STEVE Irwin secretly lived with chronic pain for the last three years of his life, his father Bob Irwin revealed on a documentary aired in the US tonight.
The Crocodile Hunter was recuperating from a broken neck while shooting his final documentary, Ocean's Deadliest.
Years of broken bones from wrestling crocodiles and other creatures had taken its toll on other parts of his body.
"Probably very few people knew this, but the last three or four years he was in pain 100 per cent of the time," Bob Irwin said.
"He was an amazing man.
"I have never seen anybody be able to do what he did with the amount of pain he was suffering.
"Out of all the things that this accident has brought to me is the fact that Steve is no longer in any pain.
"That is something I feel really, really good about."
Bob Irwin was speaking on a 30-minute tribute program called Crikey, What an Adventure!, which followed the 90 minute documentary, Ocean's Deadliest.
The programs had their world premieres on America's Discovery and Animal Planet TV channels tonight and will be shown in Australia on January 29 on the Nine Network.
American viewers saw footage of Steve Irwin in northern Queensland emotionally addressing his crocodile catching team.
The footage was taken four days before his death.
"Sorry for getting all emotional on you, but this has been the best month of my life," the Crocodile Hunter tells them.
"Fair dinkum. I came up here busted up. I came up here with a broken neck.
"... you guys made sure I didn't have to lift anything too heavy and you jumped on the crocs like absolute legends."
Crikey, What an Adventure! also showed light-hearted scenes of Steve Irwin, including quiet moments with his wife Terri, eight-year-old daughter Bindi and three-year-old son, Bob.
"Maybe the next croc you could help with the knots and do some good croc knots with the ropes?" he asks baby Bob on a crocodile hunting expedition.
"I can," Bob happily replies.
The Crocodile Hunter's friend and producer, John Stainton, told viewers the "the future for the Irwin family is bright and promising".
"They have the strength and courage that comes from Steve's passion and enthusiasm," Stainton said.
"His goals and dreams will be conquered by their sheer determination.
"That is the legacy of being an Irwin."
Steve Irwin died on September 4 last year when a stingray's barb pierced his heart on the Great Barrier Reef. It occurred while he was scuba diving during a break in filming Ocean's Deadliest.
One of the eeriest scenes in Ocean's Deadliest occurs early in the documentary when Irwin takes conservationist Philippe Cousteau, who narrates the documentary, aboard Croc One.
Croc One is the vessel that days later a dying Irwin was rushed to after the stingray attack.
In the scene, Irwin introduces Cousteau to Dr Jamie Seymour, director of Tropical Australian Stinger Research Unit at Australia's James Cook University.
"Have you got some deadlies for us to play with mate?" Irwin, with a big smile on his face and rubbing his hands excitedly, asks.
Dr Seymour replies: "Absolutely, you have no idea what we have got this time. It will be so much fun."
Life is a garden, weed it and reap.
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