Bindi Irwin has shared a heartfelt health update after undergoing emergency surgery in the US in early 2025.
The 27-year-old wildlife conservationist and CEO of Australia Zoo said she can “finally say that I’m feeling better.”
Irwin posted an emotional message on Instagram detailing her journey.
“13 years of fighting for answers. 51 endometriosis lesions, a chocolate cyst, and my appendix were all removed across two surgeries with @seckinmd,” she wrote.
“My hernia from giving birth that was unzipping – was taken care of. I can FINALLY say that I’m feeling better. Genuinely healing.”
The star added that she can now “function in everyday life without wanting to throw up or pass out from the pain.”
“Slowly, slowly gaining my strength back. I cannot express the gravity of my emotions as I am beginning to recognise myself again,” the post continued.
Reflecting on her younger years, she said she felt “utterly ashamed as a teenager and young adult being told that my pain was just part of being a woman.”
“I felt lesser. I felt hurt. I felt weak. That is not ok. Young girls and women shouldn’t feel alone with pain in the driver’s seat of their lives,” she wrote.
“We need to take away the stigma of talking about women’s health. It’s time to have open discussions and make change on a global scale.”
Irwin’s openness has been widely applauded, resonating with women around the world who suffer from endometriosis.
She was in the US with her mother Terri and brother Robert for the annual Steve Irwin Gala in Las Vegas in early 2025 when she was rushed to hospital in severe pain. She underwent emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix, during which her endometriosis was also treated.
Irwin reassured fans on Instagram shortly after the procedure.
“Hey guys, Bindi here, I just wanted to thank you so much for your incredible well-wishes,” she said in a video.
“I just got out of surgery about an hour ago. I had my appendix removed. I also had 14 new endometriosis lesions that had to be removed. And they kindly stitched up my hernia as well.”
She thanked her doctor and the medical staff at Lennox Hill Hospital in New York, saying she is “forever grateful” for their care, and thanked everyone for their support.
Speaking to Kylie Kelce on the Not Gonna Lie podcast, Irwin reflected on her long journey with endometriosis.
“Endometriosis has been part of my life since I was 13 so it’s been a long journey, but they removed more lesions which was really exciting, and the disease itself goes undiagnosed for many many years for most women who have it, so it’s really tricky, so I’m really glad that they found more to take out.
“So it’s up and up, where every day is better, but yeah, I’m excited,” she said. “Hopefully no more surgery for a little while, cause I’ve had a few now.”
Irwin also spoke about the challenges she faced getting a diagnosis.
“It took me ten years, so it was ten years before I had my first surgery,” she explained.
“I cannot even remember how many doctors I went to. Doctor after doctor, specialists … I had every test you could imagine. Blood tests and CT scans and MRIs and x-rays … You name it, and I was checked for it.”
“And what’s interesting is that nothing showed up on all of those tests. According to those tests I was a healthy young woman, and I kept saying this can’t be normal, because I was in agonising pain,” she added.
“And it was around my period, I would have this horrible pain,” she said, explaining the pain “echoed out into other areas of my life.”
“So I was in pain every day,” Irwin said, adding that she also experienced nausea and fatigue.
Following the birth of her daughter Grace in 2021, the pain intensified to the point that she would “lie on the floor.”
“I just couldn’t move,” she recalled.
It was an exploratory surgery in the US that confirmed her diagnosis.
“That validation, I woke up and he said, ‘I don’t know how you functioned being in this much pain every day.'”
Images: Instagram
