Terri Irwin knows no one else can compare to her soulmate: her late husband, Steve Irwin.
“I totally got my happily ever after,” Terri, 59, exclusively told Us Weekly earlier this month while she and her children Bindi and Robert Irwin were gearing up for their annual Steve Irwin Gala. “And while there are a lot of wonderful men in the world, can you see another Steve Irwin? I just can’t. I’d be like, ‘I love that you’re a librarian and the dude decimal system is cool, but I got to go jump a crocodile and do that.’ Forget that.”
While Terri isn’t interested in stepping into the dating pool again, she does enjoy watching others in their golden years finding a second chance at love especially with shows like The Golden Bachelor.
“I do like the show,” Terri said, noting that joining The Golden Bachelorette cast isn’t on her radar, but she would be open to producing on the series. “I like the show because we’re encompassing all demographics.”
She later joked that there’s one celebrity crush Terri has that might consider her changing her mind.
“I am in love with Russell Crowe desperately, but we all are,” she joked with Bindi, 25, and Robert, 20, echoing similar sentiments.
However, Terri is well aware that Crowe, 60, is off the market. She noted that the actor and his partner are a great pair.
“We’ve been friends for decades and he’s just the most wonderful human being. Makes me laugh,” Terri shared of her connection to Crowe. “But no, he’s got a delightful girlfriend, Brittany, and is doing amazing things.”
While Terri has a soft spot for The Gladiator star, her heart still belongs to Irwin, who died in September 2006 following a stingray injury at the age of 44.
“I had the best marriage in the whole world for 14 years, and I’m very comfortable with the person I see in the mirror,” she told Us. “So I’m okay to be on my own now. And I’m lonely for Steve, but I’m not a lonely person, so I’m very lucky.”
Terri and Steve tied the knot in June 1992 after dating for nearly one year. They welcomed daughter Bindi and son Robert in June 1998 and December 2003, respectively. Since Steve’s death, Terri has kept her husband’s legacy by continuing his mission at the Australian Zoo.
Both Bindi and Robert have chosen to follow in their father’s footsteps and work alongside their mom. Terri shared that she thinks Steve would be “very proud” of the work they’ve done in his honor, which was a “big dream” of his to pass on his love of conservation.
“He would actually go [and] stare [into the fire,]” she recalled. “And [one day] he came in and he goes, ‘We have to have children. Who are we going to leave this all to? We have to have children.’ And I go, ‘Just because you have kids, doesn’t mean they’re going to be interested in what you’re doing.’ And he goes, ‘No, we’re having children and they’re going to love wildlife and conservation.’”
With reporting by Rachel Smith
