Robert Irwin opened up about how he processes his grief for his late dad, Steve Irwin, almost 20 years after his death.
The 22-year-old conservationist, who was just 2 years old when his dad died due to a stingray atack in September 2006, recently spoke about the “warmth” he feels when he thinks of his father during an interview on the CNN Podcast “All There Is with Anderson Cooper.”
While chatting with host Anderson Cooper, Robert Irwin became emotional as he explained how he still communicates with his father.
“I’m always closest to dad when I’m in the middle of nowhere, you know, when I’m out in the bush,” Robert Irwin said in the March 10 episode. “There are absolutely moments where I’ll be hit with this sense of — it’s warmth, it’s like something kind of wraps around me.”
He said it is during these moments when he takes the time to sit and ask his father questions.
“How do I go forward?” he said he often asks.
Robert Irwin said growing up in the public eye alongside mom Terri Irwin and older sister Bindi Irwin, he has always been asked about his father. He shared that it is important for him to acknowledge his emotions and his grief whenever he thinks about him.
“I let it all sort of pour out and it feels like I’m kind of letting him in,” he explained. “Sometimes I sit and just go, ‘What’s next? How do I put one foot in front of the other?’”
“And there’s no answer, but it almost feels like there’s a resolution that comes out of that,” he added. “It’s like, you need to check in every now and again. There are these checkpoints that I find throughout life where you’re kind of going through the motions and then sometimes something will just hit you, and you need to just step away. You need to download and you need to let loose. You need to go, ‘OK, I need to refocus on what is my grief journey.’”
Although Robert Irwin can’t see or hear his father, he said he feels his presence as he continues his conservation efforts, particularly with crocodiles.
He recalled a recent crocodile research expedition he led in Northern Australia, calling it a “rite of passage.” The goal of the expedition was to find, tag and release crocodiles so that conservationists can track the reptiles and protect them. He shared that his father began the same mission nearly 20 or 25 years ago.
While catching and releasing a 16-foot-long crocodile, Robert Irwin said a member of the team alerted Terri Irwin that the reptile had already been tagged with a tracking device.
When Robert Irwin examined the reptile, he noticed a “very distinct marking in one of his scales.” He then found a photo of his late father with a giant crocodile that had the same pattern.
“The craziest bit is, we managed to use satellite technology to figure it out, and we caught him in the exact same spot that he did on an expedition completely randomly 20 years back,” he told Cooper. “I’m sitting, I’m laying on this croc and I feel his breath on my face. And I’m looking at this guy and he’s looking at me and he’s probably thinking, ‘These bloody Irwins.’”
At that moment, Robert Irwin felt a connection to his dad. “I felt like that was dad being, like, ‘This is your first time leading the team. You’re on the right track. Here’s a little sign.’”
He also has physical items that strengthen his bond with his father, including one that acts as a “conduit to him.”
Robert Irwin explained why wearing his dad’s shirt every Tuesday before “Dancing With the Stars” is his good luck charm.
He remembered as a child always hearing his father’s motorbike because that was how the “Crocodile Hunter” traveled around Australia Zoo. He said he was “confused” when he no longer heard the motor after his father’s death.
“I just looked at it, and I almost had disdain for this inanimate object. Because as a young toddler, that was, like, my conduit to him. That was my connection to him,” he shared.
After the motorbike sat unused in a shed for ages, Robert Irwin woke up one day and decided to fix it. He said restoring the motorbike “repaired a lot of the pieces that were bringing me down, figuratively and literally.”
He eventually got it up and running again and now uses the motorbike to travel around Australia Zoo, just like his dad.
“I ride it every single day,” he said. “When I get that motorbike, I’m like, ‘Hell yeah’”
The wildlife conservationist and his “Dancing with the Stars” pro partner Witney Carson join Access Daily’s Mario Lopez and Kit Hoover to share insight on their intense rehearsals and even show off a few moves.
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