Steve Irwin's Kids Didn't Inherit Millions. Here's What Happened To His Fortune

Steve Irwin may have been one of the most recognizable conservationists in the world at the time of his death but he certainly didn't leave his family millions. As his widow, Terri Irwin, revealed in 2024, his life insurance barely covered their costs. However, the Irwin family has continued all the same.  

While it's been said 44-year-old Steve was worth millions when he died in 2006, in 2024, Terri said the reality was pretty dire. Speaking to Financial Review, she explained, "Everything was reinvested into conservation work." But that wasn't all. Terri added, "Steve's life insurance, I think, was the sum total of [AUD] $200,000 which didn't even cover half of one week's payroll." Terri also told the outlet her late husband made some provisions to keep her, their young children, and Australia Zoo afloat. Despite there not being much money in the will, Steve had ensured the document was "ironclad" to prevent anyone else from trying to lay claim to his estate. On top of that, the husband and wife had also already drawn up a 10-year business plan for Australia Zoo — something Terri alluded in a 2006 interview with "20/20." "I have to make sure the zoo keeps running. He planned all of that masterfully. He planned this wonderful business so that it could continue if anything happened to him," she said at the time (via nine.com.au). 

Of course, credit also goes to Terri, who was an established businesswoman, herself, having already owned a family business and a predator rehabilitation center before she met Steve. Under her leadership, Australia Zoo has survived and then some, and today Celebrity Net Worth has Terri listed at $20 million (USD). Bindi and Robert Irwin, meanwhile, are valued at $5 million each. 

Despite her reported net worth, Terri Irwin didn't indicate she's living the high life while speaking to Financial Review. Rather, she told the outlet, "Overall, my head's above water." That makes sense when taking into account how high the costs of running Australia Zoo are. Far from suffering in silence, however, the Irwin family has been very forthcoming about the numbers. 

In an Instagram post looking back on 2020, Bindi Irwin wrote that the zoo needing to close temporarily during the COVID-19 pandemic had been brutal on the business. "Our animal food bills alone are about [AUD] $80,000 per week and we spent our days trying to keep our team and family of animals safe," she wrote. Bindi added, "Every moment of every day the question of when or if we would ever recover burned in the back of our minds." A few months later, Robert Irwin doubled down on that during an appearance on Australian radio show "Fitzy & Wippa." "We're seeing about an $80,000 food bill every week ... When you've got no one coming in it's not the best business model," he said (via Yahoo Lifestyle). 

Of course, Australia Zoo did make it through, and at the end 2021, Bindi shared a much happier end-of-year post to Instagram. This time, it was a video interspersed with a speech her mom had made, where Terri reflected on decades of her family proving naysayers wrong, even when the financial odds were stacked against them. "Recently, I found out from a journalist friend of mine that the place she worked took out a pool right after Steve died... they bet Australia Zoo would fold in a year. Mwahahaha," she said. Mwahahaha, indeed.