Bindi Irwin Shares Heartbreaking Wish for Father Steve Irwin on Death Anniversary

 Crikey! It’s the Irwins star Bindi Irwin commemorated her late father, Steve Irwin, on the 15th anniversary of his death with a heartfelt post on Instagram. Irwin welcomed her first daughter, Grace Warrior, with her husband Chandler Powell earlier this year, and she shared that she wished that her father could have gotten the chance to be a grandfather. “This sweetheart has been watching her ‘Grandpa Crocodile’ on the projector at our camp here on the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve,” Irwin wrote on Instagram. “She lights up when she sees him on screen. I wish with all my heart that Dad could hug my beautiful girl. It’s been 15 years since he passed away. I hold on to the thought that he’s her guardian angel now, watching over the most special part of my life, Grace Warrior.”

Irwin shared an adorable snap of little Grace Warrior in a tiny Australia Zoo uniform as well as a photo of herself with Steve when she was a little girl. Her mother Terri Irwin also posted about her late husband on Twitter, remembering his singular vision and passion for protecting wildlife alongside a photo of him holding a crocodile. “Today is a special day to remember Steve’s mission and message,” she wrote. “He was determined to inspire us to be Wildlife Warriors, protecting wildlife & wild places. We can honour his legacy by remembering that every animal is precious…even the ones with big teeth!”

Irwin has spoken about how she wishes her dad could have met Grace Warrior in the past. During the hour-long Discovery+ special Crikey! It’s a Baby, fans saw Irwin getting emotional thinking about her dad and what she’s missing out on now that she’s a mother. “It’s hard knowing that she’ll never get to actually meet him and it’s devastating because I’ll never get to watch their connection. But, I can not wait to be able to tell beautiful Grace all of these stories about dad, to be able to share with her what an amazing father he was,” she tearily explained. “It’s going to be…it’s going to be really special…It’s going to be really special for her to know him through us, to tell her about what an amazing man he was.”

“It is really hard. It’s hard that he’s not here because out of everyone in the world, gosh, he would have loved her the most,” Irwin concluded. “He would have loved her so much. But I think in a way he is still with us. And his heart and soul lives on in all of us and, so yeah, he’s never really gone.”

Irwin told Entertainment Tonight in February that she thinks that her father would have been a great, if adventurous, grandpa. “He would’ve been a good, good grandpa,” she said. “Yeah, he really would’ve been. I don’t think we would’ve ever seen our daughter! He would’ve just whisked her away into the zoo and it would’ve been perfect.”