Bindi Irwin reveals dad Steve battled secret disorder before his tragic death

Bindi Irwin has opened up about her late father, Steve, who tragically died after being pierced in the heart by a stingray barb while filming in the Great Barrier Reef

Steve Irwin's daughter, Bindi, has revealed her dad suffered from a debilitating disorder before his tragic death in 2006.

The much-loved Crocodile Hunter star died, aged 44, after being pierced in the heart by a stingray barb while filming in the Great Barrier Reef.

Bindi, 26, who has carried on Steve's admirable conservation work, has opened up about growing up with the Aussie in a new podcast and admits the revered zoologist "never slept" because he suffered from insomnia.

Revealing Steve would always start his days at two o'clock in the morning, she told Sarah Grynberg on a new episode of the A Life of Greatness podcast: "He had terrible insomnia. I mean, he just never slept."

Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder in adults, which the NHS defines as someone self-reporting difficulties in falling asleep, maintaining sleep, and/or waking too early on at least three nights a week. Acute insomnia, which lasts less than three months, usually has an obvious underlying cause, related to work, family, stress or jetlag. Whereas chronic insomnia lasts, which lasts for a longer period of time and can develop due to underlying psychological or behavioural patterns, affects 10 to 15 per cent of adults.

Revealing she recently stumbled upon swathes of Steve's scientific research "hidden in the back of cupboards", Bindi realised the star was putting in hours of work before sunrise.

She said: "We were going through his cupboards. And people may not realise that he had such a scientific mind. I was looking through his journals and he would just write down, I mean, thousands, it's not an exaggeration, but thousands of pages worth of information and facts and studies and findings.

"Dad would wake up at 2am in the morning. I swear to you, his day would start at 2am. And by the time everyone else's workday has started, he'd put in a full day's work."

In 2021, Bindi, who is carrying on Steve's conservation work at the Australia Zoo along with her mum, Terri, brother, Robert, and husband, Chandler Powell, gave birth to her first child in 2021.

The adorably named Grace Warrior, who is the image of her grandpa, Steve, is growing up around wildlife at the zoo where her famous family lives.

Before her daughter was born, Bindi told The Bump she knew Grace would continue Steve's legacy, saying: “I know in my heart that she will forge her own path to make our planet a better place through her connections with the gorgeous animals that we protect here at Australia Zoo and the conservation work we do with animal species around the globe.”

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs onTikTok,Snapchat,Instagram,Twitter,Facebook,YouTubeandThreads.