Two of my great passions are people and painting.
In this series, I get to enjoy both.
I meet extraordinary Australians, explore their stories...
I'm putting my hand up and saying I want to do something.
I want to be part of the solution.
See, I'm now crying now talking about crying.
What's happened to me?
..and paint their portraits.
It's theirs to keep, so I hope they like it.
Oh! (LAUGHS)
Wow! (GASPS)
Oh, my God! Holy mackerel!
That looks me! It's beautiful.
Mate, that's incredible.
That is gorgeous. That is absolutely amazing.
Welcome to Anh's Brush With Fame.
Terri Irwin is a world-famous conservationist.
She moved halfway around the world
when she fell in love with Steve Irwin.
Together, they created the extraordinarily successful
Crocodile Hunter documentaries...
Gee, that didn't come easy.
..and ran their Queensland zoo.
In 2006, she lost the love of her life
in tragic circumstances.
What does it take to raise kids through public grief
and continue her late husband's legacy?
This is the first time I've actually kind of sat for a portrait.
It's like the unknown.
What's he going to capture and how is he going to portray me,
and it's just kind of exciting.
Terri is such a professional.
In 20 years in the spotlight,
she's always seemed so comfortable in her own skin.
She has amazing warmth and composure.
I want to capture that warmth as well as her dignity and her drive.
Terri. It's so good to meet you.
Oh, welcome to the show. Thank you so much.
So great to have you. Take a seat. Very honoured to be here.
(LAUGHS) Thank you.
Oh, wow. We've got, um... We've got a lot to talk about.
We do. With the older I get, the more there is to talk about.
(LAUGHS)
Let's go right back to the start. Yes.
You grew up in a small town in Oregon
and your father had lots of jobs.
Yes. Yes. Well, I was born at a young age.
Actually at Sacred Heart Hospital in Eugene, Oregon,
which is the same hospital my dad was born in in 1921.
My mother was a stay-at-home mum
and my dad was just an interesting, larger-than-life character.
He was in World War II as a radio operator,
and in the 1950s was a motorcycle cop.
When he started his own business, it was the funeral escort business
and then also driving pilot car.
So pilot cars are those vehicles that go in front of a big truck.
And then I came along in 1964.
And by that time, he was driving some of those trucks.
I learned a lot from him with his outlook on life.
He was always a very loving and forgiving person
and I really was close to my dad and wanted to emulate that.
He was always that kind of business entrepreneur
but very ethical and honest person.
So I was really lucky with great parents.
Driving across country,
Terri's dad would often find injured animals and bring them home
to nurse back to health,
instilling his daughter's love of wildlife from an early age.
How did you end up with a cougar?
I was in my early 20s and by then, running the family business.
I saw an ad in the paper one day
where somebody was selling a cougar, a mountain lion.
And it was really sad.
This man was selling everything from bears to monkeys
and all these exotic animals
and this cougar was in a little pet pack
and she had worn all the fur off her forehead trying to get out
and was really in a bad way.
So I called the United States Department of Agriculture.
The man I talked to said, "I can get there in about six months."
And I said, "In six months, this cougar's going to be dead."
So I went back and I took all my savings -
it was like $1,300 -
and I bought this cougar.
And I thought, "This is the best decision I've ever made."
She was sweet and loving and would curl up in my lap.
Her favourite game was to sneak up behind me and pounce on me.
And as she got bigger, this pouncing had to stop.
So I had to start working with her,
teaching her to play with her toys and not me.
So that really began my journey.
I started an organisation called Cougar Country
where I worked with predatory mammals.
Over the next couple of years,
Terri grew her animal sanctuary and became a vet nurse
after volunteering at an emergency veterinary hospital.
But a trip to the Great Barrier Reef would change her life forever.
And then you find yourself on holidays in Australia.
Yes.
And you see this guy.
Oh, it was really special.
So, I think when I came to Australia,
I came with friends when I was 27 years old
and they were mad keen scuba divers
and I, to this day, I'm terrified to scuba dive.
So we drove past this little tiny park
and my friends said to me, "Do you wanna go in?"
And I go, "You know, it looks kind of crummy.
