Bindi Irwin was just an 8-year-old child when her father, wildlife conservationist Steve Irwin, tragically passed away in 2006 at age 44 from an incident involving a stingray.
Now, she’s opening up about how she handled the loss at such a young age.
The 20-year-old said that at the time of his passing, she received some words of wisdom that turned out not to be true.
But that was something she had to learn on her own, Bindi told People:
“I remember people coming up to me and sayingI’m sorry for your loss, sweetheart. Time heals all wounds.’ But that’s just not true. It’s like losing a part of your heart, and when you’ve lost that, you never get it back.”
As Dearly previously reported, Bindi is doing her best to follow in her father’s footsteps, along with her brother, 14-year-old Robert.
The siblings and their mother, Terri, are starring on a new television series, “Crikey! It’s the Irwins!” The show follows their life running the Australia Zoo together.
Bindi announced the show in September on her Instagram. She wrote:
We can’t wait to share our story with you as we continue Dad’s important work. This feels like a beautiful new life chapter. I hope to see you there.
Though her father isn’t here to see them, Bindi said she hopes he would be happy to know his kids are continuing his line of work. She told People:
“I sure hope dad would be proud. We really do try every day to make him proud and follow in his footsteps. I hope that somewhere he’s out there goingYes! You did good!’”
Bindi said that running the Australia Zoo is her family’s “passion” and they’ll continue to honor their dad’s legacy as long as they can.
You can watch their new show, “Crikey! It’s the Irwins!,” on Animal Planet.