I can't believe he won't be back, says Croc Hunter's widow

SYDNEY: The shattered widow of wildlife adventurer Steve Irwin spoke publicly on Tuesday for the first time since his death three weeks ago, saying she still expects him to walk in the door at any minute.

American-born Terri Irwin told Australia's Channel Nine in an exclusive interview that her husband, killed when a stingray punctured his chest with one of its razor-sharp barbs, was a one-of-a-kind "prince charming."

"I'm still at the stage where I think he's going to come home. And it didn't really happen," Irwin, clad in khakis, her famous husband's trademark outfit, told Ray Martin in an interview to be aired on Wednesday night.

"There never has been before and never will be again another Steve Irwin," she said. "Every day he was my prince charming."

Terri Irwin told how she learned of her husband's death while she was on a hiking trip in Tasmania on September 4 when her husband's friend and manager John Stainton telephoned her.

"He said there's been a diving accident with Steve -- (I thought) Don't say it, don't say it, don't say it -- and he said it. He said those three words: and he died."

The mother-of-two said she has found it hard to cope but considers herself lucky to have received such support and thanked the public for their "thoughts and prayers," according to interview excerpts released today.

Irwin would have been bowled over by the 5,500 turnout at his emotional televised public memorial service, held last week in the "Crocoseum" of his beloved Australia Zoo, about 100 kilometres north of the Queensland city of Brisbane, she said.