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"Some days I kind of lay on the floor and cry," says the widow of the Crocodile Hunter, Terri Irwin, "and other times I hold my head up."
Speaking from Australia three months after the tragic stingray death of animal expert husband Steve Irwin, she says, "It's a one-day-at-a-time issue, and I think everyone who deals with tragedy knows you definitely ebb and flow."
What's getting her through: children Bindi, 8, and Robert, 3, and carrying on his work, including the announcement today of two special G'Day USA Aussie Family Concerts, designed to promote tourism in Australia. Bindi will make her first U.S. stage appearance in these shows, slated for L.A. on Jan. 14 and New York on Jan. 20. (Tickets through australia-week.com.)
"They're kind of bittersweet events because Steve and Bindi were going to be promoting Australia," says Terri, 42. Now, she and Bindi, along with the Australia Zoo Croc Men dancers, The Wiggles children's group and Australia Zoo director Wes Mannion and some of his zoo animals will fill the bill.
Irwin says her husband was not just a crocodile wrangler who loved to say "Crikey!" "He lived life to the fullest," she says. "He never thought of himself as any kind of big deal. It was always about the animals. And that's what made him a hero. He didn't see himself that way."
His final project, Ocean's Deadliest, will air on the Discovery Channel Jan. 21 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
"It's important for people to get to see what he was doing," says Terri. "It's a wonderful insight into what his last trip was."
She sees Bindi, whose Bindi Kid Fitness video came out last week, carrying on Steve's legacy. "She's got a real understanding of how much work goes into a stage performance or something on television. She doesn't have stars in her eyes." But she does love the animals and the spotlight, says Irwin. "She's got that X factor like Steve did. She's got that empathy."
Bindi, who moved a crowd to tears speaking at her father's memorial service, was acting so well-adjusted after her dad's death that Terri worried. "I spoke to a psychologist about grief issues, and he said, 'That's nothing to be concerned about. That's what you're aiming for, a child to be able to grieve in her own process.'"
Irwin says Bob is having a tougher time. "His grief manifested itself with anger and frustration for a while. When he says, 'I wish Daddy would come back from heaven,' I worry that maybe he's not really in touch. Then I think, 'Wait a minute, I wish the same thing.'"
-- Ann Oldenburg
Music
Meat Loaf to heat up with national tour
If you missed the recent live extravaganza Bat on Broadway, have no fear: There will soon be plenty of reheated Meat Loaf to go around. On Feb. 23, Meat Loaf, 59, will launch a national tour of that performance, a three-act opus featuring tunes from the veteran rocker's Bat Out of Hell trilogy, which includes this fall's Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose. Acts 1 and 2 will showcase tunes from the previous installments, including hits such as I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That). "Bat Out of Hell demands something unique and spectacular,'' says Meat Loaf, aka Marvin Lee Aday. "I'm excited to take a bigger version of the shows we did in London and on Broadway on the road."
Tickets for the tour, set to wrap April 12 at New York's Madison Square Garden, go on sale Dec. 16.
-- Elysa Gardner
(c) USA TODAY
