Robert Irwin Reflects On the ‘Good’ Kind of ‘Pain’ Walking Sister Bindi Down the Aisle at Her Wedding

Robert Irwin has embraced all sides of grief since the passing of his father, Steve Irwin.

The zookeeper, 22, appeared on the Tuesday, March 10, episode of the All There Is with Anderson Cooper podcast and discussed how walking his older sister, Bindi Irwin, 27, down the aisle on her wedding day in 2020 brought mixed emotions.

“Isn’t it crazy how that pain can feel — it sounds so weird — but it can feel so good when you’re actually embracing it. When you’re letting it kinda hit ya,” Robert remarked.

“Not detrimentally, but you’re letting it in, and you’re feeling it,” he explained. There have been times in my life where there’s like certain moments that just, it just hits you and you just like, oof.”

“I know for me, like one of those moments was when my sister got married,” he continued. “Because she always planned on my dad, obviously, walking her down the aisle.”

The Dancing with the Stars champion admitted that before he accompanied Bindi — who now shares daughter Grace, 4, with husband Chandler Powell — down the aisle, he felt “like this isn’t my job,” and had “this weird sort of imposter syndrome.”

However, Robert changed his mindset on the matter.

“I almost felt a responsibility. It was like this is what dad was supposed to be doing. So I got to make the most of it. I got to do this for him. I need to enjoy this for him,” he confessed. “I remember walking her down the aisle and that night just being like, like I downloaded, like I dumped so much emotion. I was just sitting in my backyard on the ground, just like dumping so much emotion. I think because yeah, there are these little moments that you just go oof.”

Back in 2020, Robert took to Instagram sharing a photo of himself and Bindi at her ceremony, writing, “Walking my sister down the aisle was one of the most special moments of my life ❤️.”

In 2006, Steve tragically passed away from a stingray attack when Bindi was 8 years old, and Robert was just 2 years old. The siblings, as well as their mom, Terri, 61, have since honored Steve by carrying on his wildlife conservation mission.