{"id":142463,"date":"2025-09-14T11:32:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T11:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/142463\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T11:32:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T11:32:14","slug":"robert-irwin-opens-up-on-dad-steve-irwins-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/142463\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Irwin opens up on dad Steve Irwin’s loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Robert Irwin<\/a> has opened up about his late father \ufeffSteve Irwin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In an interview with People<\/a>, the 21-year-old<\/a> said his father’s memory burns bright with every mention of him.\ufeff<\/p>\n

“I feel as though I get a little part of him back in some way, in every conversation I have about him, or any new story I hear about him, or in any new photo that I haven’t seen before,” Robert said.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Prince Laurent of Belgium pictured with secret ‘love child’ for the first time\ufeff<\/a><\/p>\n

Steve Irwin poses with his Robert at Australia Zoo in 2006. (Getty)<\/p>\n

The young zookeeper\ufeff says he is lucky in that there is a lot of footage of his dad \u2013 who died in 2006 after being stung by a stingray while filming a documentary \u2013 that remains from his many TV shows, most famously The Crocodile Hunter (1997-2004).<\/p>\n

“And all of a sudden, his memory just starts flooding back,” he said. <\/p>\n

“So it’s weird that decades later, after losing someone when I was two years old, I almost have an even greater picture of the person he was.”<\/p>\n

Despite losing his dad at such a young age, Robert said that as he grows older, he feels even closer to his father.\ufeff<\/p>\n

READ MORE: History shows that Harry’s children could fix the royal rift\ufeff<\/a><\/p>\n

\"RobertThe young zookeeper spoke about his dad’s memory (Getty)<\/p>\n

“As I start to reach the same sort of milestones that he did as a young bloke growing up, I, yeah, I feel closer to him in a way,” adding that his father’s memory feels “omnipresent”.<\/p>\n

“I think losing someone as important as him at such a young age solidified the idea that life is fragile,” he reflected.<\/p>\n

“We don’t know what tomorrow holds, so you have to take calculated risks, you have to have fun, enjoy what you’re doing, and give everything 100 percent.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: ‘My little brother keeps borrowing money from me’\ufeff<\/a><\/p>\n

\"bindiRobert lost his dad at age two. (Getty)<\/p>\n

“He is always in some way guiding me.”<\/p>\n

The TV personality will also be taking after his sister Bindi Irwin, competing in the US version of Dancing With The Stars.<\/p>\n

Bi\ufeffndi won the TV dance competition ten years ago, with Robert being inspired after seeing her at every live taping.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of 9honey, subscribe to our newsletter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Steve<\/a><\/p>\n

Robert Irwin recreates poignant childhood photo in dad’s ute<\/p>\n

Now he will be pairing up with dancer Witney Carson, 34 \u2013 but not before he makes sure she knows her stuff when it comes to Australia.<\/p>\n

R\ufeffobert quizzed his Dancing With The Stars partner on Aussie slang in a “ripper” video posted to social media.<\/p>\n

They \ufeffsat side by side in the video as Irwin asked her to define common slang words like arvo, dunny, fairdinkum and more.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: The dietitian-recommended ‘superfood’ hiding in the supermarket fridge aisle\ufeff<\/a><\/p>\n

\"R\ufeffobertR\ufeffobert Irwin has quizzed his Dancing With The Stars partner Witney Carson on Aussie slang in a “ripper” video posted to social media (Instagram)<\/p>\n

“Gday, it’s Robert and Witney, we have been doing rehearsals for about a week. You would know I have a lot of Australian slang that I come out with,” \ufeffR\ufeffobert started the video saying.\ufeff<\/p>\n

“I thought today I would test your knowledge.”\ufeff<\/p>\n

When R\ufeffobert asked her to define ‘arvo’, \ufeffCarson guessed it meant something was “cool”, before the first-time Aussie dancer explained it actually means afternoon.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: The most memorable looks in the history of the Emmys red carpet\ufeff<\/a><\/p>\n

“Could you put it in a sentence, please?” Carson asked, “no, that’s cheating,” Irwin replied.<\/p>\n

Carson then said she thought ‘dunny’ meant you were “done” with a situation, before Irwin explained the much grosser meaning. \ufeff<\/p>\n

“No, it’s the toilet,” R\ufeffobert said.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Medical disaster brought industry legend’s singing career to a screeching halt<\/a><\/p>\n

\"RobertRobert Irwin and Witney Carson will be starring on Dancing With the Stars US. (Disney\/Andrew Eccles via Instagram\/@witneycarson)<\/p>\n

Next up was fair dinkum, to which Carson got correct, saying it means something is true.<\/p>\n

\ufeffThe junior crocodile hunter then asked his dance partner what “chuck a Uey” means<\/p>\n

“What the crap,” Carson says as she starts laughing.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Sharon Osbourne breaks silence on Ozzy Osbourne’s death after two months\ufeff<\/a><\/p>\n

\"NEWRobert was inspired by his sister Bindi Irwin. (Getty Images for Endometriosis F)<\/p>\n

“This is a hard one, I’ll put this in a sentence,” R\ufeffobert replied.<\/p>\n

“I’m thinking throw a uey, throw a frisbee?” Carson asks.<\/p>\n

R\ufeffobert laughed and then explained it means making a U-turn when driving. \ufeff<\/p>\n

She also got ‘ripper’ and ‘true blue’ correct, but didn’t know what “cactus” \u2013 the slang term for saying something is broken, meant.<\/p>\n

FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE<\/a>: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Robert Irwin has opened up about his late father \ufeffSteve Irwin. In an interview with People, the 21-year-old…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-142463","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}