Robert Irwin has become a bona fide celebrity in his own right thanks to his social media presence and his stint on “Dancing with the Stars.” While he’s usually regarded for his lighthearted nature, Irwin recently opened up about the death of his father, beloved wildlife conservationist Steve Irwin, who passed away in September 2006.
Irwin appeared on Anderson Cooper’s “All There Is” podcast. While on the show, he stated that he still speaks to his father and that he feels closest to him “in the middle of nowhere.”
According to the “Dancing with the Stars” winner, “I’ll be hit with this sense of— it’s warmth. It’s like something kind of wraps around me. And I will absolutely sit and just say, ‘How do I go forward?’ You know? How do you move forward?”
Robert Irwin Discusses Letting His Father, Steve, In
Irwin continued the discussion with Cooper about his father. He said, “Sometimes, one of the nicest things is to kind of just let it all go. I let it all sort of pour out, and it feels like I’m kind of letting him in. And sometimes I just sit and just go, ‘What’s next? How do I put one foot in front of the other?'”
He continued, “And there’s no answer, but it almost feels like there’s a resolution that comes out of that.” From there, the DWTS alum revealed that he has moments where he thinks his father is “trying to say something.”
Irwin then told a story about the first time he led a crocodile research expedition in Northern Australia and how he captured the same crocodile that his dad had 20 years earlier.
According to him, “We do the capture, and this bloke put me through it. He’s death rolling, head shaking, couple of really close calls on my behalf.” Irwin stated that he stopped trying to wrangle the animal as it had already been tagged.
GettyHe continued, “While I’m sitting there lying on this crocodile, there’s this very distinct marking in one of his scales, and I just had this little epiphany. It was a crocodile that my dad had caught 20 years ago, and 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.
It 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.’ It felt like that to me.”
He Returned To Reality TV
Following his success on “Dancing With the Stars,” Irwin returned to reality TV. According to PEOPLE, this time, he will be featured on Australia’s version of “I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here.” The show premiered on January 18.
In additon to reality television, Irwin lent his voice to the 2025 hit film “Zootopia 2,” playing Robert Furwin, per IMDB.
