Robert Irwin left embarrassed over mum’s X-rated remark at VMX 2024 veterinary conference

Robert and Terri Irwin were at a conference where his mum made an X-rated comment. Photo / Getty Images

An X-rated comment from Terri Irwin in front of a live audience has left her son Robert mortified.

During the mother-son’s appearance at the VMX 2024 veterinary conference in Orlando, Florida, last weekend, news.com.au reports Terri made a joke about her late husband, Steve, that left the couple’s youngest child baffled.

It reportedly came after Terri heard an audience member admit they have a tattoo dedicated to Steve, resulting in the mother of two confessing she, too, has one.

“It seems like there’s more than one person who has a tattoo of Steve and I was really impressed because I don’t have a tattoo of Steve,” she said. “I have a tattoo that says ‘Steve was here’. I don’t think I can show it to you.”

TERRI AND ROBERT IRWIN IN ORLANDO!!!!!!🐨🦘🐊
Of course a mom can’t help but embarrass their kids! pic.twitter.com/0gI1u5f4kv

— opening by jung jaeil (@reym8020) January 15, 2024

Once Robert realised the X-rated meaning behind his mum’s statement, the Australian news outlet reported the star held his head in his hands in embarrassment and crouched down on the floor before insisting Terri change the subject, “Anyway! Alright!” He yelled.

Elsewhere during the appearance, Robert spoke about his own love life with his girlfriend, Rorie Buckey, admitting she makes things “that much sweeter”.

“I think life is awesome for me every single second of every day,” he said. “But when love is part of life, every single thing is so much sweeter, so much nicer, and you take that time to enjoy every single moment. We are extremely happy.”

The conservationist also told the crowd about his birthday on December 1 in which he turned 20, officially leaving his teenage days behind him.

“I’ve been lavished with gifts,” he told the crowd before revealing how he spent the day. “It was a lovely day spent with the entire fam. I feel very spoiled, very lucky, entering a new decade is a weird feeling. Being a teenager for these last nine years. It’s just strange waking up at 20, I’m so excited but I’m thinking like ‘Are my joints going to start going?’ I don’t know, this is weird but I like it, it’s cool.”

The star also accepted an award and said he was sad his father couldn’t be there to see it.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Robert Irwin (@robertirwinphotography)

It comes after Robert opened up about his hopes to step out of his famous dad’s big shadow — while still upholding his life’s work.

Speaking to the Courier Mail in November, he said as well as conservation, photography was his greatest passion.

“You know, all my life all I’ve ever wanted was to be exactly like Dad, but also to find my own place in his world,” Irwin told the Courier Mail.

“I was just itching to find that place, and photography gave me that. But it also gave me a connection to Dad, and a purpose.

“How do I use these images to push Dad’s legacy of wildlife protection? Because everything he did, everything he recorded, everything he documented, well, it kind of stopped, and it stopped abruptly, which is what happens when someone dies unexpectedly. And this is one of my ways of continuing his work.”