January 14, 2026 • 63 mins
For some parents, our teenage years felt like wrangling a wild animal. But for conservationist Terri Irwin, that's just job training.
Terri tells Danielle the story of how she went from rescuing creatures with her truck driver dad to becoming the matriarch of the First Family of Animal Conservation. Plus, she reveals that even crocodile wranglers had embarrassing teenage moments and shares her secret to raising TWO Mirrorball champions.
And what tiny detail ALMOST kept Terri from meeting Steve Irwin?
It's time to sit with a legend, this week on Teen Beat with Danielle Fishel!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:22):
That's okay, becaus no one here is Hello. Hello, Hello,
and welcome to the newest episode of teen Beat. I
am your adult host Danielle Fischel, podcaster, TV director, recent
ballroom competitor, mom of two, and a former child actor
(00:43):
who spent all of her teenage years in front of
cameras and a live studio audience as Topanga Lawrence on
the nineties TV show Boy Meets World. From my first
kiss to my first haircut. You saw it all every
Friday night on your local ABIES affiliate, and now, more
than thirty years later, it's time I turn the tables.
(01:06):
Every week, I'm sitting with a celebrity, someone who has
made their wildest dreams come true, hoping I can now
expose their childhoods to the world in an almost tip
for tat situation, assuming it will give us a glimpse
into the person they are today. Since their first pimple
wasn't also broadcast as part of a TGIF block of programming,
(01:28):
the least they can do is share it with me. Now,
I gave you my childhood, it's time we hear yours.
And on this episode, as a teenager who spent most
of her free time shopping at the mall, carrying a
vanilla I splendid extra vanilla and complaining about boys. I'm
ready to finally walk a little on the wilder side.
(01:50):
My guest was raised in Eugene, Oregon, the youngest of
three daughters in a family that was concerned about the
environment at a time when most people figured that was
as Captain Planet's job. Her father owned a trucking company,
bringing home wild animals he would find injured on the
highway in order to nurse them back to health, and
(02:11):
from that moment on, she'd dedicate her life to conservatism
and preserving all forms of wildlife, eventually becoming one of
the world's most beloved zookeepers. Her interests and related travels
would bring her to Australia at the age of twenty seven.
Her interests in related travels would bring her to Australia
at the age of twenty seven, where she would meet
(02:32):
her future husband, Steve Irwin, in a chance encounter at
a wildlife rehabilitation center you know where we all hang
out on vacations. They would marry eight months later, film
their first documentary during their honeymoon, and the rest is history.
They'd have two children, Bindi and Robert, before Steve's death
(02:52):
from an injury sustained while filming their wildly popular TV
series The Crocodile Hunter. Overnight, she would become a single
mother and single zoo keeper, taking over every aspect of
the family business, the Australia Zoo in bear Walk, Queensland,
making sure her husband's legacy continued well beyond not only
(03:13):
his life, but for generations to come. Today I will
talk to her not only about her own backstory, but
also how she navigated the teenage years of her own children,
two absolute gems who have now individually captured the hearts
of both Australia and the United States, reminding the world
not only of her mission statement on conservatism, but also
(03:36):
just pure kindness. To say she is impressive is a
gross understatement, But I know, deep down, somewhere inside there
might just be an awkward teenager. Let's find out with
my teen beat guest this week, the Pride of Australia,
Missus Terry Irwin. Terry, thank you so much for talking
(03:58):
to me. I really don't think there is a single
human being in the world that wouldn't jump at the
opportunity to learn more. About you. So I consider myself
to be very lucky.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Well that's very kind because I was thinking, who wouldn't
jump at the opportunity to have a chat with you?
Because this is really special. So thank you very much
for thinking of me.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Really, of course, you were truly one of the very
first people I thought of, especially after getting to know
your family just the tiniest bit during Dancing with the Stars,
I thought to myself, Wow, that is a woman who
should be studied. That's somebody who has a perspective to
share that everyone can benefit from. So I would like
(04:43):
to start by talking about your dad a little bit,
and yeah, yes, and your life in Oregon. So he
owned a trucking company, right, and he would bring home
wounded animals that he would encounter on the highway for rehabilitation.
Can you describe what this like makeshift VET scenario looked
(05:05):
like at your home where you would rehab these animals?
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Sure? Thing, Now, I was very lucky to have such
terrific parents, and my dad was just amazing because you know,
he's the guy who grew up in the Depression, was
in World War Two, was a motorcycle cop and then
finally landed driving heavy haul truck, so he would drive
all over the place and then come home with little
(05:32):
animals that may need help. But he was also very
good at building things, and he really gave me these
gifts with how to approach life, to treat other living beings,
and I felt very lucky to have that upbringing. So
I can remember one time in particular, he brought home
(05:55):
these mcganzer ducks, and just for starters, I had no
idea what a mcganzer duck was, and I'm like seven
years old.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
I also don't know what a mcganzer duck is.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Yes, so this duck comes in these ducklings, right, because
the mama was hit by a car. So he brings
the ducklings and they have a thin bill with kind
of serrated edges, so they're not like platypus bill. They're
like like little knives, yeah, little knives. Yeah yeah yeah
(06:27):
yeah yeah. So we're like, this is confusing. This is
a duck, but it's not interested in grain or anything.
What do we do? So when I was seven, the
way we googled was called the Encyclopedia Britannic.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
So love a good encyclopedia, set, Love a good Encyclopedia
set yes.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
So we were looking up what on earth is this
and discovered that Mcganser ducks who are really cute when
they grow up. They have this real cool haircut and
they're just darling little things. But they eat things like
little minnows and worms and insects. And so my dad
put something together for these ducks with a kid's wading pool,
(07:11):
and we would go down to the creek and we
would catch minnows, hundreds of minnows, and then we would
go out at night, and he taught me to take
a flashlight and put red cellophane on it, because when
the night crawlers came out of the ground at night
and you shone a light on them, the little worms
(07:33):
would disappear back into the earth, but the red light
they didn't see, so that you could pick up the
earth worms to feed the ducks. And the ducks were
so tiny that they would eat a worm and the
worm would like move them because they were little and
the worm was big. But I learned how to catch
(07:53):
night crawlers, how to feed these ducklings, and took care
of them until they were big enough to fly, which
was really special.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
It strikes me hearing you tell that story that it
seems like a lot of the most influential men in
your life have had such a wonderful mix of strong
masculinity mixed with a lot of that other like divine
feminine side. That's that's very empathetic and caring for animals.
(08:26):
Like what what wonderful representation for a man you know
to have both?
Speaker 2 (08:32):
I agree, I agree, And what great lessons to learn,
like I can remember. Of course, I wanted to keep
them forever and ever. And he said to me, he said,
look at your bedroom. You have everything you need in here.
You have toys, you have a window with a view.
He said, imagine if I brought you your food in
(08:52):
your room, but you never got to leave your room.
And I was like, hmmm, I'd get pretty bored. So
he said, that's why you have to totally let stuff go.
So I went, oh, I get it. Even though they're
happy and healthy, they want to fly and do their
own things. Yeah, very good at explaining things to me
(09:12):
as well. But I always appreciated that. And I found
his kindness a strength, you know, being willing to stop
and help and fix the problem and come to the
end solution and let them go. So it was really
really special. But you're right. I've always admired men who
(09:34):
are so secure in their masculinity that they can raise
everyone up. They're not like I have to be the
top dog and be all tough. I want to raise
you up and have you succeed and do well and
do what you love.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
I love that. What were you like in high school?
Tell me about teenage, Terry. I like to think about
you just walk around nursing squirrels and rabbits in the halls.
But I suspect you and I may not have been
so different in high school. What were you like?
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Well, I see, I think we may have been different, Okay,
because I imagine you as the cool kid and I
was kind of kind of not quite as cool.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Ok I beg to differ. I imagine that people just didn't
recognize your cool.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
That's okay.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
I was the mysterious, veiled cool kid.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
But yeah, I was really passionate about working. So from
the time I was a tiny tot, I loved to work.
And whether I had a lemonade stand or I was
picking beans. Robert always loves my picking bean story, and Bendy,
you'll say don't ask her her picking bean story, because
(10:58):
I picked beans all summer and may fifty dollars. And now,
in the real world, who would work three months for
fifty dollars? I mean, come on, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Wait, what what kind of pick Who were you picking
beans for?
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Well, there's you know, it's just a farm that had
string beans and you could be gainfully employed to pick
beans and then save a weigh them at the end
of the day, and then you got however much per pound,
and then they would sell the beans. So they had
a lot of I think the child labors the wrong word.
(11:34):
That they had a lot of young people that picked.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
They had a lot of young people who were eager
and didn't know that maybe they were being slightly taken
advantage of.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
So by high school I had this kind of work ethic,
and I started working in the family business around that time,
and so I was working. We had business that it
was primarily a pilot car company, and pilot cars are
(12:06):
the ones that go in front of and behind of
great big loads on a truck, whether it's logging equipment
or a giant boat or whatever. The truck needs help
getting through traffic because it's too big yes, So you'd
drive a car and help them through traffic, and we'd also,
you know, do the lollipop girl thing, directing traffic on
(12:30):
the road for road construction or a rec scene. If
there was a truck that had an accident, you'd be
out there directing traffic. So my high school experience was
doing school but then also working in the family business.
So I felt pretty lucky. And it was also a
(12:52):
transition point because I went to school with the same
kids from kindergarten through ninth grade, but then going into
high school in tenth grade, everything was new because the
school I went to didn't have ten, eleven, twelve grades,
so was new friends and all that as well.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Yeah, did you date in high school? Did you ever
go to a school dance?
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Yes? Well it was a funny thing because my parents
had a couple of rules. Okay, so when it was
like depression era, that was about all your entertainment. People
would have like a square dance in the barn or
everyone would get together and dancing was free. So when
(13:40):
everyone would get together and dance, if someone was dancing
with someone else and there was a little bit of conflict,
Oh my gosh, Henry was dancing with Lola and Lola's
married to Bert. You know, it was scandalous. So my
parents said, you know, nothing good comes from this. So
(14:03):
there was like no dancing, So no dancing, no dancing.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
You had like a Kevin Bacon upbringing, like no dancing,
dancing was it was, yeah, okay, that's very interesting. I
mean I understand, I understand the perspective where I understand. Yeah,
they had seen a lot of scandal come from dancing
and intermingling, and they decided we don't want to bring
the scandal into our family.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yeah, so I respected that because instead of just saying no,
it was like, here's the reason. And the other thing
I wasn't allowed to do is go to drive in movies.
So I've been to drive in movies obviously, but when
I was in my you know, teens, like fifteen sixteen,
it was like, no doube. And now I would give
(14:51):
anything to find a good drive in theater because the
nostalgia is so wonderful. But yeah, other than that, it
was you know, pretty much having friends and getting together
during the summer and doing school work together. And I
felt very blessed because I had kind of across the
(15:12):
board friends, So I didn't just hang out with the
cool girls or the sporty guys or the nerdy science club.
I was really privileged to be friends pretty much with everybody,
So I was really lucky.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
I love that. That's actually very much how I feel
about my friend groups. From the time I was very
young in elementary school, junior high, and high school, there
was no one. There was like no particular group of
people where I didn't have at least one friend in
that group, where there wasn't somebody I could say like, Hi,
how are you and knew about them, And I really
(15:47):
have pretty much always gotten along with just about everybody.
