For the last 10 years, Bindi Irwin, a well-known TV personality and daughter of the late Steve Irwin, has been living in intense pain without much attention. During most of this period, the 24-year-old was unaware of the source of her discomfort and was even advised by a physician that it was a typical female issue that one must endure.
It wasn’t an average menstrual cramp that Irwin was experiencing; the agony was so extreme that it caused her to feel exhausted, nauseated, and in severe discomfort.
On March 7, 2023, Irwin made the decision to publicly share her story “for other women who need help.” Irwin disclosed that she had recently been diagnosed with endometriosis, which was the cause of her pain.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, endometriosis is when tissue that lines the uterus grows outside of the uterus, and approximately 10% of all women between the ages of 15 and 44 have endometriosis. Up to 50% of women with endometriosis experience infertility.
Irwin hopes that sharing her story publicly will help other women get diagnosed. On Instagram, she posted a picture of herself in a hospital bed, smiling at the camera, and she wrote a lengthy post about her journey. She explained, “Trying to remain a positive person & hide the pain has been a very long road.” She also apologized to friends who may have wondered why she canceled plans. She wrote, “To those questioning the cancelled plans, unanswered messages & absence – I had been pouring every ounce of the energy I had left into our daughter & family.”
Irwin is beyond relieved that her surgery is over and the pain is hopefully gone for good. She wrote, “Going in for surgery was scary but I knew I couldn’t live like I was. Every part of my life was getting torn apart because of the pain. To cut a long story short, they found 37 lesions, some very deep & difficult to remove, & a chocolate cyst.” She added that when she was in recovery she was asked, “How did you live with this much pain?” She explained that question was “validation for years of pain.”
Towards the end of her post, Irwin thanked “the doctors & nurses who believed my pain” and reassured her followers that she is “on the road to recovery.” In addition, she urged other women to “let this be your validation that your pain is real & you deserve help.”
Learn more about Irwin and her battle with endometriosis in the video below.