"They'll probably be just a couple of snakes in jars
"and I'll be depressed."
And then I went, "No, I'll go in. Let's go in.
"Let's just go see it while we're here."
And it was small, but everything was immaculately clean.
And a lot of it was free ranging,
like the kangaroos are just hopping around,
and it was beautiful.
They were doing a crocodile show
and this guy was in with these crocodiles
and he was talking about them
in ways that I never really thought of crocodiles.
And he said, "They're also very passionate lovers."
And I thought,
"Now, there's something I wouldn't attribute to a crocodile."
But he said the male is very attentive to the female,
sometimes for hours before mating takes place.
And I thought, "Well, that's interesting.
"Crocodiles have figured out foreplay. Good for them."
And then he's feeding the crocodiles,
but it wasn't about him.
He only wanted to show how beautiful and amazing these animals were.
The fact that he was so humble and so loving towards these animals
was really attractive to me.
And he'd looked, like... rockin' those shorts too,
so I may have noticed that.
After the croc show,
I said something fabulously clever like, "Hi."
And we got to talking and I forgot all about my friends.
And all afternoon, we just talked.
I was trying to figure out how to say, "Do you have a girlfriend?"
And all of a sudden, like he read my mind,
he said, "Would you like to meet my girlfriend?"
And I felt myself sinking into the earth
as I said, "Yes, I'd love to."
And so he called out and he said, "Hey, Su! Come here!"
and here comes his little dog, Sui.
(LAUGHS)
And he goes, "This is me girlfriend, Sui."
And I thought, "OK, you're perfect." (LAUGHS)
Three weeks after returning to Oregon,
Steve rang Terri and said he was coming to America.
They spent Thanksgiving together with her family
and when he returned to Australia, she followed him back.
He immediately took me to the Burdekin River,
which is about the southernmost population
of crocodiles in Queensland.
We went to the shallow area of the river,
but he kept putting himself between me and the river.
And I was like, "What are you doing?"
And he said, "Well, I'm sure this area is safe,
"but there's crocs in this river.
"So I want to be between you and the crocodiles."
I'm like, "Great. OK. Well, that suits me."
Then we went out that night to spot crocodiles and it was magical.
And the further we got up the river, the bigger the crocs got.
And Steve could tell the size of the croc
by the distance between its eyes,
but he said this one probably someone took a pot shot at,
It only has one eye, it's probably really big.
And the boat motor gets all tangled in this weed,
and all of a sudden the motor stops and the boat stops
and Steve goes, "Oh, darn it."
He went over the back of the boat
and starts cleaning the weed out of the propeller
right where this giant croc is.
It's the middle of the night in the middle of this river.
All of a sudden I thought,
"This guy is going to get grabbed by a crocodile.
"I don't even know where I am or how to get out of here
"or anything!
"I'm gonna be alone!"
And sure enough, everything was fine.
It was wildlife experience on steroids.
It was incredible. Oh, man. Yeah.
So beautiful.
Eight months later, you guys got married.
Yeah, well, it was a funny thing because we went back to the zoo.
We were falling a tree.
There was a tree that had been hit by lightning
and it had killed the tree.
We take it down in increments and then stack it all up.
And I'd been doing this all day, so by the end of the day I'm sweaty
and dirty and covered with leaves and bark and whatever.
And I was sitting there having a cool drink
and Steve turned to me and said, "So, what do you reckon?
"You want to get married?"
(LAUGHS)
And I thought of one million reasons why I couldn't get married,
and a little voice somewhere said, "Yes! I'd love to!"
It was just absolutely and utterly comfortable.
It just felt like...
..we'd always been together.
It was amazing.
They married in June of 1992,
but no-one could have predicted that Steve's home videos
of him wrestling crocodiles
were about to push the young couple onto the world stage.
Quite literally on our honeymoon, we got a phone call from someone
who was telling us about these crocodiles that needed help.
They said, "Someone is trying to shoot this problem crocodile
"and he's massive - he's like a 15-foot croc.
"Do you want to come try to save him and we'll film it?"
And Steve said, "What do you want to do?
"Do you want to have our honeymoon or go film this croc?"
And I go, "Wow! That sounds amazing. Let's go do that."
