Terri Irwin reveals 'important' move Steve Irwin made two months before his death

Terri Irwin has opened up about how she overcame her grief following the death of her husband Steve Irwin, as well as revealing an "important" step the world-renowned conservationist took just two months before his death. The Crocodile Hunter was tragically killed by a stingray in 2006 at the age of 44, leaving behind his wife of 14 years, Terri, and their beloved children, Bindi and Robert.

During an appearance on the Wiggle Talk podcast this week, the Irwin matriarch spoke candidly about helping her children through the unimaginable loss while also grieving herself. She told hosts Simon Pryce and Lachlan Gillespie that the “turning point” was when someone who had also lost their husband wrote to her and said, “Eventually grief doesn’t consume you, it walks next to you”.

“I thought, what does that look like? How does that happen? Can I please just make it happen now because I'm so sad,” she remarked.

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“When they say time heals all wounds, it doesn't, but eventually it changes it and it walks next to you. It’s always there and you have to acknowledge your grief, but it's a companion rather than an all-consuming feeling.

“And if we can focus on that and focus on [how] there's some grief you never really get over, it’s okay. You’re gonna be okay and your kids will be okay and the sun will shine again. It may not shine as bright, but it'll shine again. So that's what you have to hold on to.”

Fans applaud Terri's 'wise words'

A video of Terri’s comments on the podcast has since gone viral on TikTok, with many social media users praising her “wise words”.

“Time doesn’t heal all wounds, we simply learn how to manage and better deal with our grief and emotional pain in time. She’s spot on. All the love in the world to the Irwin family,” one person wrote.

“One day you will talk about them and instead of crying at the loss, you will smile because you are grateful for the memories you have together to reflect on and share. Hold on, you will be okay,” another added.

“How she processed and talks about going through her grief has helped me going through my own so much,” a third shared, followed by someone else who said, “This is the most genuine I’ve ever seen her”.

“So beautifully put by Terri,” a different user replied, while another commented, “I definitely needed to hear this”.

Why Terri thinks Steve had 'a good death'

Elsewhere in the podcast, Terri said that death is something everyone needs to prepare for “because you’re never prepared for it”.

“Steve and I had done a 10-year business plan and finished our wills in July, and then we lost him in September. So, of course, it was such a bizarre accident that we couldn't have prepared for it in any way, but we just prepared for life without us. How would things continue? What would the world look like if we weren't there?” she detailed.

“And I think that's an important thing for us all to do because we put that off. There's a tendency to think that if I address my own mortality, I am somehow willing it to happen. And that's not how it works. If you don't address it and something happens, it's very catastrophic.”

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She also revealed that Steve had always said to her before his passing that he wasn’t afraid of death, but he was “afraid of dying” and didn’t want to “go through the process”.

“And so he got his wish, amazingly,” she remarked. “His light blinked out very quickly, which was, in a way, a good death for Steve. Too soon and not fair, but the rest of us didn't see it coming, and it was so confronting and difficult and challenging.

“All of us who love someone dearly are going to deal with this in some manner. And the more you love someone, the harder it is to lose them. It's just the way it is.”

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