production team adjusted parts of their routines so he could keep performing. When Robert and Whitney finally won the season, judge Carrie Ann Inaba told him there had been enormous love for him in the room from the beginning.
Robert, clearly overwhelmed, said, “Thank you for changing my life. ” The victory broke records. At 21, he became the youngest male winner in the show’s history and the first Australian man to win. Because Bindi had already won season 21 with Derek Hough in 2015, Robert and Bindi also became the first celebrity brother-and-sister to both take home the mirror ball trophy.
The win showed how far Robert had moved beyond the label of Steve Irwin’s son, yet he never tried to erase that connection. In interviews, he spoke openly about grief, anxiety, imposter syndrome, and the strange pressure of being chronically positive while still needing to protect his mental health. He said nature gave him the greatest sense of calm. Behind that positive image, however, one painful family issue remained unresolved: a rift with his grandfather, Steve’s father, Bob Irwin.
Bob and his late wife Lynn had created the wildlife park that eventually became Australia Zoo, handing it to Steve and Terri in 1992 before it was renamed Australia Zoo in 1998. But in March 2008, only 18 months after Steve died, Bob left the zoo. Reports claimed he and Terri disagreed about its direction, with rumors that Bob felt the zoo was becoming too commercial. Australia Zoo publicly denied there was a feud, but Bob later acknowledged there had been disagreements with management and said he felt it was better for everyone if he stepped away.
The distance did not heal. By 2015, Bindi said she had not spoken with Bob since 2008, explaining that after Steve died, Bob chose to distance himself from the things Steve had loved most. In 2019, Bob said he wished Bindi and Chandler Powell well after their engagement, but he was not invited to their March 2020 wedding at Australia Zoo. Then, in June 2021, the rift became far more public after a Facebook user asked Bindi why she had not mentioned her grandfather in a Father’s Day post.
Bindi gave a painful answer, saying Bob had shown no interest in spending time with her family, returned gifts, ignored correspondence,and had never said a kind word to her personally. She described the relationship as psychological abuse and said she could no longer damage her mental health by staying engaged. She also said Terri still wrote to Bob and sent birthday and Christmas gifts without receiving replies. Bob did not publicly answer that post, and Bindi then stepped away from social media for a time to focus on her mental health.
Her Robert’s growing fame, the family rift remained a painful backdrop. By late 2025, however, Terri was speaking more openly about how the family stayed close behind the scenes. On the Apple and the Tree podcast, she described an informal family contract around social media, saying she never posted anything involving Bindi or Robert without checking with them first. She joked that her children sometimes had to stop her from making a gesture online that could look like a gang sign.
Terri also said she was happy being single and had never felt a need to date after losing Steve, adding that she had already found her happily ever after and still had a great deal of love in her life. Robert, meanwhile, kept bringing lighter moments into the family story. In January 2026, he shaved his facial hair into a mustache as a prank and filmed Terri’s reaction, first saying she was proud before jokingly shaking her head when he asked if he should keep it. That same month, Terri said she would never say never to doing Dancing with the Stars herself, although she joked that she might adopt another child to compete instead.
Robert’s own dancing chapter was not over either. In April 2026, he returned for the live tour,and later that month, it was announced that he would host the new spin-off Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro with Mark Ballas and Shirley Ballas judging. In February 2026, Robert also won favorite Australian media personality for a second time at the AACTA Awards. By 2026, Robert was no longer growing into fame—he was steering it himself.
He made his feature film debut voicing a koala airport receptionist in Zootopia 2, appeared as a keynote speaker at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens Conservation Gala, and prepared to host The Next Pro. At the Steve Irwin Gala in Las Vegas in May, Terri reflected on the family’s long journey, saying building Steve’s legacy had involved a lot of work and a lot of grief, but also great joy. She then teased Robert about the famous Bonds campaign, joking that Steve had never taken his shirt off for wildlife. The joke worked because the family had learned to mix grief with humor.
But on August 9th, 2026, Robert pushed back hard against a darker pattern in the media. Speaking on the Stellar podcast Something to Talk About, he recalled landing after learning that his beloved childhood chicken, Piggy, had died at 13. Paparazzi photographed him visibly upset. Robert said he was absolutely cut up, but later saw stories suggesting his sadness proved there was a family rift or that Terri had done something wrong.
As he spoke, he became emotional and said, “They always villainize mom for some reason. ” He added, “My pet chicken just died. Cool it, all right? Don’t start creating some sort of family drama.
” Robert also laughed at constant dating speculation, saying that if he walked beside a woman under 30, people acted as though they were engaged. He said his personal life was personal,and he preferred to redirect attention toward conservation, including the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital taking in its 160,000th patient. Ahead of hosting the Logies on August 16th, he asked fans to vote for Julia Morris instead of him. And with the 20th anniversary of Steve’s death approaching, Robert said his father had lived at 100% and taught him that time was fleeting.
It was a powerful statement from a son still carrying grief. Through all the grief, rumors, and pressure, Robert still made one thing clear: whatever headlines appeared, protecting his family mattered more.
