'I am missing a part of myself': Robert Irwin remembers dad Steve Irwin on 62nd birth anniversary

QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA: Robert Irwin has heartbreakingly admitted he would have asked about 'so many things' his father Steve Irwin, a famous conservationist who died on September 4, 2006, during a diving expedition.

Robert, 20, was just three years old when the 'Crocodile Hunter' star lost his life after being stung by a stingray during a diving expedition off the coast of Australia.

Zookeeper and conservationist Steve Irwin would have celebrated his 62nd birthday on Thursday, February 22. 

On the occasion, Robert, also a zookeeper commemorated his late father’s passing and revealed in a candid interview with The Australian's Women's Weekly that he thinks about the questions he would have asked his father had he lived.

Robert Irwin remembers his father

During the interview, Robert shared, "There is not a day that goes by that I don't think: 'Gosh, I wonder what I'd ask Dad if he was here,'" per People.

He continued to share about the loss he suffered at a tender age and said, "When you lose someone, a father figure, at such a young age, who is such a commanding presence of positivity and everything good in the world, of course, all I want is for him to be here for me; to go, 'What do you think about this, what do you think about that?"

The young zookeeper who is following the footsteps of his world-famous father, continued, "There are so many things I wish I could ask him on so many levels."

Robert, however, credits his mother Terri, and his sister Bindi for helping him cope with the loss as he was just a toddler during his father’s passing.

He said, "When you are three, you don't really even quite know what death means. Whereas for Mum and Bindi, it was pure, unfiltered devastation and loss.”

“And it's the same loss for me but in a different way," continued Robert before explaining, "So, the way they helped me to navigate my life, I am so grateful for it.”

He mourned, "I will always feel like I am missing a part of myself, but I never feel like I missed out on anything."

Robert Irwin celebrates the memories of Steve Irwin

Despite losing his father at a young age, Robert is full of positivity and tries to preserve his father’s memories in all the simple things of life.

Robert shared that he has some “little things” which remind him of his father.

He added, "Even something like a shirt I wore, and it will just come flooding back. I remember it was always the littlest tickle and I'd just start cacking myself laughing," he said.

On the occasion of his father’s birthday, the 20-year-old even shared an old clip of his father with his motorcycle.

He wrote on his Instagram, "Every time I start that thing, it brings back so many memories, and I absolutely love it.”

The Australia Zoo worker wrote, “Every time I get on that bike and ride the same route around Australia Zoo that he did, it means so much that this piece of machinery that he loved and used everyday keeps on running.”