Eighteen years have passed since the world lost Steve Irwin. He left behind his wife Terri and their children, Robert and Bindi Irwin.
Since then, his family has continuously paid tribute to Steve’s remarkable influence in conservation and zoology. In an interview, Terri shared her feelings about her late husband and her enduring love for him.
Terri revealed that she has no intentions of dating again, and the reason is deeply touching.
“I totally got my happily ever after,” Terri told US Weekly earlier this year.
“And while there are a lot of wonderful men in the world, can you see another Steve Irwin? I just can’t. I’d be like, ‘I love that you’re a librarian and the Dewey Decimal System is cool, but I got to go jump a crocodile and do that.’ Forget that.
“I had the best marriage in the whole world for 14 years, and I’m very comfortable with the person I see in the mirror.
“So I’m okay to be on my own now. And I’m lonely for Steve, but I’m not a lonely person, so I’m very lucky.”
Terri expressed that if Steve were alive today, he would be ‘very proud’ of what their family has accomplished since his passing.
“He would actually go [and] stare [into the fire],” she said.
“And [one day] he came in and he goes, ‘We have to have children. Who are we going to leave this all to? We have to have children.’ And I go, ‘Just because you have kids, doesn’t mean they’re going to be interested in what you’re doing.’
“And he goes, ‘No, we’re having children and they’re going to love wildlife and conservation.’”
Steve once shared the story of meeting Terri, describing it as love at first sight.
He recounted seeing her among the crowd at the zoo, saying: “I looked up and our eyes met, and my heart just went ‘bang bang bang bang’, it just started thumping. It was love at first sight.”
While Steve admitted his description might sound like it came from a ‘love novel’, he asserted: “It’s true!”
Terri also recounted her first impression of Steve, admitting she was immediately ‘sold’ on him, saying: “I thought, ‘this man is the most incredible guy I’ve ever seen. He’s probably married, he’s got to be taken.'”
However, Steve was not taken, and they married in 1992.