Billy Ray Cyrus Sends Rare Message to Miley Cyrus Amid Rumored Rift
Billy Ray Cyrus Settles Divorce From Firerose After Alleged “Crazy Insane Scam”
Billy Ray Cyrus’s “Achy Breaky Heart” beats strong for his daughter Miley Cyrus.
The country star posted a birthday tribute to the fellow Grammy winner Nov. 23, the day she turned 32, amid a rumored family rift. Billy Ray shared throwback photos of the two, starting with pics of himself holding Miley when she was a baby and a toddler.
“Happy Birthday Mile !!! Hope itâs the best one ever !” the 63-year-old wrote on Instagram. “(I know I dropped the ‘y’. Thatâs what I called @mileycyrus most of her life.)”
In addition to his personal childhood photos of Miley, Billy Ray also included in his post press pics of the two at the 2009 premiere of Hannah Montana: The Movie in Munich, Germany, onstage at the 2019 Glastonbury Festival and on the set of the “Flowers” singer’s 2021 concert special Miley Cyrus Presents Stand By You.
While Miley has not responded publicly to her father’s birthday tribute in particular, she did write on her Instagram Stories, “Thank you all for your birthday wishes.”
His post comes more than nine months after the “Malibu” singer sparked rumors of a rift between them when she did not include him among her list of people she thanked in her acceptance speeches after winning her first two Grammys at the annual ceremony in February.
Instagram / Billy Ray Cyrus
Also in June, Miley spoke about growing up with Tish and Billy Ray and was asked about the rumored rift.
“There’s not estrangement here with your father,” David Letterman said on his show My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman, “it’s just the way things are played?”
“Yeah,” Miley said. “I think, what is so beautiful is that my parents, they served their children, and I know this. My parents served us and sacrificed so much for us. Anything we dreamed of, they made possible.”
, joking on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman that she “inherited the narcissism” from her father. She also paid him some compliments.
“My father, I’m grateful for first his genes,” she shared. “My dad has great hair, and I got that. But he alsoâhe has a relationship and a foot on the ground to the real and to nature, and he always did even when he was super famous. I’m grateful for being able to watch him ahead of me.”
She continued, “He’s almost given me this map. And there is a map of what to do and what not to do, and he’s guided me on both.”
And in a recent interview, Miley had more kind words to say about Billy Ray while talking about her musical collaborations.
“I worked with my dad forever,” she told Harper’s Bazaar in a cover interview published Nov. 20. “Thatâs how me and my ex-husband met each other. Iâve always worked with the people that I love.”
Look back at the Cyrus family tree…
Samir Hussein/WireImage
That month, Billy Ray had also paid tribute to Miley with another throwback picture of himself with Miley as a child.
“One of my best memories ever: @cma Fest, back when it was Fan Fair,” he began his June 7 post. “That’s @mileycyrus and me, surrounded by thousands of incredible fans at the fairgrounds.”
JOERG KOCH/DDP/AFP via Getty Images
Also in June, Miley spoke about growing up with Tish and Billy Ray and was asked about the rumored rift.
“There’s not estrangement here with your father,” David Letterman said on his show My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman, “it’s just the way things are played?”
“Yeah,” Miley said. “I think, what is so beautiful is that my parents, they served their children, and I know this. My parents served us and sacrificed so much for us. Anything we dreamed of, they made possible.”
And in a recent interview, Miley had more kind words to say about Billy Ray while talking about her musical collaborations.
“I worked with my dad forever,” she told Harper’s Bazaar in a cover interview published Nov. 20. “Thatâs how me and my ex-husband met each other. Iâve always worked with the people that I love.”
Look back at the Cyrus family tree…
Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic
How the Cyrus Family Started
Billy Ray Cyrus married Tish Cyrus (née Leticia Finley) on Dec. 28, 2003.
At the time they already shared 12-month-old daughter Destiny Hope Cyrusâyou may know her as Miley Cyrus nowâand Tish was pregnant with their son Braison Cyrus, who was born May 9, 1994.
Seven months before Miley was born on Nov. 23, 1992, Billy Ray’s ex-girlfriend Kristin Luckey gave birth to their son Christopher Cody Cyrus on April 8.
Barry King/FilmMagic
When the “Achy Breaky Heart” singer married Tish, he adopted her daughter Brandi Cyrus (born May 26, 1987) and son Trace Cyrus (Feb. 24, 1989), whose biological father is their mom’s ex-husband Baxter Helson.
Chris Polk/FilmMagic
Trish and Billy Ray’s youngest, daughter Noah Cyrus, was born Jan. 8, 2000.
Ron Tom/Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty
Father-Daughter Stardom
From 2006 to 2010, Billy Ray played the father of Miley’s normal-kid-who-moonlights-as-a-pop-star character in the Disney Channel sitcom Hannah Montana and a 2009 film adaptation.
While the Cyrus family was still based in Nashville, Billy Ray and Miley made the move to L.A. to jumpstart her own entertainment career.
Steve Granitz/WireImage
Where There’s Smoke…
Billy Ray and Tish announced in October 2010 that they were getting divorced, but by the following year were back together.