I find everybody fascinating in some way. Even if I
can't relate to someone in particular for whatever their interests are,
I find their story fascinating. And I think that is
always the good foundation for curiosity, is always a good
foundation for friendship.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
I think that's a really great way to put it.
And I think you kind of miss out if you're
in this little clan and just keeping to these few people.
You miss out on a lot of wonderful people. But
you know, I can feel that from you being that
inclusive and easy going, and I really respect that, and that's,
(16:27):
you know, kind of what I want to emulate is
being that kind of person where you know, you're approachable
and easy to get along with. So whether people were
having a great day and we're having fun, or someone
was having some kind of problem and wanted to talk
about it, it was really nice to be able to
just really communicate with everybody, which was great.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
It sounds like you've had many jobs. You mentioned a
lemonade stand, you picked beans, you worked for the family
trucking company. Did you always know deep down that what
you really wanted to do was work with animals? Did
you have a plan? B?
Speaker 2 (17:14):
The wildlife work was kind of a thread through everything
that I did, and the family business was something that
I aspired to. And you know, a lot of kids
will be like, I want to be like my parent.
So my mom was a stay at home mom, but
my dad had all these different jobs. So I was like,
maybe I'll join the navy, maybe I'll be a cop.
(17:35):
And he said to me, I really don't want you
riding motorcycles on the road because it's just so dangerousous. Yeah,
And that was ironic because driving pilot car is tremendously dangerous,
but I respected, you know that he said that, and
just really wanted to buckle down and work in the
(17:57):
family business, but also had that passion with working with
wildlife and that kind of connection. It made me feel
more complete. I felt very empathetic towards these animals, and
it made me more empathetic to people as well. And
I know when I was fourteen, I volunteered at a
(18:18):
rest home, working with older people. When rest homes were
stereotypical rest homes, so they weren't terribly awesome places and
kind of sad, and I found just that spirit of
wanting to kind of lift people up. But I remember
meeting this one man. I don't remember his name, I'm
(18:40):
so sorry, but he had like thick white hair in
a crew cut, and he was one hundred and three
years old. And what took me aback by him were
his eyes. So he had these piercing blue, beautiful eyes,
and I was like, oh my god, there's like a
(19:02):
twenty something year old man in there, like you could.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
See see the child in.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Him in the old guy suit. You know, Yes, yes,
was so entertaining and interesting and fun. But when I
look back on it, I was fourteen and nineteen seventy eight,
so he was one hundred and three, which would mean
he was born in eighteen seventy five. Oh, that wild
(19:28):
to think about.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Gosh, so that's wild.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
That was the kind of respect and appreciation I had
for these people because it was like meeting history. So yeah,
that connection with people, I loved. The connection with wildlife
kind of drew through to that, and then I loved work, love,
love love.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Oh man, you have been a workhorse your entire life.
And it's funny you mentioned that your dad told you
he didn't want you driving motorcycles or riding motorcycles on
the road because it's dangerous, and then you said the
pilot car thing being so dangerous. When you were talking
about the pilot car and even being the lollipop girls
on the road, yes, yes, seem like two of the
(20:10):
most dangerous jobs one can have.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
I felt lucky, I know, when I turned eighteen, because
then I could drive at work. And one of my
first jobs was taking a truck from Eugene, Oregon to
Los Angeles. And it's a sixteen hour drive, but it's
longer than that with a truck, right, Yeah, of course
his dad said, Okay, here's your deal. And I remember thinking,
(20:38):
I don't know if I can do this because I've
just turned eighteen. But my dad thinks I can do it,
so I must be able to do it. So I
always appreciated that he just believed I could do stuff.
So I took off on that trip. And keep in mind,
you know, no cell phones. If you wanted to call,
it was a payphone. And it was a huge trip,
(21:01):
and I was back in about five days I think
it was. I was home and everything went great. But
you're absolutely right. I mean, being on the road all
the time is tricky and has its own risks. But
I felt that really set me up for life to
have someone saying I believe you can do this.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Yes, yes, so wonderful. So when do you create Cougar Country?
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Cougar Country? Yes, intriguing? How the old cougar has so
many meanings?
Speaker 1 (21:37):
I know, Yes, why don't you tell us about Cougar Country?
Speaker 2 (21:44):
I thought that was important to do because when I
turned when I turned eighteen, I had the opportunity to
get I had enough money saved to get a sports
car or put it down payment on a house, and
so I in talking to my dad, I went ahead
(22:05):
and put a down payment on a house. And back
then when you went to get a house, it's probably
still the same. I don't know, but you go to
get a house and the bank says, all right, miss Terry,
is your husband or dad with you?
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Right?
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (22:22):
So I needed my dad to help me because the
bank was like, you're a young woman, and that's treaty.
So he helped me by co signing on the bank
loan and I put the money down and got the house.
So now I have the house. And then I took
over the family business when I was twenty, So now
I have a career, right, got the house, got the career.
(22:44):
Then when I was about I was about Robert's age,
I was about twenty one twenty two. I was going
through the paper because again that was scrolling.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Yes, that's how we scrolled.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
And I was looking through the pets section and they
had like exotic pets in the paper, and I saw
that there was a cougar for sale, and I thought,
how can you sell a cougar? This is really weird.
So I went to investigate and it was up near Portland,
so it was a couple hours drive, and this guy
had kind of a farm and he had the wildest things,
(23:24):
like he had capuchin monkeys and black bears and cougars
and all the spars. Yeah, for sale. So I'm talking
to him about it, and he said that he got
cougar cubs from a movie that was called Benji the
(23:45):
Hunted I believe is what it was called. And Benji's
this little dog that goes on adventures, and there was
a cougar with cubs, and I hope I'm remembering this correctly.
Something happened, I think, to the mother and the cubs
that they got separated. So Benji the dog was going
to get the family back together.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
So as the movie filmed, the baby cougars got bigger,
so they kept replacing them with.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
New baby things. Side right.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
So then after the movie was over, they have all
these young cougars and they put them into the pet trade.
So this guy buys them and then he was selling
this cougar cub for thirteen hundred dollars. So I look
at it and it's got it's in a little pen
and the furs rubbed off its forehead, and it's got
(24:35):
big joints like the beginnings of rickets, and it's not happy.
So it was just sitting there quietly, and I thought,
thirteen hundred dollars is about all the money I've got.
So I called the United States Department of Agriculture and
reported what was going on. And I remember I talked
to doctor Overton, who said, to me, my jurisdiction is
(24:57):
the ninety six thousand square miles of Ora plus northern California.
So he said, the reality is by the time I
check on this guy to see if he's doing the
right thing, it'll probably be six months. And I said,
in six months, this cougar's gonna be dead. Like no
one takes it, It'll be dead. So I learned all
(25:19):
about what I needed to do. I worked on my
backyard to have everything to code to take on a cougar.
I brought the cougar cub home. I paid for it,
I got it home, and it's just the sweetest little
thing you could possibly imagine, right, just lovey, snugly, yummy,
sweet thing. Until it started feeling better. And then this
(25:44):
little cougar cub named Molina tried really hard to learn
hunting skills on me. So she would sneak up on
me and pounce and all these hilarious things. So well,
the great big area in my backyard became where she lived,
and then i'd bring her into the house or go
(26:06):
out with her, and in pretty short order, I was thinking,
I have to justify having a cougar, because this is nuts.
And so I worked with a woman who did educational
work with cats, so she would go into schools and
teach kids about cheetahs or serviles or all these different animals.
(26:28):
And she taught me how to work with Molina so
that I could take her into these environments safely and
teach kids about wildlife. So then I began finding out
wild animals were needing help, and that was a much
better gig because I could take them in and let
(26:49):
them go. So my special sauce seemed to be predatory mammals,
so I started doing that rescue work, and I'd take
in about three hundred animals a year. I had about
one hundred volunteers who worked with me to help raise
things and take care of things and work with me.
And because again I had a career, I could afford it,
(27:14):
so I was able to help people pay for the
care of these animals and let them go. Again, so
I have my cougar to teach people. I have this
hobby of helping wildlife, and Cougar Country was born, so
it was any of the animals in Cougar Country, but
I primarily worked with predatory mammals, so that's Cougar's bears, bobcats, raccoons, foxes,
(27:38):
those kind of animals.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Oh my goodness, how big was your backyard?
Speaker 2 (27:45):
It was big. I had to have two car garage
and I only had one car, so I decked out
part of that for animals, like critical care, and then
I had areas throughout my My yard was just like
like doctor Doolittle's yard, you know. So I'd have areas
for different animals, and as they got well, I'd let
(28:07):
them go. And it was just such a passion for me.
And I remember one day I got a knock on
the door and it was Jehovah's Witness and they said
to me, can we talk to you about Jehovah? And
I was raised Christians, so I could verse to verse them.
I was like, yes, I know the Bible back to front, baby,
(28:30):
but you want to come here in, I'll get you
a cup of tea and maybe you can help me
clean out animal enclosures and feed baby animals, and they
were like sure, so they would help me, and sometimes
they'd come see me and it would be pouring rain,
and pretty soon they stopped coming. So I thought, I'm
the one that the Jehovah's witnesses eventually shut the door on,
(28:54):
which I thought was pretty honey, Like, no, lady, you're
too much.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
You know, we're we're good. We're not going back there.
Thanks for having us. We're good. Wow, that's a great story.
Thank you for sharing that with me.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
It was pretty funny.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
What did you do to relax? Did you ever relax?
It seems to me like you're not much of the
relaxing type. But most people who have a thriving career
and many hobbies and stay as busy as you have
your entire life, feel the need to blow off some steam,
take a vacation. Where does Terry Irwin vacation? What do
(29:47):
you do to relax?
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Well, what I used to love to do from the
age of about nineteen is I was able to save
enough money to be able to go to Florida a year.
So in that construction related business, January is very slow.
Not much road construction's going on all the trucking industry
(30:12):
slows down and I could slip away for a week
or so. So I would always go to Florida, and
I loved the wildlife there, So you know, whether I
was in Key West or the Tortugas, or you know,
Miami or Silver Springs with the manatees, it was just
(30:35):
a wonderland and so different than Oregon because it's always warm.
It's just a different climate. So for me, it was
so very special to be able to afford to do
that every year, and I just enjoyed going. And then
the irony as my life went forward was that my
(30:59):
life would be so involved with wildlife and working seven
days a week and my daughter marrying someone from Florida, Like,
it's just so bizarre how it seemed like my whole
young life was leading me towards what my whole life
(31:20):
was gonna be yes, and it was allowing that to happen.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Well, then this is a perfect segue into the most beautiful,
fateful trip in nineteen ninety one when you go to
Australia and you find yourself at Steve Irwin's Family Wildlife
Park and you see him and his crocodile demonstration as
a woman who has Cougar Country going on back home
(31:47):
and doctor Doolittle's backyard. Is this like the minute you
see him? Is this just like a dream come true?
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Well it almost wasn't, is what's amazing. Guy was over
there with friends and we had gone to a barbecue
near where Steve's Wildlife Park was, and we'd had a
late night the night before, and I was really tired.
So while we're driving back to Brisbane, I was kind
of dozing in the back seat and the person driving
(32:19):
the car said, there's like a little wildlife park here.
Do you want to see it? And I go, you know,
sometimes those little wildlife parks are just really depressing. I
don't know if I want to see a bunch of
sad snakes and jars and I don't know. And he's like, oh,
that's cool. I just thought i'd check because I knew
you liked wildlife. And then I go, you know, I'm
(32:40):
never going to be here again, so I'll just duck
in and have a look. So he pulls over abruptly
because we were almost past it, and I paid my
six dollars and went in and it was very small,
like two acres, but very clean, and the kangaroos were
just wandering around, which was pretty new to me because
(33:03):
in America, any zoological facility, everything is enclosed, safely enclosed.
