Terri and Steve Irwin had one of the greatest celebrity love stories that is still spoken about to this day.
The pair met in 1991 in Australia and tied the knot the following year, after falling head over heels in a “love at first sight” meeting.
But their love story and life together was cruelly cut short by Crocodile Hunter Steve’s death in September 2006, at age of 44, when he was pierced in the chest by a stingray while filming a documentary in the Great Barrier Reef.
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In the years since losing her “soulmate”, which will be two decades ago next year, Terri, now 60, became a stalwart for their children Bindi and Robert Irwin, who were respectively just eight and two years old at their time of their father’s death.
Terri bravely forged on and threw herself into life as a single mother, carrying on for their children, and making sure to preserve Steve’s legacy for years to come with the running of Australia Zoo.
Here’s how she overcame unthinkable tragedy to become the matriarch of the Irwin family and a powerhouse in the Australian media landscape and the world of animal conservation.
‘I couldn’t fall to pieces’: Terri’s response to tragedy
Terri was on a research trip with their kids when she heard about the death of her husband.
“It was just an accident. And I couldn’t fall to pieces because the children were there,” Terri reportedly said in an interview with American ABC News program 20/20 that aired in 2006, shortly after his death.
”It was an accident so stupid. It was like running with a pencil. It was not a risk he was taking.”
Despite hailing from Oregon, in the United States, Terri remained in Australia with their kids following Steve’s death.
One of the top priorities was ensuring Steve’s legacy continued with the running of Australia Zoo.
“I have to make sure the zoo keeps running. He planned all of that masterfully. He planned this wonderful business so that it could continue if anything happened to him,” Terri reportedly added on 20/20.
In 2007, Bindi scored her own TV show, called Bindi: The Jungle Girl, no doubt under the watchful eye of her mother.
That same year, Terri released a book about her relationship with Steve, called My Steve.
In 2017, the family signed a TV deal with Animal Planet in the US.
Carrying on Steve’s legacy
“Terri, Bindi and Robert’s efforts today honour the greatest Wildlife Warrior that ever lived,” reads the Australia Zoo official website.
“Australia Zoo now encompasses over 700 acres and employs over 500 staff, continuing Steve’s mission of ‘Conservation Through Exciting Education,'” it adds.
Terri is now said to have a networth of $15million.
More recently, Terri, Bindi and Robert celebrated the opening of The Crocodile Hunter Lodge luxury accommodation near the Glass House Mountains, with a focus on sustainability.
Terri is now a doting grandmother, with Bindi, now 26, welcoming daughter Grace Warrior Irwin Powell with her American wakeboarder husband Chandler Powell back in March 2021.
“I love her so very much!” Terri has said about her granddaughter.
Why Steve was ‘it’ for Terri
Despite having been romantically linked to the likes of Russell Crowe over the years by media reports, Terri maintains late love Steve was The One.
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“I keep saying this, and I think maybe 15 years later people are finally starting to believe me, Steve was it for me,” she once reportedly told The Courier Mail.
“I had a big, big love and it was enough to last a lifetime.”
Even now, the Irwins still mark the anniversary of Steve and Terri, with Bindi sharing a snap of her parents on a beach adventure and writing on Instagram: “A love like this is eternal. Happy Anniversary to my extraordinary parents. ❤️”
In September last year, Terri also shared a throwback photo of her and Steve by a lake and wrote: ”Love lives on. ❤️”
Just a week ago, Terri opened up about their marriage and time together in an ”emotional” new interview with US Weekly.
Terri told the publication during the joint interview with her kids: “My life is very full and very rich and every day, I wish Steve was here, but I’m so lucky.”
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She added about their marriage: ”I think the best part [of our marriage] was just the fun and the adventure.
“He was just so passionate and so childlike with his enthusiasm for everything he did.”
How motherhood got her through the hard times
In May last year, Terri spoke about being a single mum in the years following her husband’s shock death.
Robert Irwin recreates poignant childhood photo in dad’s ute
She said how their children Bindi and Robert gave her the “purpose, courage, and happiness” to carry on.
In a sweet Instagram post to acknowledge Mother’s Day, Terri said: “Being a mum is the best part of my life.”
“When Steve passed, it was not a burden being a single mum, it was actually my children that gave me purpose, courage, and happiness every day.
“Bindi and Robert are the reason I can stand strong, meet every challenge, and embrace every adventure.”
She finished: “As a mother, I am truly blessed.”
And her children also feel the same way.
In May 2022, as she marked Mother’s Day, Bindi paid tribute to her mother, calling Terri the “strongest, most loving and caring woman in the world”.
“Mum, I love you more than I can possibly describe. I am forever in awe of the remarkable person you are. Thank you for being my best friend from the moment I can remember ❤️,” Bindi wrote.
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