So off we went into the bush.
We didn't save the big male - he'd been shot, but we found him.
This is such a waste. Bullet hole straight to the brain.
TERRI: But we saved his female.
She was about 9.5 feet long
and she was in this big soft mesh trap.
So Steve said to me, "You jump on her head
"and then I'll get the netting off."
And she's sitting there like this, going, "I'm gonna kill everybody."
So it's like... just go against everything in your entire body
that is screaming, "Don't do that."
And I jumped on her head...
Get right into her, babe. Get right into her.
I'm really scared. That's OK.
TERRI: And together, we got her out of that trap.
I remember laying on top of the crocodile,
holding her head down,
and she would exhale and her breath would blow into my fringe.
And I remember thinking how I was sitting on a dinosaur,
and what an incredible privilege it was.
After we did that, we end up doing 10 shows
and I thought, "Well, that's nice and now we're done with that."
And then it kind of took off.
We had this opportunity to go talk to a network -
cable network in America.
Yep.
So I was the one voted to go, because I was the American
so I probably spoke the right language.
And I sat down at this table with all of these amazing people
and showed them these documentaries that we'd filmed.
And they said to me, "Here's how documentaries work.
"You've got about 80% animal and 20% presenter.
"The guy is, like, in every single shot.
"So it's kind of not a documentary."
So in the end, I'm that person who goes,
"I'm sure if you just put it on, it would really work."
And they said, "Well, actually, we've got this other little network.
"It's got about 250,000 subscribers."
So I was willing to take anything as a success.
Went back and said, "We're on America's smallest cable network
"but we're on!"
Over the next 10 years,
their subscribership went to 90 million.
Wow. 250,000 to 90 million.
And they attribute that to the fact that Steve was doing
what nobody else was doing.
STEVE: This is the perfect recipe for disaster.
Terri's landed in the water.
There's a large crocodile lurking here.
It's eaten a lead-in bait just several...
How big did it get at the height of it?
You couldn't go anywhere without people knowing who Steve was.
People would spot Steve... Like, I don't know how.
We were in New York
and in a vehicle with the tinted windows and everything
and someone spotted him, and the next thing you know,
people were literally climbing on to the vehicle.
We had to get the mounted police in.
I was fine, and people say hi and they're lovely.
With Steve, it was like they were just nuts.
Some of the funny stuff that he'd do, because Steve...
..Steve could wear a disguise and then he'd be fine
unless he said something.
So what he did was he went to the dentist
and he got specially made teeth and he said, "I want Chad Morgan teeth."
So he got these delightfully awesome teeth and he put those in.
What do you think? Anything's possible.
I just walked... walked past people there.
Not one person recognised me.
Put those teeth in, I don't wanna look at you, so...
Sometimes putting that disguise on him
was like putting that disguise on a silverback gorilla.
It really didn't work. He was still Steve, you know.
I don't think that famous was really a word that ever occurred to Steve.
He didn't change! He never changed.
He always drove an old ute, he always loved going bush.
I loved that about him.
He was never pretentious, never big-noted himself.
And we did put everything we made for wildlife - and still do -
back into conservation, 100%.
I'm really proud of that.
Terri has come a long way from her humble childhood,
but she's taken those values with her throughout her life.
You can see why she and Steve fell in love.
I admire her optimism and her determination.
I want to capture that.
You and Steve decided to have a child.
Oh, gosh, it was funny.
So, one night ran in and he goes, "We've gotta have children."
and I go, "OK."
And he said, "No. Who are we going to leave this all to?
"We have to have children."
And I go, "You do know that just because you have children
"doesn't mean they're going to like or do what you do."
"Nope. We have to have children
"and they will love wildlife and do this."
I'm like, "OK. Sounds great to me."
How close was Steve to Bindi?
You know, they were absolutely inseparable.
You know what - I never wanted to be a dad.
I couldn't really give a rip.
And now I am the proudest father, I gotta tell you.
I thought you were gonna be a boy.
I can't dwell on her for too long or I start bawling my eyes out.
Who would have thought someone as ugly me
could bring into the world something so beautiful,
such a treasure.
He was so enthusiastic and amazed and was just the best dad
because he was always a hands-on dad.