And so there's kangaroos and there's beautiful birds, and the
snakes all looked happy in nice areas. But it was
pretty tiny. And there was a guy doing a demonstration
(33:23):
with crocodile, so I went to watch and it was awesome,
and he said, at twelve o'clock, I'm doing another demonstration
in the environmental Park and it's another six dollars, but
it's an hour long thing, and I thought, I'm a
cashed up tourist, so I paid my extra six dollars
(33:44):
and there were probably twelve of us who ended up
going in to see this next demonstration. And the environmental
park is all these different crocodiles, little ones, alligators, freshwater crocodiles,
and the big salties and he's telling us about everything
and how if a crocodile's in danger of being shot
(34:04):
for coming close to people, he would go out and
rescue them and move them to another river system or
bring them back to his Queensland reptile and faun apart.
And I was like Wow, that's really incredible. So he's
explaining that with the smaller crocodiles, maybe seven foot or smaller,
(34:25):
he would go out at night with his boat and
he'd idle the boat in the dark, and he'd have
a spotlight and then he'd pick up the red eyeshine
of the crocodile. And as he idled in on it,
then it was living near a boat ramp. He knew
he had to move it, so he'd get close. He'd
slow down the boat and start drifting, and then as
he got close enough, he'd drop the spotlight and spear
(34:48):
into the water, grab the croc around the base of
the neck, go down to the bottom of the river,
tuck its tail between his legs, shoot up from the bottom,
flick into the boat, slip into the boat, and then
he'd have the crocodile. And I was thinking, who on
earth is this man? Exactly because he was telling the
(35:12):
story the way I would tell. And then I was
at the grocery store and I saw a sail on bread.
You know, did you hear what you just said, sir?
You know? And he was so passionate about wildlife. But
the other thing that impressed me was that old saying
where when you walk into the bar, you don't have
(35:34):
to ask who the tiger keeper is. He's gonna tell you.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
He wasn't like that at all. It wasn't about him
look how cool I am. It was about his deep
love and respect for these animals. He said, they're beautiful mothers,
They're affectionate to each other, They're just amazing. So I thought,
I'm gonna say hi to this guy. And I think
that's about all I said was high. And he said
(36:03):
where are you from? And I go Oregon? And he
said what's your favorite animal? And I said my favorite
animal is a cougar? And he said why? And I
thought no one ever asked me why. They just go, oh,
a cougar, that's coolah, And I go, well, I think
it's because a cougar can kill something bigger than themselves
(36:27):
just with their mouth. And he looked at me all
dreamy and he said.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
That's why I love crocodiles.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
It was so cute. What I was like, boom, look
what we've got in common. Things that kill with their teeth.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
Wow, we both love predatory animals who can kill with
their mouths. I do want you to know This story
seems very much like you should write the script for
a Hallmark movie. It has all the makings of a
very cute meet cute with a little bit of, you know,
a little bit of predatory animal behavior in there, which
(37:08):
is just adorable. So what happens like you make this
connection for both of you? He looked at you all dreamy.
You're like, oh my gosh, we have so much in common.
Do you just cancel your flight home? What do you
do when you fall in love with a crocodile hunter abroad?
Speaker 2 (37:25):
Yeah? That was wild. We ended up talking all afternoons.
So this this demonstration was over about one o'clock and
the park closed at four. And at four o'clock I
could hear my friends honking the hole.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Get out of there.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
I know, but you know, sometimes when you meet someone
in your kind of hubba hubba With Steve, I wanted
to build a campfire and hear stories right Like. It
wasn't like, WHOA, I love this incredibly sexy man. It
was I really like this guy. I don't know if
(38:03):
that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
But I totally understand level yes.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
And I just want to talk to him forever. It
was so amazing and so I he. We exchanged phone
numbers and he goes, you know, if you're ever here again,
let me know, and I thought, sure, next time i'm
in Australia, I'll give you a call. So I left
(38:28):
and then my friends were going scuba diving, and God
gave me this gift of believing that people don't belong underwater.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
So I said, I'm out.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
I'm not going scuba diving. So then I had a
weekend free. So I called Steve and I said, I
have a weekend free, and he said, come back up
to the zoo. Well I knew his parents lived in
a house at the reptile Park, so I think he
can't kill me, you know, because his parents are there.
(39:04):
So I go back up and he very gentlemanly put
me up at the hotel just down the road and
then would come and pick me up in the morning
and bring me down to the park. And I just
worked for two days, just raking up kangaroo who prepping
food for the animals. It was heaven. I had the
(39:28):
best two days ever. And then he said, you know,
this has been really great, and I said, I'm going home,
but you know, maybe our paths will cross again. So
I went home and I didn't hear anything, and a
week passed. Then I didn't hear anything, and two weeks passed,
(39:53):
and then I didn't hear anything. And by week three
I thought, I'm guessing I miss an understood what this was.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
Yes, there must have been a misunderstanding.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
Yeah. So I was like, well, I really had a
lot of fun and it was wonderful. But I don't
know why I'm like this. But I was like, I'm
not calling him right well, I want to talk to me,
you have to call me. Four weeks pass and he
calls and he said, I'm going to be there in
ten days ooo. And I thought, that's very presumptuous. How
(40:29):
do you know I haven't met someone else.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
Exactly, it's been four whole weeks.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
Four weeks, I mean this yummy snack exactly. I of
course hadn't because I was pretty hung up on him.
Speaker 1 (40:40):
Yeah, you're pretty much in love at this point.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
And then poor Steve, without knowing what he was doing,
came to Oregon when it was Thanksgiving, so he got
to meet the whole family.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
Oh yeah, my gosh, what did your family think of
Steve when they met him?
Speaker 2 (41:00):
They well, they were thought It was just amazing because
I think this still happens in Thanksgiving, but it kind
of is segregated. So, for example, a lot of times,
most of the guys will go watch football and most
of the women chat and do dishes or whatever in
right kitchen. So Steve would go talk football with the
(41:22):
guys and then clear the table and do dishes with
all the women as comfortably. So he was perfect and
everyone loved him. But my sister said later, she said
she thought, darn it, because we're never going to see
him again because he lives in Australia and I by
(41:43):
this time, I've paid off my house, i have a
successful company, i have a wildlife rehabilitation organization, and I'm
working nights and weekends at an emergency veterinary hospital, so
I've become a veterinary technician as well, and so my
dance card's full.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
Exactly. You guys both have thriving, active lives on two
different continents.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
Yeah, but that was kind of the family's reaction was
we love him, but logistically, we don't know how this
is gonna work, right, So it was great.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
Well, eight months later, you guys were married. So how
does the proposal happen. What is the conversation between the
two of you about how are we going to blend
our lives?
Speaker 2 (42:30):
Yeah? Interesting. So this was end of November. So I
went to see him again in January. I was like,
forget Florida, so exactly over to Australia and had a
wonderful time. So he took me out on rivers and
showed me crocodile nests and showed me wildlife, and we
(42:52):
went camping and he was a terrific cook and very chivalrous.
Found a shallow area and we're just kind of like
in shorts and a tank top, single kind of thing,
and just kind of splashing off in the water, and
he kept edging his way in front of me. I'd
(43:13):
be like, I'm just trying to splash off here, and
he kept edging his way in front of me, and
I'm like, what's going on? And he said, I don't
think there's any crocodiles nearby, but just in case, I
want to be between you and the river. So I like,
on one hand, that's very chivalrous, and on the other hand,
what the heck do I do if a crocodile eats you?
Speaker 1 (43:34):
Right exactly?
Speaker 2 (43:35):
Then?
Speaker 1 (43:35):
What do I do?
Speaker 2 (43:36):
Yeah, I don't even know how we got here, but
he was just delightful. So I'm about to go home.
And we'd been doing some work that day because lightning
hit a tree in the wildlife park and killed the tree,
so we had to take it down before it Yeah,
so we worked all day taking this tree down. And
by the end of the day, I'm just sweaty, and
(43:59):
I've got lee eaves in my hair and We're having
a cool drink and we're sitting there and he says, so,
what do you reckon? Do you want to get married?
Speaker 1 (44:07):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (44:08):
And I was like, maybe I misunderstood.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
So yet what did he just say get married?
Speaker 2 (44:16):
What? Because he's not on one knee, there's no ring, there's
no rose petals, there's no candles lit, We're sweaty, I'm gross.
What is happening? So I then think of all the
reasons I can't move to Australia, and then I said, yes,
so that happened, and he said, why don't you live
(44:40):
here until you can kind of organize a wedding through
your family and we'll go get married in Oregon. And
I said, I won't live with you till we're married, right,
and I got he said, how soon can you get
a wedding together? So I thought that was pretty cool.
So he proposed in February and we were married in June,
(45:05):
and that was really beautiful. My grandmother's church, it was
really beautiful. Terrifying for him, but beautiful.
Speaker 1 (45:12):
Now what does his family think? Does his family come
with you guys to Oregon for the wedding? What does
his family think of this union and your connection?
Speaker 2 (45:22):
Well, I think to their credit, they were very accepting
of me. But I think I was a lot, you know,
like I'm I'm the person who has been coordinating things
in my own life, right. You know, I've got one
hundred and twenty five staff, I've got all these volunteers.
(45:42):
I'm used to kind of being the coordinator. And I
can remember my dad saying to me, when you get
married and moved to Australia, remember two things. Everyone gets homesick,
do not be ashamed. He said in World War Two
when he was in the Navy on board the ship,
he said, grown men are crying for their mothers because
(46:03):
everyone gets homesick. And he said the other thing is
remember your way is the different way. So when you
get there, they will have a way they do things right.
So he was very gentle with me. Yeah, don't just
get there and completely coordinate everything differently right, which I love.
Speaker 1 (46:26):
I also can relate to that as a woman who
has likes to be in control because I know what
I'm doing. I'm self assured. I have many businesses, I
run a household, I have children. You can be a
lot for some people. Some people are not used to,
you know, coming in and taking charge, and so I
(46:46):
can I can understand that while they were very accepting
and loving of you, you were also a lot.
Speaker 2 (46:53):
Yeah, because you're a director in life and work and
literally a film director, so so you get that. Yeah.
So eleven of them came over to Australia, and Steve
and I kind of put our funds together to fly
them over and it was beautiful and really special. And
(47:14):
when the services were over and we're going, you know,
we're getting ready to show everybody Oregon and then go
on our honeymoon, that's the time when we got the
message from Australia that there was a crocodile someone was
trying to shoot because it was near a boat ramp
and they were afraid of it. So Steve had done
(47:37):
a little bit of filming, like with ads. So there
was like a four X beer ad and I'm not
sponsoring or endorsing four X beer, but the beer was
like being thrown from one friend to another and it
goes over the water and the croc comes up and
(47:58):
tries to grab the guy who's thrown the beer, and
the guy catches the beer above the crocodile and is like, WHOA,
the crocs are bad today or whatever. And that was
Steve's hand, of course, and Steve's crocodile in the ad.
So he had done some of that filming. So the
guy he filmed ads with said do you want to
film rescuing this crocodile instead of just rescuing it? So
(48:20):
he said to me, do you want to do a
planned honeymoon or go film this croc rescue? And I
was like rescue, Oh my goshh So I spent my
honeymoon with six men in a film crew and working
on rescuing this crocodile. Which was before you.
