Bindi Irwin tears up talking about parenting without dad Steve Irwin: 'It's devastating'

Fifteen years on and the pain is still deep. New mum Bindi Irwin has opened up about how tough it has been to become a mum, knowing baby Grace will never meet her maternal grandfather.

In a preview of new special Crikey! It's a Baby, which debuts on Discovery+ on Sunday in the US, Bindi opened up about how it feels to be a mum without her own dad to be a granddad.

"It's hard knowing that she'll never get to actually meet (my dad), and it's devastating because I'll never get to watch that connection," she said in the clip.

"But I cannot wait to be able to tell beautiful Grace all of these stories about Dad, to be able to share with her what an amazing father he was."

"It's gonna be really special for her to know him through us ... to tell her about what an amazing man he was," she added, through tears.

The 22-year-old says her dad would have loved Grace "the most".

"It is really hard, it's hard that he's not here because out of everyone in the world he would've loved her the most," she said. "He would've loved her so much, but I think, in a way, he is still with us. His heart and soul lives on in all of us, so he's never really gone."

Bindi and husband Chandler Powell welcomed their daughter Grace on March 25, their first wedding anniversary.

Baby Grace turned one month old yesterday and the proud parents shared photos of Grace in her first pair of khakis, the Australia Zoo uniform the Irwin family has always proudly worn.

This article was first published by the NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.