So Bindi got to experience everything.
Whoo!
We just crossed the Rio Grande,
so that's Bindi and Steve-o's first trip to Mexico
on the 20th of August, 1998.
So then Bob comes along and he looks so much like a young Steve.
He really does.
As Robert has grown up, it's been really uncanny.
I pulled out a picture of Steve
when he was about the same age Robert is now.
I said, "Can you guess who this is?"
And he kind of looks up and he goes, "That's me."
And then looks again and went, "Wait a minute,"
because they look so much alike at this point in time.
It's uncanny.
The month before Steve passed away,
he started letting the kids do more things.
You know, he never thought he'd have a long life.
He just always kind of had this sense that his life
would be cut short.
I remember him saying to me,
"I don't think I'm going to film anymore.
"I think I'm just going to spend time with my kids."
Tell me the last goodbye. Your last goodbye.
We were flying out and Steve stayed
because he was going to film a documentary
called Ocean's Deadliest
about all these different ocean creatures.
So we were going to Tasmania.
I remember him at the airstrip, waving goodbye.
And I felt so bad for Robert because he was too little.
He was in his seat belt and fun police didn't take the seatbelt off
so he could see his dad and wave goodbye.
And that was the last... the last time we saw him.
Those were the days when the communication wasn't as good,
so there wasn't much in range in Tasmania.
And I got to our destination for the night
and they said, "You need to call your zoo manager."
And I thought, "Well, that's weird but OK."
And so they took me into a back room
and then I got the news that Steve had been in this accident
and had died.
I just remember this incredible sense of responsibility.
This feeling of overwhelming grief but...
It was like, what... what do I do next?
So I kind of collected my thoughts
and then I had to go out to the car and tell Bindi and Robert,
which was really hard.
And they'd, um...
Somebody had arranged a plane
so we didn't have to fly commercially.
And I remember thinking, I have to...
(CRIES)
..I have to drive myself.
So I got in the car and they said, "We'll drive you to the airport."
And I said, "No."
So I drove myself, got in the plane and went home.
But the thing I didn't expect or understand...
..was...
..just how it affected everyone.
So we got back and it was dark,
and we drive into the zoo
and there's all this media out front of the zoo.
And I thought, "You've done the story.
"It's been on the five o'clock news. Why are you still here?"
But then no-one would have been more surprised than Steve
at that... just outpouring of grief and love.
Today the world has lost a great wildlife icon,
a passionate conservationist
and one of the proudest dads on the planet.
He died what he... he loved doing best.
Steve died on September 4th, 2006, at the age of 44.
The shock of his passing was felt all over the world.
Grief hits you at the most bizarre times.
So I might be talking to biology students
and it'll remind me of Steve and I'll burst into tears.
You don't ever get over grief.
It changes.
But you never wake up one morning and go, "Oh, I'm done with that."
Sure.
So that was the challenge in the journey after Steve died.
The hard thing is that we had helicopters on the house
and people with listening devices and so forth.
For three weeks, I'm trying to protect my kids.
I've literally got them rolled up in blankets
in the back seats of vehicles
to keep them from being photographed at their most vulnerable.
The police were awesome. Queensland Police are amazing.
I had to go to the mortuary to arrange things
and I really didn't want to be photographed a bazillion times.
And coincidentally, there would be random breath testing
for all those poor paparazzi.
And they would be getting random breath tests
while I just went on through.
So you really realise how many lives were touched by Steve.
You've not just lost your husband, your soul mate.
How difficult was that time?
Immediately, what I didn't know I'd feel is such fear.
Sometimes I'd catch myself in a mirror and I looked scared.
I've always been a very independent person
and I don't think I realised how much I leaned on Steve.
But we worked together, lived together, filmed together,
did everything together
and all of a sudden, there was no sounding board.
And we were a great team.
I never had the feeling that Steve let me do something
or made me do something.
But all of a sudden, I was alone.
And for my kids I thought,
"How do how do I try to give them what Steve could have given them?"
I mean, he's just the most amazing, larger-than-life, awesome dad.
So everything was frightening.
I think Bindi grasped it. She understood.
