BINDI & CHANDLER THE WEDDING IS OFF!
Family drama is threatening to spoil their big day
When an overjoyed Bindi Irwin and Chandler Powell announced their engagement in late July, they couldn’t wait to plan their dream wedding at Australia Zoo.
But four months on, Woman’s Day learns Bindi, 21, and Chandler, 22 – who have been dating since 2013 – may not even make it down the aisle. “The word is they’re having serious doubts about going through with it and are talking about whether to put the whole thing on hold for now,” an insider reveals. “They portray a picture-perfect existence but there are days Bindi just wants to cry because she doesn’t know if they should really be doing this.
“She and Chandler are talking very seriously about going back to the way they were, and walking away from the formality of it all to give themselves a much-needed break and take the pressure off.”
FAMILY TENSION
True to form, the loved-up couple have remained outwardly upbeat, with Bindi posting Instagram photos showing her and Chandler sampling wedding cake, and hints about wedding dress shopping. But behind the scenes, Irwin family tensions have been at an all-time high – and sources say that’s a big reason behind Bindi’s secret desire to scale things down. Her long-estranged grandad Bob Snr, 80, recently publicly revealed he wouldn’t expect an invite, while her aunt, Joy Muscillo, has broken her silence to reveal the “very sad” situation that ended her relationship with the family. Joy – the sister of Bindi’s beloved late dad Steve – insists her husband, Frank, was
“walked out” of Australia Zoo, where he worked, by matriarch Terri in 2016 and barred from speaking about the incident.
“Bindi hates all the bad blood, and she can’t get it out of her head,” explains our insider. “She doesn’t want it to affect her relationship with Chandler, but it plays on her mind daily and to be planning a wedding in the middle of all this turmoil has been a nightmare. At one point she said to him perhaps they should just elope or even cancel the wedding entirely.”
It doesn’t help that while Chandler’s family in Florida support their wedding, they’re feeling completely left out of the planning and that’s said to have caused some issues in their relationship, despite Chandler’s best efforts to smooth things over. “His mum, Shannon, doesn’t expect to be involved in every aspect of their day, but she’d like to have some say,” reveals the source. “But instead Terri has taken over and the only time they learn about any details is when they read it in the news. Bindi and Chandler didn’t even call to tell them the venue was Australia Zoo. They feel really left in the dark.”
THE PRESSURE IS ON
Unsurprisingly, there are now worries Bindi is under too much pressure from the stress of it all. “She feels like it’s one thing after another,” says our source. “Bindi knows there will always be a bit of drama when it comes to a wedding, but she expected it to be minor rows over seating plans or flowers, not drawn-out family battles.
“She’s still so young and it’s a lot of pressure for her. She’ll continue to plaster on a smile and act like everything is amazing, but cracks are beginning to show and she could be close to walking away.”