Terri Irwin TEARING HER FAMILY APART!
Tensions are running high as a secret ongoing feud rears its ugly head again
Posing for a happy snap, it appears to be the perfect portrait, but behind the smiles, the Irwin clan is masking a secret that is tearing Terri’s family apart.
The zookeeping family have in fact been embroiled in a years-long feud with relatives.
The photo taken at Oregon’s Smith Rock State Park sees Terri grinning beside her 15-year-old son Robert, daughter Bindi, 20, her boyfriend Chandler Powell, 22, and their Australia Zoo colleague Luke Reavley. Also joining them is Terri’s sister Bonnie Marineau, who lives in Oregon with her husband John. “I lucked out with this fam!” Luke wrote next to the candid snap.
CLOSE SIBLING
Bonnie is close to the Irwins and has been to Australia Zoo on several occasions. She and her hubby were also by Terri’s side at the Hollywood Walk of Fame star unveiling ceremony for her late husband, Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, in April last year.
However, one person was missing in the photo: Terri’s estranged sister Patricia Raines, who also lives in Oregon – just a couple of hours’ drive from
where the picture was taken.
Although Terri, 54, and her sisters live on opposite sides of the world, the wildlife warrior has remained close only to Bonnie.
“Bonnie is older than Terri but they have a special connection and she gets on brilliantly with the kids,” an insider at Australia Zoo tells Woman’s Day. “They try to go out to Oregon to visit at least once a year and talk on the phone a lot. Terri has made it clear that Bonnie is welcome at the zoo any time. Bindi and Robert adore her.”
‘Patricia would love to be a part of Terri’s life again’
It’s a heartbreaking contrast to the way Terri’s other sister Patricia feels, after she was unceremoniously cut out of the Irwins’ life.
Patricia, 65, revealed in 2016 that she fell out with both Terri and Bonnie a few days before their mother Julia’s death in 2014 and hasn’t spoken to them since. “It’s so petty and it was so small... How people can hang onto grudges, I’m totally amazed. My heart aches so bad,” said Patricia.
She also admitted moving from her hometown of Eugene to the coastal city of Yachats just a few hours’ drive from where Terri and her children took their recent family photo.
Now, Woman’s Day can reveal that Terri’s latest trip to Oregon will drive her and Patricia further apart. “They’ve been on shaky ground for years,” says our insider. “Patricia would love to be a part of Terri’s life again and reconnect with Bindi and Robert.”
MISSING POPPY
Patricia is not the only relative absent in Terri’s life. She’s also estranged from Steve’s father Bob in the years since her husband died in 2006 when a stingray barb pierced his heart.
Bindi spilled the beans in July that while Terri has sent birthday and Christmas cards with no reply, she has zero relationship with her grandfather.
“Although I will continue to love my poppy, I do not hold out hope that he will ever seek the help he needs to deal with his grief. And I very much doubt he will ever reach out to me, or to Robert, as a loving grandfather,” said Bindi.
“Until I lost my dad, I did not understand that loss will evoke both the best and worst from the people you most care about. Sadly, this happened with my poppy.”
It looks like 79-year-old Bob may never make peace with the famous family, and sources believe Terri and Patricia’s relationship is also beyond repair.
“Terri has made it clear that she wants nothing to do with Patricia, and this close-knit family photo is proof of that,” adds the insider. “Sadly, there’s no going back and Bindi and Robert are always going to stand by their mum. The damage has been done.”