Speaker 1 (48:42):
Said croc rescue. Where was the other place you guys
might have gone on your honeymoon.
Speaker 2 (48:48):
We were looking at Indonesia, so we were talking about
Indonesia because Steve was a surfer and surf there a lot,
and back then, this would have been thirty three years ago.
Back then it was still very remote and beautiful and
isolated and quiet. Yeah, so now it's pretty touristy. Yeah,
(49:10):
back it was very very special. So of course the
honeymoon would have included surfing.
Speaker 1 (49:16):
And I don't surf, right, you're not going underwater. You're
not going underwater that gift God gave you. You're not
doing it.
Speaker 2 (49:23):
God said, you don't have gills.
Speaker 1 (49:25):
Yeah, I get it, I get it. I also want
to talk to you about some others who experienced being
a teenager in very close proximity to you, and that
(49:46):
would be Bindi and Robert. I obviously got to know
Robert a little bit this past couple of months through
Dancing with the Stars, and my husband and I have said,
and we've told it to both of you many times,
if our sons turn out to be in a fraction
of the man that Robert is, we will feel successful
in our job as parents. So, now that I have
(50:10):
said all that, I'd love to just hear a story
about how one time even Robert was just a wild
or awful teenager because he seems too good to be true.
So was there ever a moment for either Bindy or
Robert where you thought, well, this is just so out
of your character, like a moment where you thought what
(50:33):
are you doing? Or how they always been as perfect
as they seem.
Speaker 2 (50:37):
It's so funny because I've been very blessed with kids
who were way more fun than I was when I
was a kid and cooler. I can remember in high school,
I never got asked to the prom, but I went
to the prom okay because I took tickets. So I
was the girl who checked everyone's invite and see the
(51:00):
door with their date. So, yeah, you want to talk
being a high school kid, I never got asked to
the prom. But my kids have been far more engaging
and interesting and wonderful, and that's what you hope for,
you know, these terrific kids. But my dynamic with my
(51:21):
kids was so much different than most peoples. So Steve
and I were married for six years before we had kids,
and we were those funny people that said, when we
have kids, our lives won't change.
Speaker 1 (51:38):
Right, We're gonna They're just gonna fit into our life.
We're not changing anything, for them.
Speaker 2 (51:42):
Yeah, so then we end up working with a film
crew or who are totally cool if we bring the baby. Okay,
So Bendy went on her Bendy was film being born
and then she that was Steve just was shooting with
a film crew and I called him and I said,
I'm on the way to the hospital. So he just
brought the film crew come with me. Yeah, right, like
(52:05):
as you would right of course. So she was six
days old when we were filming Sea Turtles at Fraser
Island in Queensland, and so I just brought her along
and the runner on the show was with her in
the vehicle on the beach, and then when she needed
(52:28):
to breastfeed, I would just step away and feed her
and then come back and film again. And it worked
and she loved it. And you know, when they're that little,
they just kind of sleep and eat so pretty. But
as time went on and we had Robert, we were
still with the same crew and so we're still doing
the same thing and they would travel with us. Bindy
(52:51):
was three years old and my sister came with us
when we launched our movie. We traveled for six weeks.
We were in four countries and we did like twelve
hundred interviews. I think the publicist said the only one
who beats you was Tom Cruise. So I felt in
good company. So we did so many interviews. And Bindy
(53:13):
was a little trooper. I mean she had my sister
and she just loved the next room, the next car,
the next flight, and it was an adventure. Robert was
the same. So they went with us everywhere, and I
think that you get what you get. They were not
(53:33):
good sleepers, but they were good travelers. They were very
easy and compliant and fun and liked being with us.
They never said when we are when are we going
to go home? You know, they just loved it. So
whether we were in a tent on the nullibor planes
in South Australia, or we were in Clarence House in
(53:57):
Ireland promoting a movie.
Speaker 1 (54:00):
They loved it right. They were happy to be there.
Speaker 2 (54:03):
Right. So the little ups and downs the most difficult
Robert ever got. He was so cranky for two days,
he was just impossible, Like the whole sum total of
the Terrible twos hit him in two days. It was ridiculous.
(54:27):
And then I was putting him to bed and I'm
trying to soothe him to sleep, because neither kid was
a sleeper. And as I'm stroking his hair, I discovered
the biggest tick you've ever seen, like fully engorged paralysis
tick on his head.
Speaker 1 (54:46):
Oh this.
Speaker 2 (54:49):
Isn't just pull the tick off and carry on. This
is a doctor visit because paralysis ticks, well, they'll kill dogs.
They're really bad for you. And I hadn't noticed it
until it got big, but it completely changed his humor,
his being a compliant little human.
Speaker 1 (55:10):
And I was like, what is going on? Oh my gosh.
So then now you're like, okay, sorry, I've been trying
to soothe you to sleep. Get up. We gotta go
short with you.
Speaker 2 (55:21):
Yeah, you have to sit up and eat dinner. You know.
I felt so bad, but he was fine, and I
felt like a terrible parent, But I mean, how do
you know the only thing that changed was his temperament.
And to Robert's credit, he was That was the only
time he was a real challenge, you know. Other than that,
(55:43):
he was a really good kid. We were on a
flight when he was teething. We're on a flight back
from America, and so there's a lot of walking around
because he's just not settling and I'd been sitting next
to this lovely man having huge conversations, and then when
everybody went to sleep, I kept walking Robert and he
(56:05):
just wasn't settling. And I said to the man at
the end of the flight, I'm so sorry if Robert
disturbed you at all. I tried to keep him quiet
and he said, no, no, he was fine. When you'd
go Robert, it's okay. It would kind of startle me
because my name's Robert, and I'm like, yep, yep, that's cool.
Nice meeting you see it. A few days later, my
(56:27):
pa said to me, I just wanted to let you
know that Robert Downey Junior is coming to the Zoo
because he spent time with you on a plane. And
I go, I didn't spend time with Robert. Oh wait
a minute. I flew for fourteen hours with Robert Downey
Junior and was so tired. I didn't know who he
(56:48):
was even after he said because my name, my name
is Robert, and he was talking about the filming work
he was doing, and I'm like, yeah, I do filming
work too. With the babe.
Speaker 1 (56:59):
Oh my gosh, that's a hilarious. So then he comes
to the zoo. Do you recognize him immediately? Like, oh, yeah,
here who came in?
Speaker 2 (57:05):
And we caught up with him, and he and Steve
hit it off, and we've not caught up often, but
we've remained in touch over the years. But I thought
that was such a funny story. So, yes, Robert wasn't
being naughty, but it was often hard to get him settled.
Speaker 1 (57:22):
Yeah, well, knowing how much energy Robert has, it seems
like I don't you know, I'm not sure Robert has
a settled When Dancing with the Stars ended and he
was on the jet immediately to Good Morning America, and
then from Good Morning America, you guys were back on
a plane to go to South Africa, so trap through London.
(57:43):
I just thought, wow, the energy you all have.
Speaker 2 (57:49):
Was he you know, credit to him, And it's nice
because we both have our own gigs in South Africa.
So while he's filming, I'm able to do. We've got
a couple of conservation projects.
Speaker 1 (58:02):
Down here, so that's wonderful.
Speaker 2 (58:05):
But also a very long stint in South Africa, so
it's really good.
Speaker 1 (58:10):
I bet you guys have been there now for quite
a while. My last question for this episode, because I
have one other little thing I want to do with you,
involving hearing some other people's stories about what they were
like as kids. I know it's been thrown around there,
and Robert seems to be one of the culprits pushing it.
Would you ever try and continue the Dancing with the
(58:33):
Stars Irwin dynasty and jump onto that ballroom floor? Would
that be something you would ever consider?
Speaker 2 (58:40):
Oh? Absolutely, I'm going to adopt another child and get
them on the show. I think it should continue. So
adoption is definitely in my future because I found what
I'm good at. I am really good at being the
sidekick coach for the dancing journey. So, you know, so
(59:02):
proud of Bendy she was. But you know, interestingly, Bindy's
journey and Robert's journey were so similar because Bindy would
be invited to stuff and she'd say, I'm just here
to dance. I'm not here to go to Disneyland or
to do this thing. And Robert found that as well,
(59:24):
that you really have to commit if you're and I'm
sure you found that too. It was just all day,
every day, seven days a week, Yes, and an epic
dedication to the craft. So would I do it. I
would never say never, but I would have to say
I'm in the same boat that Bendy and Robert were,
(59:48):
having no dance experience to the point where my parents
were like, dancing is out when I was a teenager
invited to dances. So I've literally ever danced either.
Speaker 1 (01:00:01):
Yeah, I'm telling you, I think you have just like
Bindi and just like Robert, you have exactly what it
takes to because you have. No one seems to be
more dedicated than you, no one seems to be more
hard working than you. You have a you have a
(01:00:21):
shining personality. You've raised two champions who have already danced,
So I just know if anyone could do it and
do it well, it would be you. So I would
love to see it. I love to hear never say never.
I think that's very smart. And you know, Dancing with
the Stars was such a life changing experience for me,
(01:00:42):
and it wasn't just the dancing. Being able to be
around Robert and the other cast and in turn, you
and your family has become a true highlight of that
journey for me, and I am in awe of what
you have built and the grace in which you have
done it. The legacy you are leaving for you, your family,
(01:01:05):
you have cultivated all of that. So you are a
hero to me. You are a hero to many people
around the world. And I thank you so much for
talking with me and letting me call you a friend.
Speaker 2 (01:01:18):
Thank you because I feel that way. I feel that
when we all met you, we were all fans, and
now we're all friends, which is really nice. So now
what we have to do is this incredible podcast with
another Irwin family member from Australia. So I want to
see you at the Crocodile Hunter Lodge and Australia Zoo
(01:01:40):
and as Disney says, be my guest.
Speaker 1 (01:01:43):
Oh my gosh. Okay, I have to tell you though,
I'm very afraid of spiders. Nothing in the world sounds
more fun than going and visiting you guys and being
your guest and doing the podcast from there. What am
I going to do about the spiders? I hear there's
like two thousand species of giants spiders in Australia. I'm
very scared of them. Okay, that's what Robert said. Robert
(01:02:05):
said the exact same thing. Your family's incredible, and I
listen when Robert said it, I was like I believe you.
Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
You can. You can believe me because when Robert was
a tiny little boy, he asked me to please always
protect him from pirates, and a pirate has never gotten him.
Speaker 4 (01:02:23):
So I am telling you, no, spider, great you know
what that if that, if that worked for you and
pirates and Robert, of course it will work for me
and the spiders.
Speaker 1 (01:02:34):
I very much appreciate it, and I'm going to take
you up on it.
Speaker 2 (01:02:39):
I would love that because it's a sincere offer. Let
me know when you're coming and we will have the
most magical adventure I promise.
Speaker 1 (01:02:48):
Thank you so much. A joy to talk to you
as always, and I look forward to the next time.
Speaker 2 (01:02:54):
Thank you. I really appreciate having.
Speaker 1 (01:02:56):
Me on of course. Teen Beat is an iHeart podcast
was produced and hosted by Danielle Fischel, Executive producers Jensen
Carp and Amy Sugarman, Executive in charge of production Danielle Romo,
producer and editor Tara Subach. The theme song is by
mar Coppus. Yes that Mark Coppus. Follow us on Instagram
at Team beat pod.
