"Lies need to stop": Irwin family member rushes to support Bob
<p>The Irwins are hardly the type to battle it out publicly, but for years the family have been at quietly a loggerheads, it was revealed over the weekend.</p>
<p>In a sweet Father’s Day post Bindi shared, she thanked Steve, her own husband Chandler, and her father-in-law.</p>
<p>One fan took to the comments to asks Irwin why she left her grandfather Bob out of the tribute and the young celebrity unleashed.</p>
<p>“Unfortunately my grandfather Bob has shown no interest in spending time with me or my family,” she wrote.</p>
<p>“He has never said a single kind word to me personally. It breaks my heart but it is not healthy to engage in an abusive relationship … I have struggled with this relationship my entire life and it brings me enormous pain.”</p>
<p>A family member of the family took to Facebook to angrily dispute Bindi’s claims made about her grandfather Bob.</p>
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<p>Bethanny Wheeler explained that she is the “the granddaughter of Bob Irwin via marriage of my father and my Stepmother Mandy as a very young child,”.</p>
<p>She called Bob “the most genuinely beautiful human on this planet and has NEVER spoken out or put down anybody!</p>
<p>"He is a man who sits silently and battles his demons alone, in what is great sadness. He doesn’t retaliate, only prays for his grandchildren’s safety and good lives.”</p>
<p>Wheeler wrote that her “sisters and brothers will happily back me up when I say that Bob Irwin is a passive and beautiful human, and these lies need to stop.”</p>
<p>Bob Irwin’s biographer also said he was “devastated” by Bindi’s claims of abuse.</p>
<p>Amanda French, who co-wrote Bob’s 2016 autobiography The Last Crocodile Hunter, slammed Bindi.</p>
<p>“To write that there is psychological abuse from the kindest, most beautiful soul I have ever met, is heartbreaking,” she wrote.</p>
<p>She went on to say Bob has been “devastated to his core.”</p>
<p>“Unbeknownst to you, and what you know, he is suffering deeply for the loss of his family … He has done all he knows how to do and that is bury his head in the sand because that’s how he copes,” she continued.</p>
<p>“He’s not someone who is out there about reaching out and communicating, he’s like your Dad was. An introvert and not someone who can navigate people well.</p>
<p>“He loves your Dad, and you guys more than you know. This should be a private matter not written about on Facebook.”</p>
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<p>Entertainment Reporter Peter Ford told <em>Sunrise</em> on Monday that after speaking to Bob’s wife Judy over the weekend, he could confirm they were blown away by Bindi’s comments.</p>
<p>“They were pretty shellshocked by it and when I rang and read to his wife Judy the details, they’re not on social media, so they were not aware of what was going on at all, I think they were pretty shocked and devastated,” the reporter said.</p>
<p>“That’s just the feeling I got. They didn’t say that to me and they did not come back and offer any kind of reply or response.”</p>
<p>Steve and his father were incredible close, once labelling him: “the legend of the universe.”</p>
<p>Steve told the ABC’s Enough Rope in 2003: “He was everything I wanted to be. And all I’ve done in my life is follow in his footsteps, mimic him and try to be him. And nowadays I just try to make him proud.”</p>
<p>Steve was killed in a 2006 freak accident, right after the father and his son wrapped up their month-long in Cape York,</p>
<p>“You never expect that’s the last time you’re ever going to see your son, but I certainly had a feeling he sensed something was about to happen,” Bob said after the accident.</p>
<p>Steve died after being pierced in the chest by a stingray barb while he was filming on the Great Barrier Reef.</p>
<p>When Bob released his autobiography in 2016, he said that “when the world lost Steve, the animals lost the best friend they ever had, and so did I.”</p>
<p>“What he stood for and what he was able to achieve means just as much now as when he was here in the physical world.”</p>
<p>Bindi insists that she and her family want the best for Bob.</p>
<p>“We built him a house on a beautiful property and will always do our best to ensure his wellbeing,” she wrote.</p>
