Hearts broke around the world when Robert Irwin confirmed his relationship with 19-year-old girlfriend, by posting a photo with Rorie Buckey on Instagram.
The comments were flooded with Australian celebrities congratulating the young couple, including Magda Szubanski commenting “nawww” and of course, his older sister Bindi Irwin supporting the relationship with “love you both!”
However, the pair have now called it quits, announcing via social media that they had broken up.
When they first began dating, Rorie Buckey also confirmed her relationship with Steve Irwin’s beloved son, Robert Irwin.
Posting a cute photo of them together on Instagram for the first time, with the caption “Adventure buddy.”
Bindi Irwin commented what we were all thinking, “You guys 💛💛💛”
Rorie gave the fans what they wanted (more photos!), by sharing a glimpse into the young couple’s private love life with a Polaroid on her Instagram story.
Talking about “adventure buddies”, Robert Irwin and now-ex-girlfriend Rorie Buckey were even spotted celebrating their first major holiday together.
The cute couple looked delighted to be reunited at Perth Airport on April 6, after Robert flew in to enjoy Easter with Rorie, 19, and her family.
“Robert’s absolutely smitten, and you can tell from his ear-to-ear grin,” a source told Woman’s Day at the time.
“He’s fallen for Rorie big time and who can blame him? She’s a complete sweetheart, very kind and not at all intimidated by his world in the spotlight. She adores Robert and can’t believe she’s found someone so down-to-earth in their world.”
According to the insider, the 19-year-old was “nervous” about meeting his girlfriend’s family for the first time and was “desperate to impress”.
“He sees them having a future together –he wouldn’t be dating her if he wasn’t,” added the source at the time.
Indeed, Robert got all sentimental about the 31st anniversary of his parents’ Steve and Terri’s engagement in February.
“It was on this day 31 years ago that my parents got engaged and set in motion what would become a legacy larger than life,” he wrote on social media.
Sources previously said the sensitive teen was keen to make his own fairytale romance official – and wanted to pop the question!
“Meeting the family is the first step and he wants them to see that he’s good enough for someone as special as Rorie,” shared a Ledger family insider.
“You can tell the Ledgers are very protective of her, especially after losing Heath. The last thing they want is for her to have her heart ripped out by a showbiz romance, so Robert’s on his toes around her folks.”
But the source said the TV star and keen photographer had little to worry about.
“He’s such a genuine, humble guy with no airs and graces. He’s funny too, and he reminds everyone of his father, he’s very likeable,” said the source.
“The Ledgers are thrilled with this romance as long as he makes her happy, and, judging from the big beaming smile she had greeting him at the airport, that certainly seems to be the case.”
The couple were keen travellers, and visited New York City together.
Rorie shared this adorable pic of the two on Instagram and in the comments, Robert dropped ‘the L word’! he simply commented “I love you!!! ❤️”
The travel continued! Rorie and Robert took to Tasmania just after their overseas trip to New York City.
Some fans suggested the couple were moving too fast and others couldn’t be more thrilled commenting, “You are living the dream girly.”
Bindi Irwin shared a family snap including all her favourite people, captioned “This group right here ❤️ Grateful for every moment shared.”
She gave a special shout-out to Rorie in the caption, “My brother’s gorgeous girlfriend, @roriebuckey – Sweetest soul, beautiful friend, I love her dearly and you’ll usually see Grace just following her around because she adores her.”
It seemed as though the family welcomed her with open arms, even sharing the red carpet as a part of the family!
The couple made it TikTok official – we finally got to hear Rorie as we followed them on their date night.
Rorie even got comfortable in Khaki at Australia Zoo.
Since she became Robert Irwin’s girlfriend, Rorie was seen at Australia Zoo with Robert, and even took on a project of her own!
She shared to her Instagram to explain her new research project, “I am honoured to be part of groundbreaking research on crocodiles in remote North Queensland.”
“Working with the University of Queensland and Australia Zoo is profoundly rewarding and I am so grateful to be alongside such inspiring individuals.”
“This data is helping to conserve a keystone species and the habitat that supports them!”
Not only that, she also named herself in her bio as an official Wildlife Warrior.