That's okay, becaus no one here is Hello. Hello, Hello,
and welcome to the newest episode of teen Beat. I
am your adult host Danielle Fischel, podcaster, TV director, recent
ballroom competitor, mom of two, and a former child actor
(00:43):
who spent all of her teenage years in front of
cameras and a live studio audience as Topanga Lawrence on
the nineties TV show Boy Meets World. From my first
kiss to my first haircut. You saw it all every
Friday night on your local ABIES affiliate, and now, more
than thirty years later, it's time I turn the tables.
(01:06):
Every week, I'm sitting with a celebrity, someone who has
made their wildest dreams come true, hoping I can now
expose their childhoods to the world in an almost tip
for tat situation, assuming it will give us a glimpse
into the person they are today. Since their first pimple
wasn't also broadcast as part of a TGIF block of programming,
(01:28):
the least they can do is share it with me. Now,
I gave you my childhood, it's time we hear yours.
And on this episode, as a teenager who spent most
of her free time shopping at the mall, carrying a
vanilla I splendid extra vanilla and complaining about boys. I'm
ready to finally walk a little on the wilder side.
(01:50):
My guest was raised in Eugene, Oregon, the youngest of
three daughters in a family that was concerned about the
environment at a time when most people figured that was
as Captain Planet's job. Her father owned a trucking company,
bringing home wild animals he would find injured on the
highway in order to nurse them back to health, and
(02:11):
from that moment on, she'd dedicate her life to conservatism
and preserving all forms of wildlife, eventually becoming one of
the world's most beloved zookeepers. Her interests and related travels
would bring her to Australia at the age of twenty seven.
Her interests in related travels would bring her to Australia
at the age of twenty seven, where she would meet
(02:32):
her future husband, Steve Irwin, in a chance encounter at
a wildlife rehabilitation center you know where we all hang
out on vacations. They would marry eight months later, film
their first documentary during their honeymoon, and the rest is history.
They'd have two children, Bindi and Robert, before Steve's death
(02:52):
from an injury sustained while filming their wildly popular TV
series The Crocodile Hunter. Overnight, she would become a single
mother and single zoo keeper, taking over every aspect of
the family business, the Australia Zoo in bear Walk, Queensland,
making sure her husband's legacy continued well beyond not only
(03:13):
his life, but for generations to come. Today I will
talk to her not only about her own backstory, but
also how she navigated the teenage years of her own children,
two absolute gems who have now individually captured the hearts
of both Australia and the United States, reminding the world
not only of her mission statement on conservatism, but also
(03:36):
just pure kindness. To say she is impressive is a
gross understatement, But I know, deep down, somewhere inside there
might just be an awkward teenager. Let's find out with
my teen beat guest this week, the Pride of Australia,
Missus Terry Irwin. Terry, thank you so much for talking
(03:58):
to me. I really don't think there is a single
human being in the world that wouldn't jump at the
opportunity to learn more. About you. So I consider myself
to be very lucky.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Well that's very kind because I was thinking, who wouldn't
jump at the opportunity to have a chat with you?
Because this is really special. So thank you very much
for thinking of me.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Really, of course, you were truly one of the very
first people I thought of, especially after getting to know
your family just the tiniest bit during Dancing with the Stars,
I thought to myself, Wow, that is a woman who
should be studied. That's somebody who has a perspective to
share that everyone can benefit from. So I would like
(04:43):
to start by talking about your dad a little bit,
and yeah, yes, and your life in Oregon. So he
owned a trucking company, right, and he would bring home
wounded animals that he would encounter on the highway for rehabilitation.
Can you describe what this like makeshift VET scenario looked
(05:05):
like at your home where you would rehab these animals?
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Sure? Thing, Now, I was very lucky to have such
terrific parents, and my dad was just amazing because you know,
he's the guy who grew up in the Depression, was
in World War Two, was a motorcycle cop and then
finally landed driving heavy haul truck, so he would drive
all over the place and then come home with little
(05:32):
animals that may need help. But he was also very
good at building things, and he really gave me these
gifts with how to approach life, to treat other living beings,
and I felt very lucky to have that upbringing. So
I can remember one time in particular, he brought home
(05:55):
these mcganzer ducks, and just for starters, I had no
idea what a mcganzer duck was, and I'm like seven
years old.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
I also don't know what a mcganzer duck is.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Yes, so this duck comes in these ducklings, right, because
the mama was hit by a car. So he brings
the ducklings and they have a thin bill with kind
of serrated edges, so they're not like platypus bill. They're
like like little knives, yeah, little knives. Yeah yeah yeah
(06:27):
yeah yeah. So we're like, this is confusing. This is
a duck, but it's not interested in grain or anything.
What do we do? So when I was seven, the
way we googled was called the Encyclopedia Britannic.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
So love a good encyclopedia, set, Love a good Encyclopedia
set yes.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
So we were looking up what on earth is this
and discovered that Mcganser ducks who are really cute when
they grow up. They have this real cool haircut and
they're just darling little things. But they eat things like
little minnows and worms and insects. And so my dad
put something together for these ducks with a kid's wading pool,
(07:11):
and we would go down to the creek and we
would catch minnows, hundreds of minnows, and then we would
go out at night, and he taught me to take
a flashlight and put red cellophane on it, because when
the night crawlers came out of the ground at night
and you shone a light on them, the little worms
(07:33):
would disappear back into the earth, but the red light
they didn't see, so that you could pick up the
earth worms to feed the ducks. And the ducks were
so tiny that they would eat a worm and the
worm would like move them because they were little and
the worm was big. But I learned how to catch
(07:53):
night crawlers, how to feed these ducklings, and took care
of them until they were big enough to fly, which
was really special.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
It strikes me hearing you tell that story that it
seems like a lot of the most influential men in
your life have had such a wonderful mix of strong
masculinity mixed with a lot of that other like divine
feminine side. That's that's very empathetic and caring for animals.
(08:26):
Like what what wonderful representation for a man you know
to have both?
Speaker 2 (08:32):
I agree, I agree, And what great lessons to learn,
like I can remember. Of course, I wanted to keep
them forever and ever. And he said to me, he said,
look at your bedroom. You have everything you need in here.
You have toys, you have a window with a view.
He said, imagine if I brought you your food in
(08:52):
your room, but you never got to leave your room.
And I was like, hmmm, I'd get pretty bored. So
he said, that's why you have to totally let stuff go.
So I went, oh, I get it. Even though they're
happy and healthy, they want to fly and do their
own things. Yeah, very good at explaining things to me
(09:12):
as well. But I always appreciated that. And I found
his kindness a strength, you know, being willing to stop
and help and fix the problem and come to the
end solution and let them go. So it was really
really special. But you're right. I've always admired men who
(09:34):
are so secure in their masculinity that they can raise
everyone up. They're not like I have to be the
top dog and be all tough. I want to raise
you up and have you succeed and do well and
do what you love.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
I love that. What were you like in high school?
Tell me about teenage, Terry. I like to think about
you just walk around nursing squirrels and rabbits in the halls.
But I suspect you and I may not have been
so different in high school. What were you like?
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Well, I see, I think we may have been different, Okay,
because I imagine you as the cool kid and I
was kind of kind of not quite as cool.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Ok I beg to differ. I imagine that people just didn't
recognize your cool.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
That's okay.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
I was the mysterious, veiled cool kid.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
But yeah, I was really passionate about working. So from
the time I was a tiny tot, I loved to work.
And whether I had a lemonade stand or I was
picking beans. Robert always loves my picking bean story, and Bendy,
you'll say don't ask her her picking bean story, because
(10:58):
I picked beans all summer and may fifty dollars. And now,
in the real world, who would work three months for
fifty dollars? I mean, come on, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Wait, what what kind of pick Who were you picking
beans for?
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Well, there's you know, it's just a farm that had
string beans and you could be gainfully employed to pick
beans and then save a weigh them at the end
of the day, and then you got however much per pound,
and then they would sell the beans. So they had
a lot of I think the child labors the wrong word.
(11:34):
That they had a lot of young people that picked.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
They had a lot of young people who were eager
and didn't know that maybe they were being slightly taken
advantage of.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
So by high school I had this kind of work ethic,
and I started working in the family business around that time,
and so I was working. We had business that it
was primarily a pilot car company, and pilot cars are
(12:06):
the ones that go in front of and behind of
great big loads on a truck, whether it's logging equipment
or a giant boat or whatever. The truck needs help
getting through traffic because it's too big yes, So you'd
drive a car and help them through traffic, and we'd also,
you know, do the lollipop girl thing, directing traffic on
(12:30):
the road for road construction or a rec scene. If
there was a truck that had an accident, you'd be
out there directing traffic. So my high school experience was
doing school but then also working in the family business.
So I felt pretty lucky. And it was also a
(12:52):
transition point because I went to school with the same
kids from kindergarten through ninth grade, but then going into
high school in tenth grade, everything was new because the
school I went to didn't have ten, eleven, twelve grades,
so was new friends and all that as well.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Yeah, did you date in high school? Did you ever
go to a school dance?
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Yes? Well it was a funny thing because my parents
had a couple of rules. Okay, so when it was
like depression era, that was about all your entertainment. People
would have like a square dance in the barn or
everyone would get together and dancing was free. So when
(13:40):
everyone would get together and dance, if someone was dancing
with someone else and there was a little bit of conflict,
Oh my gosh, Henry was dancing with Lola and Lola's
married to Bert. You know, it was scandalous. So my
parents said, you know, nothing good comes from this. So
(14:03):
there was like no dancing, So no dancing, no dancing.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
You had like a Kevin Bacon upbringing, like no dancing,
dancing was it was, yeah, okay, that's very interesting. I
mean I understand, I understand the perspective where I understand. Yeah,
they had seen a lot of scandal come from dancing
and intermingling, and they decided we don't want to bring
the scandal into our family.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Yeah, so I respected that because instead of just saying no,
it was like, here's the reason. And the other thing
I wasn't allowed to do is go to drive in movies.
So I've been to drive in movies obviously, but when
I was in my you know, teens, like fifteen sixteen,
it was like, no doube. And now I would give
(14:51):
anything to find a good drive in theater because the
nostalgia is so wonderful. But yeah, other than that, it
was you know, pretty much having friends and getting together
during the summer and doing school work together. And I
felt very blessed because I had kind of across the
(15:12):
board friends, So I didn't just hang out with the
cool girls or the sporty guys or the nerdy science club.
I was really privileged to be friends pretty much with everybody,
So I was really lucky.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
I love that. That's actually very much how I feel
about my friend groups. From the time I was very
young in elementary school, junior high, and high school, there
was no one. There was like no particular group of
people where I didn't have at least one friend in
that group, where there wasn't somebody I could say like, Hi,
how are you and knew about them, And I really
(15:47):
have pretty much always gotten along with just about everybody.
I find everybody fascinating in some way. Even if I
can't relate to someone in particular for whatever their interests are,
I find their story fascinating. And I think that is
always the good foundation for curiosity, is always a good
foundation for friendship.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
I think that's a really great way to put it.
And I think you kind of miss out if you're
in this little clan and just keeping to these few people.
You miss out on a lot of wonderful people. But
you know, I can feel that from you being that
inclusive and easy going, and I really respect that, and that's,
(16:27):
you know, kind of what I want to emulate is
being that kind of person where you know, you're approachable
and easy to get along with. So whether people were
having a great day and we're having fun, or someone
was having some kind of problem and wanted to talk
about it, it was really nice to be able to
just really communicate with everybody, which was great.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
It sounds like you've had many jobs. You mentioned a
lemonade stand, you picked beans, you worked for the family
trucking company. Did you always know deep down that what
you really wanted to do was work with animals? Did
you have a plan? B?
