Inside Bindi Irwin's 'painful' endometriosis journey: 'It's challenging'

Bindi Irwin during a recent public sighting decides whether to share her endometriosis journey for awareness purposes.

Terri, Bindi, and Robert Irwin were present at EndoFound's 12th Annual Blossom Ball, which took place at Gotham Hall in New York City on Friday, May 3. 

According to the Endometriosis Foundation of America website, "all those who have worked so hard for the endometriosis cause" are honoured on the fundraising night.

The funds will support the foundation's ongoing work in advocacy, school education, outreach, and cure research.

Bindi, 25, was the first celebrity from outside the United States to be named the recipient of the 2024 EndoFound Blossom Award.

On the red carpet, People magazine got a chance to interview the recipient and her family. Bindi opened up about her "personal" and "painful" experience with endometriosis and the reasons for her decision to come up with her diagnosis.

"It was quite tricky deciding whether or not I should tell my story," the conservationist and mother of one said. "Talking about endometriosis — it's challenging because it's the most personal you can get."

"Talking about every little health detail, a lot of talk about fertility problems, and IBS symptoms, and the fatigue, and the nausea, and the pain that comes with endo. And my fear was not knowing what would happen when I stepped off into that world of sharing my journey. But what drove me forward was hopefully helping other people, to reach out to other people who are in a similar situation, and maybe giving them that strength to find answers for themselves if they are dealing with unbelievable pain for no reason," she continued.

Bindi admitted that for ten years, she had "no idea" she had endometriosis.

"It was 10 years before I was diagnosed, and I had every scan and test you could possibly imagine with no answers. So it was really scary," she explained. "For me personally, I didn't know what was wrong with me until my friend Leslie [Mosier], she shared her story and it resonated so completely with the symptoms and the pain that I was experiencing. That's when I started looking into endometriosis because she was brave enough to share her story. So hopefully more people can know about this disease and get the diagnosis and treatment that they so desperately deserve."

Robert, 20, then chimed in, calling his older sister "one of the bravest people I know,"

"When you finally started finding those answers, it just meant so much to all of us to have the Bindi that we know back in action as the most determined, graceful under pressure person there is," he added.