Steve Irwin’s son Robert is competing on season 34 of ‘Dancing with the Stars’

Robert, Steve and Bindi Irwin ; Robert and Bindi Irwin.Credit : MeganSlade/Newspix/Getty; Paul Archuleta/Getty

NEED TO KNOW

Steve and Terri Irwin welcomed two children, Bindi and Robert, before his death in 2006
Bindi and Robert both work in conservation
Robert is competing on season 34 of Dancing with the Stars alongside Witney Carson

Steve Irwin was famous for wrestling crocodiles, but at home, he was a loving dad to his two kids, Bindi and Robert Irwin.

The Australian adventurer rose to fame in 1996 when his show — which featured him and wife Terri Irwin running their wildlife refuge, the Australia Zoo — premiered. Two years later, they welcomed their first child, daughter Bindi. Their family was completed in 2003 with the birth of their son Robert.

“I never wanted to be a father, I couldn’t give a rip,” Steve told Australian Story in 2003. “Now I’m the proudest father, I gotta tell ya.”

Steve tragically died on Sept. 4, 2006, when he was attacked by a stingray while filming in the Batt Reef. He was 44 years old.

Despite losing their father at a young age, Bindi and Robert still think of him constantly and work to keep his memory alive. Robert, Bindi and Bindi’s husband, Chandler Powell, all work at the family’s Australia Zoo and continue his conservation efforts.

“He’d always go, ‘I don’t care if people remember me, I want people to remember my message and what I stand for,’ ” Robert told PEOPLE in September 2025. “And I think people remember his message and him. He just showed what it was to truly live life at 100% and above anything else, he was just the greatest dad, always there for us.”

Here’s everything to know about Steve Irwin’s two kids, Bindi and Robert.

Bindi Irwin, 27

Bindi Irwin.Jamie McCarthy/Getty

Steve and Terri welcomed their first child, Bindi Sue Irwin, on July 24, 1998. From the second she was born, the wildlife show host was head-over-heels.

“I can’t dwell on her for too long or I’ll start bawling my eyes out,” he told Australian Story in 2003. He even liked to bring a photo of her out in the field and would “start crying, just looking at her.”

At the time, Steve gave fans some insight into his parenting philosophy, admitting he “treats her exactly how [he] would want to be treated.”

“If she wants to have chocolate, mum’s not looking, ‘Here, have the whole block,’ ” he joked. “If I’m going jumping on crocs, then, by crikey, I want her jumpin’ on crocs with me.”

Steve, Bindi and Terri Irwin.Newspix/Getty

Those early adventures motivated Bindi to follow in Steve’s footsteps.

“I just love animals. My dad really brought it out in me,” she said during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in January 2007.

In 2008, she did just that with the premiere of her docuseries Bindi the Jungle Girl, which ran for three seasons on Discovery. She’s also starred alongside her mom and brother in Crikey! It’s the Irwins and won season 21 of Dancing With the Stars alongside partner Derek Hough.

Over the years, Bindi has been open about how losing her father at 8 years old gave her ”a lot of separation anxiety.”

“It’s scary when you lose the strongest person in your life,” she shared on a February 2025 episode of the A Life of Greatness podcast. “After losing Dad, I was so worried about losing Mom and Robert … [I] would get so worried if they left a room.”

However, she’s been able to lean on her mom, Terri, for support. “I don’t know how she did that when dad passed away, because the whole world shifted and landed on her shoulders and yet, through it all, she was there for me and Robert — and still is, emotionally and to help us navigate,” she continued.

She’s also relied on Powell, whom she wed at the Australia Zoo in March 2020. Exactly one year later, they welcomed their first child together, a baby girl named Grace Warrior Irwin Powell.

“Her middle names, Warrior Irwin, are a tribute to my dad and his legacy as the most incredible Wildlife Warrior,” Bindi wrote while announcing Grace’s birth.

In her August 2023 PEOPLE cover story, Bindi shared that she underwent surgery for endometriosis, referring to Grace as her and Powell’s “tiny little miracle.”

While speaking with Entertainment Tonight in February 2021, Bindi said she thought Steve would have been the “perfect” grandpa to Grace. Meanwhile, Grace has gotten to know her grandpa “through all of the documentaries,” she shared.

In January 2022, Bindi honored both her father and her daughter with a special new tattoo.

“The words I spoke to our daughter as I held her for the first time in my arms were, ‘My graceful warrior.’ That’s how her name was born,” Bindi shared on Instagram. “This is my dad’s handwriting to keep him with me, always.”

Robert Irwin, 21

Robert Irwin.Brendon Thorne/Getty

The Irwin family was completed on Dec. 1, 2003, when Robert Clarence Irwin was born.

“When Bindi was born and now with Bob, same sensation — this is why I was put here,” Steve said while introducing baby Robert in a BBC Radio 2 throwback video shared on The Scott Mills Breakfast Show in June 2025. “I could be dead tomorrow, so this little bloke’s going to have to catch the crocs with Bindi.”

Robert tenderly remembers mornings with his dad before Steve died in 2006, telling Australian talk show The Project in February 2025, “Every morning … he’d load up Bindi and I on the front of his motorbike and we’d go rip around the Zoo and get ice cream. So I just remember being on the front of the motorbike covered in ice cream just loving life.”

Robert even still has the motorbike. “Every time I start that thing, it brings back so many memories, and I absolutely love it,” he wrote on Instagram in February 2024. “Every time I get on that bike and ride the same route around Australia Zoo that he did, it means so much that this piece of machinery that he loved and used everyday keeps on running.”

Robert, Terri, Steve and Bindi Irwin.Australia Zoo via Getty

Robert works as a wildlife conservationist alongside his mom, sister and her husband at his family’s Australia Zoo.

“It’s in my DNA, and it’s what I’ve been born to do,” Robert told PEOPLE about his conservation efforts in April 2021. “My dad will always be my greatest inspiration and he is first and foremost the reason why I care and the reason why I do what I do — to continue that legacy that he started.”

Just like his dad, he was also born to take risks, it be his internet-breaking Bonds underwear ad in April 2025 or his participation in season 34 of Dancing with the Stars, where he’s dancing alongside pro Witney Carson.

“No desk job for me,” he told PEOPLE in September 2025. “I’d rather play with crocodiles all day. Or be surfing, skydiving, skateboarding, mountain biking, rock climbing … I think it’s the Irwin genetics. I was just born to be wild.”

Robert keeps his dad’s memory in other ways, too, from sweet Instagram tributes to watching his films and visiting his dad’s wax figure at Madame Tussaud’s in Sydney.

“That is amazing,” he said in November 2024 upon seeing the figure. “It’s the first time in a long time that he’s not just a picture.”