Posted on 09/27/2006 3:10:41 PM PDT by mom4kittys
Reminder--Airing tonight 10PM ET/9PM Central on ABC
I love that picture. He looks so happy.
Here's Steve's story about the Buddhists, the day he was introducing Baby Bob to the world. Plus, there's a bonus for the croc-feeding Stevo-bashers:
From Larry King Live - November 25, 2004
" .... Happy Thanksgiving, everybody and we got a great show for you tonight, a return visit with Steve Irwin, the host of Animal Planet's smash hit, "The Crocodile Hunter." Later in the program, some animals of interest, but we always want to spend some time with Steve talking about lots of things. With camera's rolling, our guest, Steve Irwin carries his one month old son baby Bob in one arm while feeding a dead chicken to a crocodile on the grounds and puts the baby down near a pond with a croc in it. The "New York Daily News" runs a front page headline, Steve Irwin, Australian for stupid. Everyone is criticizing him. Jack Hanna comes on this program and he wonders about what happened, so this is your opportunity to tell us what happened.
STEVE IRWIN, "CROCODILE HUNTER": Yes. First and most importantly I thank you, Mr. Larry King, for giving me the opportunity, the first opportunity I've ever had to go one-on-one with an unbiased, the most respected and professional journalist on the face of the earth, seen by more people than anyone, so I appreciate the time. Thank you very much, Larry. What happened, mate. Life was good, life was great. I had this beautiful daughter, Bindy. She was like 4, 4 1/2 years of age. I took her everywhere with me. She'd be in there feeding the crocs. She'd be like out there catching (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in north Queensland, catching crocodiles with her. Now, she's 6. And anyone who meets her finds her as the most well-rounded beautiful child and endearing that anyone's ever met. I would hope that I get the opportunity to bring her on the show sometime because she is like a magnet and she has these incredible genes. She's a wild life warrior and she's incredible.
KING: What happened?
IRWIN: So what happened with the baby, Bob was - we got Bindy, we wanted the perfect set, our little family plan was to have a boy. We've been mating, as the greats ages do for like nearly 12 months to get this boy. Finally, Terry gets pregnant. We based that on our obstetrician. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Anyway, so next thing, Terry's pregnant. Nine months later, bang, baby Bob is born. So we did -- all the family comes around when there is a birth and it was beautiful. And then at one month of age, just like I did with my daughter Bindy, it was a time when we wanted to show her to the world. We've got an incredibly solid fan base, a lot of people are interested in us, so looking forward to seeing this little baby.
KING: So what happened?
IRWIN: What happened? We organized a beautiful ceremony. The Buddhist nuns came to bless little tiny Bob, baby Bob I called him and all of my friends and family. We invited the media, which was no less than four cameras and three of those news crews and associated media and journalists. And some dignitaries, too, Australian dignitaries. Now this is a time in my life where life was good. I had been nominated for Australian of the year, riding this incredible great wave. And so steeped in family tradition, I got little Bob, and I feed this little crocodile. Then, you know, running down to the pond, you know, just having fun with my son like I do, whether it was in front of people or whether I do it on the carpet at home on the floor, which I do to this day. Four cameras at different angles, OK, the three news cameras, the first news camera, when it went to the news edit, they went, oh, it's a good news story, but it doesn't work, never showed it.
The second news camera went, it's a good news story, like Steve, they put it at the end of the show. That was the news I watched. I thought that was OK, good, whatever. And then the third news camera got this incredible stacked shot, it was fantastic. They stacked up the croc, me and baby Bob in the background so the crock looked very menacing and large. To tell you the truth when I saw that vision, I'm like wow, that looks dangerous.
KING: What do you mean stacked it up?
IRWIN: Stacked it up, when you have the camera filming something.
KING: They didn't do it deliberately?
IRWIN: No. It wasn't deliberately. They were very lucky.
KING: Made what happen?
IRWIN: They, out of those three news crews, they showed it at the head and saw this stacked vision and they're like, wow, this is great stuff! Bam! That was it. It just went.
KING: You mean Bob was never in danger?
IRWIN: Not once, ever never. The funny thing is I've been doing it with Bindy for like five odd years and I would never endanger my children.
KING: Are you saying the croc was not close to the baby?
IRWIN: No, nowhere near it.
