Bindi Irwin offered fans an update on her endometriosis battle as she was honoured with a major award at the 12th Annual Blossom Ball in New York on Friday.
The 25-year-old told Access Hollywood that she was doing well after a tough period with the disease.
‘If you had asked me a couple years ago if I would be standing here, I wouldn’t have believed you in a million years. Endometriosis was taking over my life and every day felt like just getting one foot in front of the other,’ she said.
‘Now to be on the other side of surgery, the gratitude that I feel in my heart is overwhelming’.
Bindi added: ‘To be here tonight at the Blossom Ball celebrating [not just] the wins for endometriosis but also to bring awareness for girls and women around the world who are in desperate, desperate need of treatment and care and validation, that’s why we’re all here’.
Bindi Irwin offered fans an update on her endometriosis battle as she was honoured with a major award at the 12th Annual Blossom Ball in New York on Friday (pictured)
Joined by her family – brother Robert Irwin and mum Terri Irwin – the wildlife warrior was the recipient of the 2024 Endometriosis Foundation of America’s Blossom Award at the black-tie charity event held at Gotham Hall in Manhattan.
The honour was for her advocacy work around endometriosis, after coming forward about battling the disease
Last year, Bindi addressed her 10-year battle with endometriosis.
Bindi, who shares daughter Grace Warrior, one, with her husband Chandler Powell, revealed there were moments the pain was so unbearable that she thought she was going through a pregnancy loss.
‘Along my pregnancy journey. I would often have times where I thought I was miscarrying because I would have severe unexplained pain,’ she told Good Morning America in October.
‘I would think that I was losing our beautiful daughter.’
Last year, Bindi addressed her 10-year battle with endometriosis. Bindi, who shares daughter Grace Warrior, one, with her husband Chandler Powell, revealed there were moments the pain was so unbearable that she thought she was going through a pregnancy loss
In March, the daughter of the late Steve ‘the Crocodile Hunter’ Irwin spoke for the first time about her battle with the disease in a lengthy Instagram post.
The Crikey! It’s the Irwins star said she had spent ten years ‘torn apart [by] the pain’ and knew she had to have surgery because she ‘couldn’t live like I was’.
She explained how the surgeon from the Seckin Endometriosis Center in New York City had removed a total of thirty-seven lesions and a ‘chocolate cyst’ – a term for a cyst filled with menstrual blood.
Endometriosis is an often painful condition in which the tissue that lines the uterus also grows outside the uterus.
There are a wide variety of symptoms: pain can affect areas ranging from the abdomen and lower back to the pelvis and vagina.
Joined by her family – brother Robert Irwin and mum Terri Irwin – the wildlife warrior was the recipient of the 2024 Endometriosis Foundation of America’s Blossom Award at the black-tie charity event held at Gotham Hall in Manhattan. All pictured
Other symptoms include painful sexual intercourse, abnormal menstruation, nausea, bloating, and pain with bowel movements.
Bindi at first wasn’t sure if she wanted to discuss her health publicly, but decided to speak out because she hoped to help other women struggling with endometriosis.
She also wanted to draw attention to the fact doctors often do not take the condition seriously enough, noting how one physician had once told her the pain was just a normal part of being a woman.
‘For ten years I’ve struggled with insurmountable fatigue, pain and nausea. Trying to remain a positive person and hide the pain has been a very long road,’ she began.
‘These last ten years have included many tests, doctors visits, scans, etc.’
Bindi continued: ‘A doctor told me it was simply something you deal with as a woman and I gave up entirely, trying to function through the pain.
‘If you had asked me a couple years ago if I would be standing here, I wouldn’t have believed you in a million years. Endometriosis was taking over my life and every day felt like just getting one foot in front of the other,’ she said
‘I didn’t find answers until a friend, Leslie Mosier, helped set me on a path of regaining my life. I decided to undergo surgery for endometriosis.’
She said ‘going in for surgery was scary but I knew I couldn’t live like I was’, adding that ‘every’ aspect of her life was being ‘torn apart’ because of the pain.
‘To cut a long story short, they found thirty-seven lesions, some very deep and difficult to remove, and a chocolate cyst,’ she continued.
Bindi revealed her surgeon’s first words to her after she woke up from the procedure were: ‘How did you live with this much pain?’
She said having this ‘validation’ from a medical professional after years of having her pain brushed off by doctors was an ‘indescribable’ feeling, before going on to thank her family and friends who had encouraged her to find answers.
‘Thank you to the doctors and nurses who believed my pain,’ she added. ‘I’m on the road to recovery and the gratitude I feel is overwhelming.’
The DWTS champion went on to address the ways the pain had affected her life, and how she had tried to mask the problem with positive social media posts.
Pictured with her husband Chandler Powell and daughter Grace Warrior
Bindi revealed her surgeon’s first words to her after she woke up from the procedure were: ‘How did you live with this much pain?’
She said having this ‘validation’ from a medical professional after years of having her pain brushed off by doctors was an ‘indescribable’ feeling, before going on to thank her family and friends who had encouraged her to find answers
‘To those questioning the cancelled plans, unanswered messages and absence – I had been pouring every ounce of the energy I had left into our daughter and family,’ she said.
‘Things may look fine on the outside looking in through the window of someone’s life; however, that is not always the case.’
Bindi also warned against asking women about their family plans, because you never know if they are struggling with a condition like endometriosis, which can affect fertility.
‘Please be gentle and pause before asking me – or any woman – when we’ll be having more children. After all that my body has gone through, I feel tremendously grateful that we have our gorgeous daughter. She feels like our family’s miracle,’ she said.
Bindi also warned against asking women about their family plans, because you never know if they are struggling with a condition like endometriosis, which can affect fertility
Bindi has spent her entire life in the spotlight as the daughter of celebrity wildlife conservationists Steve and Terri Irwin. Bindi is pictured as a child with her parents Steve and Terri in 2002
‘I’m aware of millions of women struggling with a similar story. There is stigma around this awful disease. I’m sharing my story for anyone who reads this and is quietly dealing with pain and no answers.’
‘Let this be your validation that your pain is real and you deserve help. Keep searching for answers,’ she concluded.
Bindi has spent her entire life in the spotlight as the daughter of celebrity wildlife conservationists Steve and Terri Irwin.
Steve, known to millions around the world as ‘the Crocodile Hunter’, died on September 4, 2006, at the age of 44 after being pierced in the chest by a stingray while filming a documentary on the Great Barrier Reef.
Bindi was just eight years old at the time.
Following his death, Steve’s family, including his children Bindi and Robert, widow Terri, and son-in-law Chandler, have continued his wildlife conservation work at Australia Zoo, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.
