A quarantine dream! Bindi Irwin and Chandler Powell may not have been able to have the honeymoon they always wanted, but they still made the most of their time together in lockdown.
The newlyweds tied the knot in March at the Irwin family’s beloved Australia Zoo. When the coronavirus pandemic put the world on pause soon after, the Dancing With the Stars alum, 21, and her husband, 23, had to adapt.
“Our honeymoon certainly wasn’t what we had originally planned. It was an incredibly stressful time as Australia Zoo was flung into lockdown and we had no idea if or when our doors would be open again,” Irwin told Us Weekly exclusively on Thursday, July 9, ahead of the upcoming Crikey! It’s the Irwin’s: Life in Lockdown special. “It was heartbreaking and scary for all of us. … I’m really glad that we were able to get married when we did. It feels so much better to tackle the world together as husband and wife.”
Instead of traveling the world together as they may have originally wanted, the couple spent their days figuring out how to help “care for [the] animals and zoo team.” Despite all of the uncertainty surrounding the growing health crisis, Powell found a way to make his and Irwin’s time together a little “brighter.”
“When Chandler surprised me with a picnic in the place we were supposed to get married … I was overcome with emotion,” the Bindi’s Bootcamp host gushed. “Chandler is always my constant in life. No matter what is going on in the world, he reminds me to find the sunshine in every day. He’s incredible and I feel very blessed to call him my husband.”
In an exclusive clip from the family’s upcoming Animal Planet special, airing Saturday, July 11, Powell puts a positive spin on the “weirdest honeymoon ever” amid the COVID-19 crisis. The University of Central Florida alum swept his wife off of her feet with a private picnic in the middle of the Australia Zoo, complete with cozy pillows, a big blanket and champagne.
“You have been working so hard on what was supposed to be our honeymoon,” Powell says in the clip. “You deserve a little honeymoon break, 10 times over. … Here’s to our new life chapter together.”
Crikey! It’s the Irwin’s: Life in Lockdown airs on Animal Planet on Saturday, July 11, at 9 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Marc Lupo
