In 1992, Irwin married Terri Raines from Eugene, Oregon, United States. The pair had met a few months earlier, when Terri had visited the zoo on a holiday; according to both of them, it was love at first sight. Terri said at the time, "I thought there was no one like this anywhere in the world. He sounded like an environmental Tarzan, a larger-than-life superhero guy." Together they had two children: Read more...

A controversial incident occurred during a public show on January 2, 2004, when Irwin carried his one-month-old son, Bob, in his arm whilst hand-feeding a chicken carcass to Murray, a 3.8-metre (12 ft 6 in) saltwater crocodile. The infant was close to the crocodile, and comparisons were made in the press to Michael Jackson's dangling his son outside a German hotel window. In addition, Read more...

After questions arose about Irwin being paid $175,000 worth of taxpayers' money to appear in a television advertisement and his possible political ties, Irwin told ABC that he was a conservationist and did not choose sides in politics.

His comments describing Australian Prime Minister John Howard as the "greatest leader in the world" earned him scorn in the media.