You know, growing up at a zoo, your favourite animal dies too.
And it's... Grief is not something she hadn't dealt with before.
It was harder with Robert.
He just wasn't connecting.
Was he saying, "When's Dad coming back?"
He would do that a lot
or he'd sit in the bathtub and cry, "I just want my dad."
You know, I always felt with Steve
if I hadn't married Steve, I wouldn't have gotten married.
I wasn't even dating. I wasn't even looking.
I was 27 years old and figured my life was going to be my work.
And I met Steve and fell instantly in love
and I just feel that we had that soul mate thing.
And in the 10 years since, I haven't dated
or even thought about it
because I'm not afraid to be on my own.
Yep.
It's just really hard not having Steve.
I'm just lonely for Steve, if that makes sense.
Sure.
What's the best advice you could give?
The meaning of life is unconditional love.
So if you can achieve that...
..I think... I think you're set.
What you felt for Steve and Steve felt for you?
Mmm. Unconditional love.
And it's hard.
There's no word in our language
for the opposite of a procrastinator.
But that's what he was, and it was every bit as annoying.
So he had to do everything NOW
and yet, in looking back, what a special thing.
We need to experience everything we can,
even if it's a little bit scary.
We will all have a legacy.
What will our legacy be?
The way you live your life is the way you leave your life,
and Steve had so many good messages and was such a good person
that I think it's an easy legacy to continue.
Terri, it's been such a joy and an honour to chat with you.
I'm actually nearly done.
Oh, wow!
I just need another 20 minutes or so to finish off
and I'll bring him back and I'll show you, uh, the Terri Irwin.
Oh, I'm so excited! Thank you!
So take a little break. Thank you very much.
He brought up some things that I haven't talked about before
and it was really good.
It'll be interesting to see kind of who he thinks I am
by the way he paints me.
Terri has wrapped her kids in love
and helped them navigate a public life that few of us can even imagine.
But despite the success, she remained grounded.
I've tried to capture a dignified, warm and loving Terri.
Let's see what she thinks.
Alright, Terri. I'm so excited.
I'm all done.
I've enjoyed today so much. Thank you.
And what I get from you is despite everything that's happened,
you continue to look forward to the future with optimism
and with a great sense of purpose.
So that's what I wanted the portrait to have.
Oh, I'm so excited.
So I'll get you to close your eyes. OK.
OK, keep them closed... They're closed.
..until I tell you to open them.
Alright. Go for it.
Wow!
That's amazing!
I love that you've worked in. Really beautiful colours.
And... that's incredible.
Wow! How do you do that? That's amazing, Anh.
You are so, so talented.
And thanks for lining out those little wrinkles.
(BOTH LAUGH)
I don't know how you can portray the inside of a person
on the outside of a person.
That is really remarkable.
You can see that kind of sadness, but determination.
You got somewhere at home for it? Absolutely.
Definitely.
I met Bob earlier. Yes!
He's just been waiting. Yeah.
I'd love to bring him on, just for a little bit.
Oh, that would be awesome. See what he thinks.
Alright? Bob!
Yay! Robert, come hither!
Thank you! Have a look.
That is incredible! Wow!
Isn't that amazing? You've just captured her soul.
Absolutely.
Thank you so much.
I think I've slid back into my 40s, so thank you.
You look gorgeous. That is absolutely amazing.
Thanks for coming on the show, guys.
Thank you very much. I do appreciate it.
Thank you. God bless. Thank you.
Thank you.
That was absolutely incredible.
And his ability to take paint and create emotion is remarkable.
It's like I could see in the painting
how I feel that kind of mix of sadness
but really determined at the same time.
It's just astonishing.
I'm so impressed.
I think it's more difficult than he makes it look
and he's very dedicated and passionate
and that really comes through.
It was wonderful to chat to Terri.
Her and the kids have picked up where Steve left off
and they continue to do great work for wildlife conservation.
Next time, a survivor of the 2005 London bombings.
The remarkable and resilient Gill Hicks.
I remember immediately thinking, "I must be dead."
My challenge is to capture her grace, strength,
and admirable compassion.
(GASPS)
Oh, Anh!
Wow!
Captions by Red Bee Media