Speaker 2 (17:14):
The wildlife work was kind of a thread through everything
that I did, and the family business was something that
I aspired to. And you know, a lot of kids
will be like, I want to be like my parent.
So my mom was a stay at home mom, but
my dad had all these different jobs. So I was like,
maybe I'll join the navy, maybe I'll be a cop.
(17:35):
And he said to me, I really don't want you
riding motorcycles on the road because it's just so dangerousous. Yeah,
And that was ironic because driving pilot car is tremendously dangerous,
but I respected, you know that he said that, and
just really wanted to buckle down and work in the
(17:57):
family business, but also had that passion with working with
wildlife and that kind of connection. It made me feel
more complete. I felt very empathetic towards these animals, and
it made me more empathetic to people as well. And
I know when I was fourteen, I volunteered at a
(18:18):
rest home, working with older people. When rest homes were
stereotypical rest homes, so they weren't terribly awesome places and
kind of sad, and I found just that spirit of
wanting to kind of lift people up. But I remember
meeting this one man. I don't remember his name, I'm
(18:40):
so sorry, but he had like thick white hair in
a crew cut, and he was one hundred and three
years old. And what took me aback by him were
his eyes. So he had these piercing blue, beautiful eyes,
and I was like, oh my god, there's like a
(19:02):
twenty something year old man in there, like you could.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
See see the child in.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Him in the old guy suit. You know, Yes, yes,
was so entertaining and interesting and fun. But when I
look back on it, I was fourteen and nineteen seventy eight,
so he was one hundred and three, which would mean
he was born in eighteen seventy five. Oh, that wild
(19:28):
to think about.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Gosh, so that's wild.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
That was the kind of respect and appreciation I had
for these people because it was like meeting history. So yeah,
that connection with people, I loved. The connection with wildlife
kind of drew through to that, and then I loved work, love,
love love.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Oh man, you have been a workhorse your entire life.
And it's funny you mentioned that your dad told you
he didn't want you driving motorcycles or riding motorcycles on
the road because it's dangerous, and then you said the
pilot car thing being so dangerous. When you were talking
about the pilot car and even being the lollipop girls
on the road, yes, yes, seem like two of the
(20:10):
most dangerous jobs one can have.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
I felt lucky, I know, when I turned eighteen, because
then I could drive at work. And one of my
first jobs was taking a truck from Eugene, Oregon to
Los Angeles. And it's a sixteen hour drive, but it's
longer than that with a truck, right, Yeah, of course
his dad said, Okay, here's your deal. And I remember thinking,
(20:38):
I don't know if I can do this because I've
just turned eighteen. But my dad thinks I can do it,
so I must be able to do it. So I
always appreciated that he just believed I could do stuff.
So I took off on that trip. And keep in mind,
you know, no cell phones. If you wanted to call,
it was a payphone. And it was a huge trip,
(21:01):
and I was back in about five days I think
it was. I was home and everything went great. But
you're absolutely right. I mean, being on the road all
the time is tricky and has its own risks. But
I felt that really set me up for life to
have someone saying I believe you can do this.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Yes, yes, so wonderful. So when do you create Cougar Country?
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Cougar Country? Yes, intriguing? How the old cougar has so
many meanings?
Speaker 1 (21:37):
I know, Yes, why don't you tell us about Cougar Country?
Speaker 2 (21:44):
I thought that was important to do because when I
turned when I turned eighteen, I had the opportunity to
get I had enough money saved to get a sports
car or put it down payment on a house, and
so I in talking to my dad, I went ahead
(22:05):
and put a down payment on a house. And back
then when you went to get a house, it's probably
still the same. I don't know, but you go to
get a house and the bank says, all right, miss Terry,
is your husband or dad with you?
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Right?
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (22:22):
So I needed my dad to help me because the
bank was like, you're a young woman, and that's treaty.
So he helped me by co signing on the bank
loan and I put the money down and got the house.
So now I have the house. And then I took
over the family business when I was twenty, So now
I have a career, right, got the house, got the career.
(22:44):
Then when I was about I was about Robert's age,
I was about twenty one twenty two. I was going
through the paper because again that was scrolling.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Yes, that's how we scrolled.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
And I was looking through the pets section and they
had like exotic pets in the paper, and I saw
that there was a cougar for sale, and I thought,
how can you sell a cougar? This is really weird.
So I went to investigate and it was up near Portland,
so it was a couple hours drive, and this guy
had kind of a farm and he had the wildest things,
(23:24):
like he had capuchin monkeys and black bears and cougars
and all the spars. Yeah, for sale. So I'm talking
to him about it, and he said that he got
cougar cubs from a movie that was called Benji the
(23:45):
Hunted I believe is what it was called. And Benji's
this little dog that goes on adventures, and there was
a cougar with cubs, and I hope I'm remembering this correctly.
Something happened, I think, to the mother and the cubs
that they got separated. So Benji the dog was going
to get the family back together.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
So as the movie filmed, the baby cougars got bigger,
so they kept replacing them with.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
New baby things. Side right.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
So then after the movie was over, they have all
these young cougars and they put them into the pet trade.
So this guy buys them and then he was selling
this cougar cub for thirteen hundred dollars. So I look
at it and it's got it's in a little pen
and the furs rubbed off its forehead, and it's got
(24:35):
big joints like the beginnings of rickets, and it's not happy.
So it was just sitting there quietly, and I thought,
thirteen hundred dollars is about all the money I've got.
So I called the United States Department of Agriculture and
reported what was going on. And I remember I talked
to doctor Overton, who said, to me, my jurisdiction is
(24:57):
the ninety six thousand square miles of Ora plus northern California.
So he said, the reality is by the time I
check on this guy to see if he's doing the
right thing, it'll probably be six months. And I said,
in six months, this cougar's gonna be dead. Like no
one takes it, It'll be dead. So I learned all
(25:19):
about what I needed to do. I worked on my
backyard to have everything to code to take on a cougar.
I brought the cougar cub home. I paid for it,
I got it home, and it's just the sweetest little
thing you could possibly imagine, right, just lovey, snugly, yummy,
sweet thing. Until it started feeling better. And then this
(25:44):
little cougar cub named Molina tried really hard to learn
hunting skills on me. So she would sneak up on
me and pounce and all these hilarious things. So well,
the great big area in my backyard became where she lived,
and then i'd bring her into the house or go
(26:06):
out with her, and in pretty short order, I was thinking,
I have to justify having a cougar, because this is nuts.
And so I worked with a woman who did educational
work with cats, so she would go into schools and
teach kids about cheetahs or serviles or all these different animals.
(26:28):
And she taught me how to work with Molina so
that I could take her into these environments safely and
teach kids about wildlife. So then I began finding out
wild animals were needing help, and that was a much
better gig because I could take them in and let
(26:49):
them go. So my special sauce seemed to be predatory mammals,
so I started doing that rescue work, and I'd take
in about three hundred animals a year. I had about
one hundred volunteers who worked with me to help raise
things and take care of things and work with me.
And because again I had a career, I could afford it,
(27:14):
so I was able to help people pay for the
care of these animals and let them go. Again, so
I have my cougar to teach people. I have this
hobby of helping wildlife, and Cougar Country was born, so
it was any of the animals in Cougar Country, but
I primarily worked with predatory mammals, so that's Cougar's bears, bobcats, raccoons, foxes,
(27:38):
those kind of animals.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Oh my goodness, how big was your backyard?
Speaker 2 (27:45):
It was big. I had to have two car garage
and I only had one car, so I decked out
part of that for animals, like critical care, and then
I had areas throughout my My yard was just like
like doctor Doolittle's yard, you know. So I'd have areas
for different animals, and as they got well, I'd let
(28:07):
them go. And it was just such a passion for me.
And I remember one day I got a knock on
the door and it was Jehovah's Witness and they said
to me, can we talk to you about Jehovah? And
I was raised Christians, so I could verse to verse them.
I was like, yes, I know the Bible back to front, baby,
(28:30):
but you want to come here in, I'll get you
a cup of tea and maybe you can help me
clean out animal enclosures and feed baby animals, and they
were like sure, so they would help me, and sometimes
they'd come see me and it would be pouring rain,
and pretty soon they stopped coming. So I thought, I'm
the one that the Jehovah's witnesses eventually shut the door on,
(28:54):
which I thought was pretty honey, Like, no, lady, you're
too much.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
You know, we're we're good. We're not going back there.
Thanks for having us. We're good. Wow, that's a great story.
Thank you for sharing that with me.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
It was pretty funny.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
What did you do to relax? Did you ever relax?
It seems to me like you're not much of the
relaxing type. But most people who have a thriving career
and many hobbies and stay as busy as you have
your entire life, feel the need to blow off some steam,
take a vacation. Where does Terry Irwin vacation? What do
(29:47):
you do to relax?
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Well, what I used to love to do from the
age of about nineteen is I was able to save
enough money to be able to go to Florida a year.
So in that construction related business, January is very slow.
Not much road construction's going on all the trucking industry
(30:12):
slows down and I could slip away for a week
or so. So I would always go to Florida, and
I loved the wildlife there, So you know, whether I
was in Key West or the Tortugas, or you know,
Miami or Silver Springs with the manatees, it was just
(30:35):
a wonderland and so different than Oregon because it's always warm.
It's just a different climate. So for me, it was
so very special to be able to afford to do
that every year, and I just enjoyed going. And then
the irony as my life went forward was that my
(30:59):
life would be so involved with wildlife and working seven
days a week and my daughter marrying someone from Florida, Like,
it's just so bizarre how it seemed like my whole
young life was leading me towards what my whole life
(31:20):
was gonna be yes, and it was allowing that to happen.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Well, then this is a perfect segue into the most beautiful,
fateful trip in nineteen ninety one when you go to
Australia and you find yourself at Steve Irwin's Family Wildlife
Park and you see him and his crocodile demonstration as
a woman who has Cougar Country going on back home
(31:47):
and doctor Doolittle's backyard. Is this like the minute you
see him? Is this just like a dream come true?
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Well it almost wasn't, is what's amazing. Guy was over
there with friends and we had gone to a barbecue
near where Steve's Wildlife Park was, and we'd had a
late night the night before, and I was really tired.
So while we're driving back to Brisbane, I was kind
of dozing in the back seat and the person driving
(32:19):
the car said, there's like a little wildlife park here.
Do you want to see it? And I go, you know,
sometimes those little wildlife parks are just really depressing. I
don't know if I want to see a bunch of
sad snakes and jars and I don't know. And he's like, oh,
that's cool. I just thought i'd check because I knew
you liked wildlife. And then I go, you know, I'm
(32:40):
never going to be here again, so I'll just duck
in and have a look. So he pulls over abruptly
because we were almost past it, and I paid my
six dollars and went in and it was very small,
like two acres, but very clean, and the kangaroos were
just wandering around, which was pretty new to me because
(33:03):
in America, any zoological facility, everything is enclosed, safely enclosed.
