Bindi Irwin reveals secret disorder father Steve battled for years before his death
4 February 2025, 13:33
Bindi Irwin has revealed the secret disorder that her father Steve battled for years before his death.
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The 26-year-old opened up about her father as part of a wide-ranging conversation, in which she also addressed dealing with grief and her own experience with chronic illness.
She said her father "never slept" and would at times be up as early as 2am doing research.
The conservationist, who was known as the Crocodile Hunter, died on September 4, 2006, after being pierced in the chest by a short-tail stingray barb while filming in the Great Barrier Reef.
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Speaking on the A Life of Greatness podcast, Bindi said: "[Steve] had terrible insomnia. I mean, he just never slept."
She continued: "A couple weeks ago, we were going through some of his things because we were cleaning out one of our old cupboards in an office [at Australia Zoo], because we were renovating our offices."
In the process, she uncovered some of her father's scientific research, unlocking memories from her childhood.
"I was looking through his journals and he would just write down, I mean, thousands, it's not an exaggeration, but thousands of pages worth of information and facts and studies and findings," Bindi said.
"Dad would wake up at 2am in the morning. I swear to you, his day would start at 2am. And by the time everyone else's workday has started, he'd put in a full day's work."
She explained that he preferred "researching and studying" in the hours before dawn when "the world is dark".
It is thanks to his research that Australia now has the largest study of crocodilians in the world, she said.
Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder for adults which can last for months or years.
Common causes of insomnia include stress, anxiety or depression, jet lag and shift work, according to the NHS.
It can usually get better by changing sleeping habits.
