We love Bindi Sue Irwin, and not just because she’s named after a crocodile and her family’s dog. (True story!) Daughter of Terri and Steve “The Crocodile Hunter” Irwin, we’ve watched her grow up, and she’s continued to share her family’s love of animals and the media and via her work at the Australia Zoo. So when she and husband Chandler Powell welcomed their daughter, Grace Warrior, in 2021 (on their one-year wedding anniversary!) we collectively felt like proud and excited aunties… but, like aunties, we can also hurt feelings when we don’t mean to. For example: when people ask Irwin and Powell whether they’re going to have another child. The couple addressed this question in a recent Q&A and gave the perfect answer.
“How often do we get asked that question?” Irwin asked, turning to her husband.
“Daily, if not more,” he replied.
She went on to say that she had “a lot of feelings,” but let Powell answer first.
Powell acknowledged Irwin’s decade-long struggle with endometriosis, which she shared with the public last year, noting that it was “an absolute miracle” that they were able to have Grace in the first place. “We love Grace so much, and we are reveling in every little moment we have with her, with our little miracle baby.”
Irwin went on to elaborate, speaking with tremendous grace (no pun intended) and gratitude while still making her point clear.
“I really appreciate everybody who’s curious to see if we will have another child, but I do just want to send it out there to remember to be careful when you ask … because you never know what’s happening in someone’s life, in a family’s world. Everything may seem fine on the outside and on the inside their own personal journey might have been filled with turmoil and challenges that you can’t even fathom. So while I … appreciate the kindness and good intent behind [the question], it’s also a really tricky question for many, many people who maybe can’t have another baby, maybe can’t have a baby at all.”
She then reiterated that she and Powell were delighted to have Grace, and while there was a possibility that Grace might have a sibling one day, chances are that would not be the case: Grace is likely their sole child.
“I do not like the world ‘only,’” Irwin observed. “She is our one beautiful, perfect, amazing little girl.”
Irwin has spoken on the issue of having more children in the past, telling People in 2023 that people asking about her future family plans (or worse, telling her it was her “responsibility” to have more children) “breaks your heart.” So the fact that she addressed the matter yet again with so much kindness is a testament to her patience.
“Let’s remember,” she concludes in her latest Q&A, “Don’t ask someone if they’re having children or more children, because you don’t know what’s happening behind closed doors.”