And so there's kangaroos and there's beautiful birds, and the
snakes all looked happy in nice areas. But it was
pretty tiny. And there was a guy doing a demonstration
(33:23):
with crocodile, so I went to watch and it was awesome,
and he said, at twelve o'clock, I'm doing another demonstration
in the environmental Park and it's another six dollars, but
it's an hour long thing, and I thought, I'm a
cashed up tourist, so I paid my extra six dollars
(33:44):
and there were probably twelve of us who ended up
going in to see this next demonstration. And the environmental
park is all these different crocodiles, little ones, alligators, freshwater crocodiles,
and the big salties and he's telling us about everything
and how if a crocodile's in danger of being shot
(34:04):
for coming close to people, he would go out and
rescue them and move them to another river system or
bring them back to his Queensland reptile and faun apart.
And I was like Wow, that's really incredible. So he's
explaining that with the smaller crocodiles, maybe seven foot or smaller,
(34:25):
he would go out at night with his boat and
he'd idle the boat in the dark, and he'd have
a spotlight and then he'd pick up the red eyeshine
of the crocodile. And as he idled in on it,
then it was living near a boat ramp. He knew
he had to move it, so he'd get close. He'd
slow down the boat and start drifting, and then as
he got close enough, he'd drop the spotlight and spear
(34:48):
into the water, grab the croc around the base of
the neck, go down to the bottom of the river,
tuck its tail between his legs, shoot up from the bottom,
flick into the boat, slip into the boat, and then
he'd have the crocodile. And I was thinking, who on
earth is this man? Exactly because he was telling the
(35:12):
story the way I would tell. And then I was
at the grocery store and I saw a sail on bread.
You know, did you hear what you just said, sir?
You know? And he was so passionate about wildlife. But
the other thing that impressed me was that old saying
where when you walk into the bar, you don't have
(35:34):
to ask who the tiger keeper is. He's gonna tell you.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
He wasn't like that at all. It wasn't about him
look how cool I am. It was about his deep
love and respect for these animals. He said, they're beautiful mothers,
They're affectionate to each other, They're just amazing. So I thought,
I'm gonna say hi to this guy. And I think
that's about all I said was high. And he said
(36:03):
where are you from? And I go Oregon? And he
said what's your favorite animal? And I said my favorite
animal is a cougar? And he said why? And I
thought no one ever asked me why. They just go, oh,
a cougar, that's coolah, And I go, well, I think
it's because a cougar can kill something bigger than themselves
(36:27):
just with their mouth. And he looked at me all
dreamy and he said.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
That's why I love crocodiles.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
It was so cute. What I was like, boom, look
what we've got in common. Things that kill with their teeth.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
Wow, we both love predatory animals who can kill with
their mouths. I do want you to know This story
seems very much like you should write the script for
a Hallmark movie. It has all the makings of a
very cute meet cute with a little bit of, you know,
a little bit of predatory animal behavior in there, which
(37:08):
is just adorable. So what happens like you make this
connection for both of you? He looked at you all dreamy.
You're like, oh my gosh, we have so much in common.
Do you just cancel your flight home? What do you
do when you fall in love with a crocodile hunter abroad?
Speaker 2 (37:25):
Yeah? That was wild. We ended up talking all afternoons.
So this this demonstration was over about one o'clock and
the park closed at four. And at four o'clock I
could hear my friends honking the hole.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Get out of there.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
I know, but you know, sometimes when you meet someone
in your kind of hubba hubba With Steve, I wanted
to build a campfire and hear stories right Like. It
wasn't like, WHOA, I love this incredibly sexy man. It
was I really like this guy. I don't know if
(38:03):
that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
But I totally understand level yes.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
And I just want to talk to him forever. It
was so amazing and so I he. We exchanged phone
numbers and he goes, you know, if you're ever here again,
let me know, and I thought, sure, next time i'm
in Australia, I'll give you a call. So I left
(38:28):
and then my friends were going scuba diving, and God
gave me this gift of believing that people don't belong underwater.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
So I said, I'm out.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
I'm not going scuba diving. So then I had a
weekend free. So I called Steve and I said, I
have a weekend free, and he said, come back up
to the zoo. Well I knew his parents lived in
a house at the reptile Park, so I think he
can't kill me, you know, because his parents are there.
(39:04):
So I go back up and he very gentlemanly put
me up at the hotel just down the road and
then would come and pick me up in the morning
and bring me down to the park. And I just
worked for two days, just raking up kangaroo who prepping
food for the animals. It was heaven. I had the
(39:28):
best two days ever. And then he said, you know,
this has been really great, and I said, I'm going home,
but you know, maybe our paths will cross again. So
I went home and I didn't hear anything, and a
week passed. Then I didn't hear anything, and two weeks passed,
(39:53):
and then I didn't hear anything. And by week three
I thought, I'm guessing I miss an understood what this was.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
Yes, there must have been a misunderstanding.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
Yeah. So I was like, well, I really had a
lot of fun and it was wonderful. But I don't
know why I'm like this. But I was like, I'm
not calling him right well, I want to talk to me,
you have to call me. Four weeks pass and he
calls and he said, I'm going to be there in
ten days ooo. And I thought, that's very presumptuous. How
(40:29):
do you know I haven't met someone else.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
Exactly, it's been four whole weeks.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
Four weeks, I mean this yummy snack exactly. I of
course hadn't because I was pretty hung up on him.
Speaker 1 (40:40):
Yeah, you're pretty much in love at this point.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
And then poor Steve, without knowing what he was doing,
came to Oregon when it was Thanksgiving, so he got
to meet the whole family.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
Oh yeah, my gosh, what did your family think of
Steve when they met him?
Speaker 2 (41:00):
They well, they were thought It was just amazing because
I think this still happens in Thanksgiving, but it kind
of is segregated. So, for example, a lot of times,
most of the guys will go watch football and most
of the women chat and do dishes or whatever in
right kitchen. So Steve would go talk football with the
(41:22):
guys and then clear the table and do dishes with
all the women as comfortably. So he was perfect and
everyone loved him. But my sister said later, she said
she thought, darn it, because we're never going to see
him again because he lives in Australia and I by
(41:43):
this time, I've paid off my house, i have a
successful company, i have a wildlife rehabilitation organization, and I'm
working nights and weekends at an emergency veterinary hospital, so
I've become a veterinary technician as well, and so my
dance card's full.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
Exactly. You guys both have thriving, active lives on two
different continents.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
Yeah, but that was kind of the family's reaction was
we love him, but logistically, we don't know how this
is gonna work, right, So it was great.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
Well, eight months later, you guys were married. So how
does the proposal happen. What is the conversation between the
two of you about how are we going to blend
our lives?
Speaker 2 (42:30):
Yeah? Interesting. So this was end of November. So I
went to see him again in January. I was like,
forget Florida, so exactly over to Australia and had a
wonderful time. So he took me out on rivers and
showed me crocodile nests and showed me wildlife, and we
(42:52):
went camping and he was a terrific cook and very chivalrous.
Found a shallow area and we're just kind of like
in shorts and a tank top, single kind of thing,
and just kind of splashing off in the water, and
he kept edging his way in front of me. I'd
(43:13):
be like, I'm just trying to splash off here, and
he kept edging his way in front of me, and
I'm like, what's going on? And he said, I don't
think there's any crocodiles nearby, but just in case, I
want to be between you and the river. So I like,
on one hand, that's very chivalrous, and on the other hand,
what the heck do I do if a crocodile eats you?
Speaker 1 (43:34):
Right exactly?
Speaker 2 (43:35):
Then?
Speaker 1 (43:35):
What do I do?
Speaker 2 (43:36):
Yeah, I don't even know how we got here, but
he was just delightful. So I'm about to go home.
And we'd been doing some work that day because lightning
hit a tree in the wildlife park and killed the tree,
so we had to take it down before it Yeah,
so we worked all day taking this tree down. And
by the end of the day, I'm just sweaty, and
(43:59):
I've got lee eaves in my hair and We're having
a cool drink and we're sitting there and he says, so,
what do you reckon? Do you want to get married?
Speaker 1 (44:07):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (44:08):
And I was like, maybe I misunderstood.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
So yet what did he just say get married?
Speaker 2 (44:16):
What? Because he's not on one knee, there's no ring, there's
no rose petals, there's no candles lit, We're sweaty, I'm gross.
What is happening? So I then think of all the
reasons I can't move to Australia, and then I said, yes,
so that happened, and he said, why don't you live
(44:40):
here until you can kind of organize a wedding through
your family and we'll go get married in Oregon. And
I said, I won't live with you till we're married, right,
and I got he said, how soon can you get
a wedding together? So I thought that was pretty cool.
So he proposed in February and we were married in June,
(45:05):
and that was really beautiful. My grandmother's church, it was
really beautiful. Terrifying for him, but beautiful.
Speaker 1 (45:12):
Now what does his family think? Does his family come
with you guys to Oregon for the wedding? What does
his family think of this union and your connection?
Speaker 2 (45:22):
Well, I think to their credit, they were very accepting
of me. But I think I was a lot, you know,
like I'm I'm the person who has been coordinating things
in my own life, right. You know, I've got one
hundred and twenty five staff, I've got all these volunteers.
(45:42):
I'm used to kind of being the coordinator. And I
can remember my dad saying to me, when you get
married and moved to Australia, remember two things. Everyone gets homesick,
do not be ashamed. He said in World War Two
when he was in the Navy on board the ship,
he said, grown men are crying for their mothers because
(46:03):
everyone gets homesick. And he said the other thing is
remember your way is the different way. So when you
get there, they will have a way they do things right.
So he was very gentle with me. Yeah, don't just
get there and completely coordinate everything differently right, which I love.
Speaker 1 (46:26):
I also can relate to that as a woman who
has likes to be in control because I know what
I'm doing. I'm self assured. I have many businesses, I
run a household, I have children. You can be a
lot for some people. Some people are not used to,
you know, coming in and taking charge, and so I
(46:46):
can I can understand that while they were very accepting
and loving of you, you were also a lot.
Speaker 2 (46:53):
Yeah, because you're a director in life and work and
literally a film director, so so you get that. Yeah.
So eleven of them came over to Australia, and Steve
and I kind of put our funds together to fly
them over and it was beautiful and really special. And
(47:14):
when the services were over and we're going, you know,
we're getting ready to show everybody Oregon and then go
on our honeymoon, that's the time when we got the
message from Australia that there was a crocodile someone was
trying to shoot because it was near a boat ramp
and they were afraid of it. So Steve had done
(47:37):
a little bit of filming, like with ads. So there
was like a four X beer ad and I'm not
sponsoring or endorsing four X beer, but the beer was
like being thrown from one friend to another and it
goes over the water and the croc comes up and
(47:58):
tries to grab the guy who's thrown the beer, and
the guy catches the beer above the crocodile and is like, WHOA,
the crocs are bad today or whatever. And that was
Steve's hand, of course, and Steve's crocodile in the ad.
So he had done some of that filming. So the
guy he filmed ads with said do you want to
film rescuing this crocodile instead of just rescuing it? So
(48:20):
he said to me, do you want to do a
planned honeymoon or go film this croc rescue? And I
was like rescue, Oh my goshh So I spent my
honeymoon with six men in a film crew and working
on rescuing this crocodile. Which was before you.
Speaker 1 (48:42):
Said croc rescue. Where was the other place you guys
might have gone on your honeymoon.
Speaker 2 (48:48):
We were looking at Indonesia, so we were talking about
Indonesia because Steve was a surfer and surf there a lot,
and back then, this would have been thirty three years ago.
Back then it was still very remote and beautiful and
isolated and quiet. Yeah, so now it's pretty touristy. Yeah,
(49:10):
back it was very very special. So of course the
honeymoon would have included surfing.
