'I had every scan you could imagine': Bindi Irwin opens up about painful '10-plus years of being really, really sick'

Bindi Irwin is opening up about about the private health battles that saw her in pain for almost half her life.

The 26-year-old TV personality and wildlife warrior said she was motivated to find the cause of her "10-plus years of being really, really sick" after giving birth to daughter Grace in 2021.

Steve Irwin's daughter spoke about the harsh realities of fighting doctors who said it was all in her mind or "part of being a woman" before she was diagnosed with endometriosis.

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"I went for 10 years undiagnosed because doctors really didn't know enough," she said, in an episode of A Life of Greatness with Sarah Grynberg.

"They diagnosed me with a million other things like IBS or it's hormones or it's just part of being a woman and the symptoms continue to snowball.

"I had every scan you could imagine. I had CT scans, MRI scans, ultrasounds, blood tests. I was tested for every disease, tropical disease. Everything you could imagine because I was so sick for so long and just nothing came back.

"So doctor, after doctor would say, 'hey, it's just part of being a woman. There's really nothing wrong with you'. And I was just getting more and more unwell."

After a friend was treated for endometriosis and spoke about her symptoms, Irwin realised her health battles lined up with her friend. It wasn't long before a surgeon in the US operated on the mum-of-one and discovered "over 30 lesions".

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"For me, if I hadn't gotten surgery, the next five years of my life would have been very make or break because I was having real problems, um, internally," she said.

Irwin revealed she had "an enormous chocolate cyst" which had "adhered my ovary to my side, so I was just in agonising pain" and "it was kind of attacking the inside of the ovary".

The problems were made worse by the fact that the cyst didn't show up on scans, delaying her diagnosis for so long.

But since her friend bravely opened up about her condition, helping Irwin get her own diagnosis, the wildlife warrior is now focused on paying it forward.

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The one painful experience that links Bindi, Emma and Kayla

"It's something that needs to be discussed more and my heart breaks because there are countless people out there who are dealing with these symptoms and dealing with this disease that just goes completely undiagnosed for so long," Irwin said.

In Australia the average time it takes to get an endometriosis diagnosis is six and a half years.

Irwin explains the "really scary disease" often "takes years" to diagnose "because most of the time it really doesn't show up on scans" and persistence at getting medical professionals to take you seriously can be tough.

"After a dozen doctors tell you you're crazy, you start to believe them," she said.

Irwin has previously admitted she was nervous about sharing her story after keeping her painful battle just to her immediate family for so long.

But after she first spoke out in a 2023 social media post on International Women's Day, she was blown away by the number of girls and women sharing similar journeys.

"At the end of the day, sharing my story with endometriosis felt so important to me that it outweighed my worry," she told 9honey in an interview last September.

Irwin told Grynberg she might need further surgery in the future "but for now, it's all gone, which I'm very grateful for".

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