Bindi Irwin was there in spirit, but not in person, when her family gathered May 2 at the 3rd Annual Steve Irwin Gala at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Terri Irwin said her daughter is doing so much better as she continues to battle endometriosis, but that travel remains a challenge for now.
“This year she’s just staying a little close to home,” Terri said, adding that it is less taxing for Bindi to stay home feeding crocodiles and that she will be back next year to celebrate the night. Robert Irwin echoed that update, saying Bindi is doing a great job holding down the fort while the family keeps up its conservation work.
That work is not small. Robert said Australia Zoo has a team of about 500 people and the family oversees roughly 500,000 acres of conservation land, making Bindi’s absence from the gala more notable than it might first sound. It also underscored the practical side of her illness: she is helping at home while the rest of the family carries the public-facing schedule.
Bindi has been open for years about her endometriosis, and on March 30 she described the pain of having 50 lesions cut out of her body over the past three years after spending 10 years being undiagnosed. She said she had tried to keep her invisible illness to herself after being told by doctors it was just part of being a woman, and added that no one deserves to suffer in silence.
The update from Las Vegas makes one thing plain: Bindi is not stepping away from the family’s work, only from the travel that her condition makes harder right now. If her mother’s timeline holds, she should be back at the gala next year, stronger and back in the room with the rest of the Irwins.