Speaker 1 (49:16):
And I don't surf, right, you're not going underwater. You're
not going underwater that gift God gave you. You're not
doing it.
Speaker 2 (49:23):
God said, you don't have gills.
Speaker 1 (49:25):
Yeah, I get it, I get it. I also want
to talk to you about some others who experienced being
a teenager in very close proximity to you, and that
(49:46):
would be Bindi and Robert. I obviously got to know
Robert a little bit this past couple of months through
Dancing with the Stars, and my husband and I have said,
and we've told it to both of you many times,
if our sons turn out to be in a fraction
of the man that Robert is, we will feel successful
in our job as parents. So, now that I have
(50:10):
said all that, I'd love to just hear a story
about how one time even Robert was just a wild
or awful teenager because he seems too good to be true.
So was there ever a moment for either Bindy or
Robert where you thought, well, this is just so out
of your character, like a moment where you thought what
(50:33):
are you doing? Or how they always been as perfect
as they seem.
Speaker 2 (50:37):
It's so funny because I've been very blessed with kids
who were way more fun than I was when I
was a kid and cooler. I can remember in high school,
I never got asked to the prom, but I went
to the prom okay because I took tickets. So I
was the girl who checked everyone's invite and see the
(51:00):
door with their date. So, yeah, you want to talk
being a high school kid, I never got asked to
the prom. But my kids have been far more engaging
and interesting and wonderful, and that's what you hope for,
you know, these terrific kids. But my dynamic with my
(51:21):
kids was so much different than most peoples. So Steve
and I were married for six years before we had kids,
and we were those funny people that said, when we
have kids, our lives won't change.
Speaker 1 (51:38):
Right, We're gonna They're just gonna fit into our life.
We're not changing anything, for them.
Speaker 2 (51:42):
Yeah, so then we end up working with a film
crew or who are totally cool if we bring the baby. Okay,
So Bendy went on her Bendy was film being born
and then she that was Steve just was shooting with
a film crew and I called him and I said,
I'm on the way to the hospital. So he just
brought the film crew come with me. Yeah, right, like
(52:05):
as you would right of course. So she was six
days old when we were filming Sea Turtles at Fraser
Island in Queensland, and so I just brought her along
and the runner on the show was with her in
the vehicle on the beach, and then when she needed
(52:28):
to breastfeed, I would just step away and feed her
and then come back and film again. And it worked
and she loved it. And you know, when they're that little,
they just kind of sleep and eat so pretty. But
as time went on and we had Robert, we were
still with the same crew and so we're still doing
the same thing and they would travel with us. Bindy
(52:51):
was three years old and my sister came with us
when we launched our movie. We traveled for six weeks.
We were in four countries and we did like twelve
hundred interviews. I think the publicist said the only one
who beats you was Tom Cruise. So I felt in
good company. So we did so many interviews. And Bindy
(53:13):
was a little trooper. I mean she had my sister
and she just loved the next room, the next car,
the next flight, and it was an adventure. Robert was
the same. So they went with us everywhere, and I
think that you get what you get. They were not
(53:33):
good sleepers, but they were good travelers. They were very
easy and compliant and fun and liked being with us.
They never said when we are when are we going
to go home? You know, they just loved it. So
whether we were in a tent on the nullibor planes
in South Australia, or we were in Clarence House in
(53:57):
Ireland promoting a movie.
Speaker 1 (54:00):
They loved it right. They were happy to be there.
Speaker 2 (54:03):
Right. So the little ups and downs the most difficult
Robert ever got. He was so cranky for two days,
he was just impossible, Like the whole sum total of
the Terrible twos hit him in two days. It was ridiculous.
(54:27):
And then I was putting him to bed and I'm
trying to soothe him to sleep, because neither kid was
a sleeper. And as I'm stroking his hair, I discovered
the biggest tick you've ever seen, like fully engorged paralysis
tick on his head.
Speaker 1 (54:46):
Oh this.
Speaker 2 (54:49):
Isn't just pull the tick off and carry on. This
is a doctor visit because paralysis ticks, well, they'll kill dogs.
They're really bad for you. And I hadn't noticed it
until it got big, but it completely changed his humor,
his being a compliant little human.
Speaker 1 (55:10):
And I was like, what is going on? Oh my gosh.
So then now you're like, okay, sorry, I've been trying
to soothe you to sleep. Get up. We gotta go
short with you.
Speaker 2 (55:21):
Yeah, you have to sit up and eat dinner. You know.
I felt so bad, but he was fine, and I
felt like a terrible parent, But I mean, how do
you know the only thing that changed was his temperament.
And to Robert's credit, he was That was the only
time he was a real challenge, you know. Other than that,
(55:43):
he was a really good kid. We were on a
flight when he was teething. We're on a flight back
from America, and so there's a lot of walking around
because he's just not settling and I'd been sitting next
to this lovely man having huge conversations, and then when
everybody went to sleep, I kept walking Robert and he
(56:05):
just wasn't settling. And I said to the man at
the end of the flight, I'm so sorry if Robert
disturbed you at all. I tried to keep him quiet
and he said, no, no, he was fine. When you'd
go Robert, it's okay. It would kind of startle me
because my name's Robert, and I'm like, yep, yep, that's cool.
Nice meeting you see it. A few days later, my
(56:27):
pa said to me, I just wanted to let you
know that Robert Downey Junior is coming to the Zoo
because he spent time with you on a plane. And
I go, I didn't spend time with Robert. Oh wait
a minute. I flew for fourteen hours with Robert Downey
Junior and was so tired. I didn't know who he
(56:48):
was even after he said because my name, my name
is Robert, and he was talking about the filming work
he was doing, and I'm like, yeah, I do filming
work too. With the babe.
Speaker 1 (56:59):
Oh my gosh, that's a hilarious. So then he comes
to the zoo. Do you recognize him immediately? Like, oh, yeah,
here who came in?
Speaker 2 (57:05):
And we caught up with him, and he and Steve
hit it off, and we've not caught up often, but
we've remained in touch over the years. But I thought
that was such a funny story. So, yes, Robert wasn't
being naughty, but it was often hard to get him settled.
Speaker 1 (57:22):
Yeah, well, knowing how much energy Robert has, it seems
like I don't you know, I'm not sure Robert has
a settled When Dancing with the Stars ended and he
was on the jet immediately to Good Morning America, and
then from Good Morning America, you guys were back on
a plane to go to South Africa, so trap through London.
(57:43):
I just thought, wow, the energy you all have.
Speaker 2 (57:49):
Was he you know, credit to him, And it's nice
because we both have our own gigs in South Africa.
So while he's filming, I'm able to do. We've got
a couple of conservation projects.
Speaker 1 (58:02):
Down here, so that's wonderful.
Speaker 2 (58:05):
But also a very long stint in South Africa, so
it's really good.
Speaker 1 (58:10):
I bet you guys have been there now for quite
a while. My last question for this episode, because I
have one other little thing I want to do with you,
involving hearing some other people's stories about what they were
like as kids. I know it's been thrown around there,
and Robert seems to be one of the culprits pushing it.
Would you ever try and continue the Dancing with the
(58:33):
Stars Irwin dynasty and jump onto that ballroom floor? Would
that be something you would ever consider?
Speaker 2 (58:40):
Oh? Absolutely, I'm going to adopt another child and get
them on the show. I think it should continue. So
adoption is definitely in my future because I found what
I'm good at. I am really good at being the
sidekick coach for the dancing journey. So, you know, so
(59:02):
proud of Bendy she was. But you know, interestingly, Bindy's
journey and Robert's journey were so similar because Bindy would
be invited to stuff and she'd say, I'm just here
to dance. I'm not here to go to Disneyland or
to do this thing. And Robert found that as well,
(59:24):
that you really have to commit if you're and I'm
sure you found that too. It was just all day,
every day, seven days a week, Yes, and an epic
dedication to the craft. So would I do it. I
would never say never, but I would have to say
I'm in the same boat that Bendy and Robert were,
(59:48):
having no dance experience to the point where my parents
were like, dancing is out when I was a teenager
invited to dances. So I've literally ever danced either.
Speaker 1 (01:00:01):
Yeah, I'm telling you, I think you have just like
Bindi and just like Robert, you have exactly what it
takes to because you have. No one seems to be
more dedicated than you, no one seems to be more
hard working than you. You have a you have a
(01:00:21):
shining personality. You've raised two champions who have already danced,
So I just know if anyone could do it and
do it well, it would be you. So I would
love to see it. I love to hear never say never.
I think that's very smart. And you know, Dancing with
the Stars was such a life changing experience for me,
(01:00:42):
and it wasn't just the dancing. Being able to be
around Robert and the other cast and in turn, you
and your family has become a true highlight of that
journey for me, and I am in awe of what
you have built and the grace in which you have
done it. The legacy you are leaving for you, your family,
(01:01:05):
you have cultivated all of that. So you are a
hero to me. You are a hero to many people
around the world. And I thank you so much for
talking with me and letting me call you a friend.
Speaker 2 (01:01:18):
Thank you because I feel that way. I feel that
when we all met you, we were all fans, and
now we're all friends, which is really nice. So now
what we have to do is this incredible podcast with
another Irwin family member from Australia. So I want to
see you at the Crocodile Hunter Lodge and Australia Zoo
(01:01:40):
and as Disney says, be my guest.
Speaker 1 (01:01:43):
Oh my gosh. Okay, I have to tell you though,
I'm very afraid of spiders. Nothing in the world sounds
more fun than going and visiting you guys and being
your guest and doing the podcast from there. What am
I going to do about the spiders? I hear there's
like two thousand species of giants spiders in Australia. I'm
very scared of them. Okay, that's what Robert said. Robert
(01:02:05):
said the exact same thing. Your family's incredible, and I
listen when Robert said it, I was like I believe you.
Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
You can. You can believe me because when Robert was
a tiny little boy, he asked me to please always
protect him from pirates, and a pirate has never gotten him.
Speaker 4 (01:02:23):
So I am telling you, no, spider, great you know
what that if that, if that worked for you and
pirates and Robert, of course it will work for me
and the spiders.
Speaker 1 (01:02:34):
I very much appreciate it, and I'm going to take
you up on it.
Speaker 2 (01:02:39):
I would love that because it's a sincere offer. Let
me know when you're coming and we will have the
most magical adventure I promise.
Speaker 1 (01:02:48):
Thank you so much. A joy to talk to you
as always, and I look forward to the next time.
Speaker 2 (01:02:54):
Thank you. I really appreciate having.
Speaker 1 (01:02:56):
Me on of course. Teen Beat is an iHeart podcast
was produced and hosted by Danielle Fischel, Executive producers Jensen
Carp and Amy Sugarman, Executive in charge of production Danielle Romo,
producer and editor Tara Subach. The theme song is by
mar Coppus. Yes that Mark Coppus. Follow us on Instagram
at Team beat pod.
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Betrayal Season 5
Saskia Inwood woke up one morning, knowing her life would never be the same. The night before, she learned the unimaginable – that the husband she knew in the light of day was a different person after dark. This season unpacks Saskia’s discovery of her husband’s secret life and her fight to bring him to justice. Along the way, we expose a crime that is just coming to light. This is also a story about the myth of the “perfect victim:” who gets believed, who gets doubted, and why. We follow Saskia as she works to reclaim her body, her voice, and her life. If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal Team, email us at betrayalpod@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.