The daughter of legendary wildlife educator and TV host Steve Irwin is opening up about her biggest battle yet.

Bindi Irwin, who followed in her Crocodile Hunter father’s footsteps to become a conservationist and “wildlife warrior,” has struggled with a chronic health condition for over a decade.

On Monday, Bindi, 27, posted pictures of herself in a hospital bed on Instagram.

In the accompanying text, she explained, “In the last three years, I’ve had over 50 endometriosis lesions cut out of my body.”

Endometriosis is a condition in which lesions of tissue similar to the uterus lining grow in areas where they are not supposed to, such as in the fallopian tubes or the ovaries. It can cause severe pain and menstrual issues and may affect fertility.

“A chocolate cyst that was adhering to my ovary to my side was removed,” she continued. “An appendectomy and a hernia repair.”

A chocolate cyst, or ovarian endometrioma, is a lesion attached to the ovary and filled with old menstrual blood. It is more common in cases of severe endometriosis.

Reflecting on her experience, Bindi continued, “I’ve felt indescribable, inescapable pain,” and shared that she had tried to keep her illness to herself because doctors dismissed her pain as “part of being a woman.”

She revealed that she lived undiagnosed for a decade before finding answers—a common experience among endometriosis patients, who wait seven to 10 years on average for their diagnoses.

“As a teenager and young woman, I felt weak and deeply insecure. I was trapped in my own body,” she said.

Bindi, known as the youngest person ever to win an Emmy Award for her children’s wildlife show Bindi the Jungle Girl and for winning Season 24 of Dancing With the Stars, shared the post in honor of Endometriosis Awareness Month. encouraging people to remember the “invisible illness.”

“It’s up to all of us to raise awareness, not just for endometriosis but for women’s health as a whole. No one deserves to suffer in silence,” she wrote, tagging endometriosis surgeon Dr. Tamer Seckin and the Endometriosis Foundation of America as sources for more information.

“If you’re in pain, my heart breaks for you,” she wrote, adding, “I believe you. Please find answers. And don’t give up on yourself. I know how hard that can be.”

Comments on the post quickly filled up with people thanking Bindi for sharing her journey and shedding light on endometriosis—a condition that an estimated 10% of reproductive-age women have, though many don’t realize it.

Her mother, Terri Irwin, also commented on Bindi’s post.

“I am so proud of you for sharing your journey, Bindi,” Terri wrote, adding, “I have learned that it is important for women to seek out a surgeon who performs excision surgery instead of ablation. Everyone deserves to live without pain!”

Excision surgery is a minimally invasive surgery where lesions are removed with laparoscopy or laparotomy.

Endometrial ablation, on the other hand, is a non-surgical approach where the lining of the uterus is destroyed using methods like extreme cold and microwave energy, according to the Mayo Clinic.

In March 2023, Bindi first shared her diagnosis on social media, writing that for the past 10 years she had struggled with “insurmountable fatigue, pain, and nausea” while visiting doctors and undergoing multiple tests and scans, all without answers.

At the time, Bindi opted for surgery after finally receiving a diagnosis and learning she had 37 lesions.

She thanked her doctors, nurses, and everyone who had taken her pain seriously.

“I’m on the road to recovery,” the mother of one wrote, adding, “Please be gentle and pause before asking me (or any woman) when we’ll be having more children.”

Bindi Irwin Reveals She’s Had ’50 Endometriosis Lesions Cut Out of My Body’ in Past 3 Years.

The conservationist shares her ongoing struggle with ‘indescribable, inescapable pain’ caused by the chronic disease

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Bindi Irwin says that she’s had 50 lesions, caused by endometriosis, “cut out of my body” in the past three years, describing the ongoing struggle as “indescribable, inescapable pain.”

“March is endometriosis awareness month. As this month comes to a close, I urge everyone to remember this invisible disease each and every day,” the conservationist, 27, captioned a March 30 Instagram post, sharing photos of herself in the hospital.

“In the last three years, I’ve had over 50 endometriosis lesions cut out of my body. A chocolate cyst that was adhering my ovary to my side was removed. An appendectomy and a hernia repair. I’ve felt indescribable, inescapable pain. Trying to keep my invisible illness to myself after being told by doctors it was just ‘part of being a woman.’ I spent 10 years being undiagnosed,” she explained.

She’s not alone: The average time it takes to diagnose the disease is 4 years to 12 years, according to the World Health Organization, which estimates that approximately 190 million women worldwide have endometriosis. While there are treatments to manage symptoms, there isn’t a cure for the disease, which causes “tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus.” One of its most painful symptoms, a “chocolate cyst,” is the colloquial term for an ovarian endometrioma, given the moniker because it’s full of old blood that Cleveland Clinic explains resembles “brown, chocolate-like fluid.”

As Irwin wrote in her caption, she struggled with the mental toll, along with the physical pain, of her undiagnosed condition: “As a teenager and young woman, I felt weak and deeply insecure. I was trapped in my own body.”

Irwin was diagnosed with endometriosis shortly after welcoming daughter Grace, now 5, whom she shares with husband Chandler Powell. At the time, Irwin told PEOPLE that getting the right treatment for endometriosis changed her life: “Now I wake up in the morning, and I don’t have to take anti-nausea medicine or have my heat pack. Being able to go for a walk with my daughter and not feeling like I have to throw up in the bushes is just wild to me.”

“I was tested for everything. Every tropical disease, Lyme disease, cancer, you name it,” Irwin told PEOPLE. “I had every blood test and scan imaginable.”

 

As she shared in her Instagram post, “It’s up to all of us to raise awareness, not just for endometriosis but for women’s health as a whole. No one deserves to suffer in silence. For more information I turned to [endometriosis surgeon Dr. Tamer Seckin] @seckinmd and [Endometriosis Foundation of America] @endofound.”

“If you’re in pain, my heart breaks for you. I believe you. Please find answers,” Irwin concluded her post. “And don’t give up on yourself. I know how hard that can be.”

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