They filed for divorce again in June 2013 but reconsidered barely a month later, telling E! News at the time that they’d been to couple’s counseling and it had done wonders for them.
But before they reconciled, when the news broke that her dad had made the first move in a Nashville court to end his marriage after 19 years, Miley tweeted, “@billyraycyrus since your text and email obviously aren’t working would you like to talk like this?”
Rich Polk/Getty Images for Disney
Miley Starts Over
After a decade of being together off and on, and in the wake of losing their Malibu home in a fire, Miley and her The Last Song co-star Liam Hemsworth married in December 2018.
The decision came “from a place of trauma and just trying to rebuild as quickly as we could,” Miley recalled on her “Used to Be Young” TikTok series.
But Liam filed for divorce in August 2019 and they finalized the paperwork in January 2020.
“It’s honestly very simple,” a source told E! at the time. “They fell in love when they were young and they are just different people now.”
Instagram/Trace Cyrus
The Family Tree Keeps Growing
Tish and Billy Ray became grandparents in 2021 when their son Braison and his wife Stella welcomed son Bear Chance Cyrus on June 8.Â
Amy Sussman/FilmMagic
Billy Ray and Tish Split Up for Good
Tish filed for divorce fo a third time in April 2022, and this time it stuck.
Moreover, her petition citing “irreconcilable differences” noted that she and her husband of almost 30 years hadn’t lived together since February 2020.Â
Larry Busacca/Getty Images
“It is after 30 years, five amazing children and a lifetime of memories, we have decided to go our separate waysânot with sadness, but with love in our hearts,” Tish and Billy Ray told People in a statement. “We have grown up together, raised a family we can be so proud of, and it is now time to create our own paths.”
The exes noted that they hadn’t come to the decision to split up for good “lightly or quickly,” adding, “We will always be family and look forward to a continued and loving shared experience as friends and parents.”
Billy Ray Cyrus Moves on With Firerose
Billy Ray quietly got engaged to Australian singer Firerose, who’s 27 years his junior, in August 2022 but waited to confirm the news until that November.
“Growing up in Australia, my love of music was predominant over everything,” Firerose told People. “I’ve known his music since forever.”
What started as a friendship turned into more during the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“All of the sudden, the life that I’ve always known as a touring artist didn’t exist anymore,” Billy Ray said. “A moment of so much change. And at the same time, Firerose, who had been such a light of positivity, such a best friend. And then when we began sharing the music, it just evolved more into, as musical soulmates, to soulmates, happy, pure love that to me, I didn’t know could exist.”
Tish Cyrus Finds Love With Dominic Purcell
Around the time her ex-husband confirmed his engagment in November 2022, Tish went Instagram-official with Prison Break actor Dominic Purcell.
They got engaged in April 2023 and tied the knot that August in Malibu at sunset with Miley, Trace and Brandi all standing by their mom’s side.
“Life is unpredictable & always full of changes,” Trace captioned a photo of himself and two of his sibling with the bride. “I think the most important thing to do is cherish the past, look forward to the future, & always be happy in the present moment because thatâs really all we have.”
Miley Weighs in on Her Mom’s Love Life
“To see my mom this happy and in love is very emotional for me,” Miley told Vogue last summer ahead of her mom’s wedding. “Dom and my mom share the sweetest, most genuine love. It’s almost like it’s for the first time, which is so fitting for my mom who is such a young soul.”
Instagram/Billy Ray Cyrus
As for her dad’s next chapter, however, a source close to Miley told E! News in October 2022 that she wasn’t in love with it and didn’t have a relationship with her future stepmom.
“The divorce between her parents put a strain on her relationship with her dad and it’s been hard to connect with him in the last year,” the source said. “She hopes they can eventually work on their relationship.”
Billy Ray told People that November, however, that his family had “no hard feelings” about his engagement.
“Everybody’s turning the page,” he said. “It’s been a lot, but everyone knew that it was time for a change.”
He and Firerose got married on Oct. 10, 2023, calling it the “beautiful, joyous day that our two souls united as one in holy matrimony.”
Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Only Some of Miley’s Family Get Their Flowers
Whatever rift opened up between Miley and her dad apparently hadn’t been repaired by the night of the 2024 Grammys on Feb. 4.
Tish and Brandi were there, as was Miley’s boyfriend Maxx Morando, and they all got shout-outs when the “Flowers” singer won Record of the Year.
As Miley concluded her speech, “I don’t think I forgot anyone.”
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Wait, What?
None of the three officially confirmed or denied eyebrow-raising reports that Noah was involved with Dominic before her mother was, but the Grammy-nominated singer had some choice words for an Instagram commenter in April 2024 after the person crudely suggested that Noah and Tish both had “sexy time” with the actor.
“I’m so sorry but will you pleeeeeass just choke on the fattest c–k,” Noah wrote in response. “Just for a lil bit. Great thanks.”
Instagram/Firerose
Billy Ray Cyrus Moves on From Firerose
Barely eight months after they tied the knot, Billy Ray filed to annul the union, alleging in court documents the marriage was “obtained by fraud.”
He listed May 22 as their date of separation.
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App