KING: But by the camera angle it appeared close? IRWIN: Absolutely. My camera that was filming it and the other news camera's (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the second film crew, they didn't even - they put it at the end of the news, good news. The other one didn't even show it. So this great stacked vision. Credit to them, credit to them, because that's -- it's pretty scary looking vision. So I made a huge mistake. I should have gone surfing that day. But I didn't, I wanted to show the world my beautiful baby.
KING: So when you went on the TODAY show and apologized, what were you apologizing for?
IRWIN: I was apologizing for scaring people. That was never my intention. My intention was strictly and only to show people, here's my little baby boy. I would never endanger my son as you wouldn't yours nor any good father.
KING: Were you shocked at the criticism?
IRWIN: I wasn't just shocked, I was absolutely devastated. I was taken to the lowest point of my entire life. The Irwin family steeped in tradition. I was born on my mom's birthday. She died in a car crash and from that moment on, we as a family gathered around each other, as you do when you lose someone very, very close to you and to have that take place was incredible.
The interesting thing was that no one knows and now you're about to know, is that you can imagine, everyone who was involved, every family person on earth was picking at it. The authorities came in, the relevant authorities came in. I did a thorough investigation, come in, please come into my life, come into my family, come into my house, have a look. They did a thorough investigation. There was absolutely no case. Bob was never in danger. You never hear about that, though.
KING: They didn't charge you with being a negligent father?
IRWIN: Absolutely not. In fact it was said by them and others that my children are the most well-rounded, educated and loving family they've ever met.
KING: We'll take a break and when we come back, later, we'll meet some animals. Steve Irwin has some news for us that may interest you, especially if you live in Nevada. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As publicity stunts go, this one was bound to cause outrage. The baby is Steve Irwin's son, Bob. He's just four weeks old and only an arm's length from a 12-foot crocodile at Steve's wildlife park in Queensland. It was build as the baby's first chance to feed a crocodile. Thankfully, it didn't end in tragedy.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ..."
From the transcript:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0411/25/lkl.01.html
I thought the interview was excellent -- Very little Walters and lots of Terry talking about their life together. The grief was palpable. I wept through the whole thing. I am so proud of Terry and Steve's family to show such respect for this wild and crazy man who loved animals so much. I think young Bindy will be a force to reckon with in the years to come.
I feel a little better now that I have heard from Terri. Does that make sense?
On GMA just now, they repeated a part of the last segment from last night that I forgot and it was one of my favorite things Terri said.
BW asked "what do you miss most about Steve?" Terri said she might be being a bit selfish, but "he was FUN!"
She said he taught *her* to play in the rain, to splash in mud puddles, that it's OK if the kids get dirty or if you spill ice cream on your pants. He didn't sweat the small stuff - he saw the big picture.
She vowed, as *Mrs.* Steve Irwin, she would try now to get back to having fun.
Oh, yes, it does. I know that's why she did it. Especially after not being able to speak at the memorial.
(I loved it when she said, "Bindi did have a few words she wanted to say." And Miss Bin whipped out her little hand-written script, lol. Jungle Girl!)
"I lost my knight". That's an awesome legacy!!
You opened a whole other can of worms when I mentioned this statement to him last night. Now I have my suspicions.
During the Christmas season he likes to think of himself as Santa Claus. He actually is a contractor for FedEx Ground. :-)
Although, because of him saying he feels like Santa during the Christmas season, our children are happy to say their dad is Santa Claus. But, until the end of October he's known as the bogeyman.(he's the baronial bogeyman in our SCA group). One thing, he can really make me laugh until I'm sobbing.
I did notice Barbara's facial expressions. She just didn't seem like she could believe that anyone would want to live how they have.
I think it sounds like fun. But maybe 22 years of marriage has made me insane. LOL.
When I first met Terri, Sui was incredibly jealous. Sui would sit in the front of my 4WD and wouldn't let her in. Sometimes she'd refuse to even look at her. The wife and the girlfriend sorted it out and loved each other happily ever after. http://www.crocodilehunter.com/crocodile_hunter/about_steve_terri/index.html
I can understand why he says he is Santa Claus--what fun!
I think it sounds like fun, too. I think Barbara Walters is one of those types that can't imagine chipping her nail polish.
But you have a lot in common with Gnosticism even if you are a Buddhist.
That I do. Theravadan Buddhism and Gnosticism are very similar.
My heart goes out to her. She's as genuine as Steve. I pray for them.
The horror! LOL.
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