Robert Irwin broke down in tears over a newly unveiled wax statue of his late father, Steve Irwin.
The zookeeper was visibly overcome by emotion when he viewed the statue for the first time at a Madame Tussauds wax museum in Sydney, Australia.
"That's amazing," Robert, 20, said at a press conference to mark the waxwork's debut. "Well, it's the first time in a long time that he's not just a picture. That's a spin-out."
He later admitted he had not expected the statue to pack such an emotional punch.
"I didn't think that was gonna happen, but I was actually quite emotional," Robert told Australian breakfast TV show, Sunrise.
"Dad, for the last 17 years of my life, has been pictures and video, and to actually see him kind of just standing there, it was a lot. It was actually a lot to take in, and it was a really beautiful thing."
Steve, a celebrity zookeeper and conservationist, died in 2006 at the age of 44 when he was barbed by a stingray while filming on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Robert was just under three years old at the time.
A statue of Robert was revealed on the same day - and it elicited a less emotionally charged reaction.
"This is one of the most surreal moments of my entire life," he told Sunrise. "This is just incredible. I just keep looking at every little bit going, 'It's me! It is me!' I don't know if the world is ready for two of me."
