CHRISTENING SHOWDOWN!
TENSION IS MOUNTING BETWEEN BINDI AND HER MUM TERRI
Little Grace Irwin Powell is barely a month old, and already she’s become a model for Australia Zoo’s new line of babywear, set to star in an Animal Planet special, and is being dressed in khakis bearing the family brand.
Now, it appears even the infant’s christening may turn into a marketing exercise to help promote Australia Zoo after a worrisome past fiscal year – and it seems 22-year-old new mum Bindi might be starting to baulk!
New Idea understands Terri, 56, has high hopes to plan a huge ceremony at the zoo as part christening, part TV show, giving her the chance to debut her new granddaughter to as many celebrity friends and TV viewers as possible – but Bindi’s not buying it!
“Bindi and Chandler were never able to have the big wedding of their dreams because of COVID-19, and Terri says she’s motivated by making up for that,” says an insider.
“Bindi just feels she’s barely had a second to sit still and enjoy Grace’s earliest moments,” adds the source, who says the new mum has been “seriously slammed” filming upcoming TV special Crikey! It’s a Baby! for Animal Planet.
Add the pressure of work on top of Terri’s wishes to share her first grandchild with a huge crowd of people Bindi and Chandler don’t know, and the source says Bindi is “seriously stressed”.
“Obviously Bindi will do anything humanly possible to ensure the zoo she will one day inherit is thriving – which includes allowing fans to feel a part of their conservation family,” says the source. “However, she’s starting to worry it’s too soon to make her baby girl public property.
“Bindi and Terri are usually pretty united on how they run the zoo, but having Grace has changed Bindi’s priorities,” continues the insider, adding that Bindi is yearning for some private time with Grace.
Interestingly, the insider says that Bindi has realised that public life should be a choice Grace makes for herself, rather than having her mum and grandmother thrust her into the spotlight before she can even talk.
“Terri understands and wants to support Bindi but also struggles to see the problem with it, given Steve had both Bindi and her brother Robert in front of the cameras as babies,” the insider adds, noting this latest drama has again highlighted that the family living and working so closely together might be becoming a problem for Bindi and Chandler.