Tragic Details About Billy Ray Cyrus

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When Billy Ray Cyrus burst onto the scene with his tight jeans, trademark mullet, and catchy chart-topping debut single, "Achy Breaky Heart," it seemed the good ol' boy from Kentucky had all the ingredients for country music stardom. But faster than one could say "Hannah Montana," things began to go south for the "Some Gave All" singer. Tragic details about Billy Ray Cyrus' failed relationships, career mistakes, and difficult childhood have emerged, which provided insight into his troubled life and most controversial moments over the years.

Despite "Achy Breaky Heart" being panned by country crooner Travis Tritt — who told the Associated Press, "I just don't care much for the song" — it was an award-winning track that caused Cyrus (who didn't actually pen the hit) to become an overnight sensation. Sadly, he was unable to match the success of his debut single and album, "Some Gave All," which hit No. 1 on the country charts and was the first debut album by a country artist to enter the pop charts at No. 1. Instead, he became more well known for playing the onscreen dad of his real life daughter, Miley Cyrus, on the Disney hit show "Hannah Montana." Billy Ray's career path has been bumpy, and all of the negatives nearly caused him to quit. In an interview with USA Today, he admitted, "I was always just one failure away from resigning to the fact that ... maybe I need to go get a real job."

As a child growing up in Flatwoods, Kentucky, Billy Ray Cyrus' home life was filled with strife. His father, Ron worked in the steel mill and sang in the gospel group Crownsmen Quartet before going on to become a Kentucky state representative. Cyrus' mother, Ruth, was a homemaker. In his book "Hillbilly Heart: A Memoir," Cyrus recalled his father's infidelities and the constant fighting that took place in the home. "I remember some major blowouts. Nothing made me more upset than seeing my mom cry," he wrote. He went on to recount stories of physical altercations that included breaking dishes and punching walls.

In an interview with GQ, the singer recalled one especially mortifying incident that took place in a church parking lot when his mother saw his father show up with another woman. "My mom jumped on, fought some woman, beat her. I seen it." Cyrus continued, revealing, "I seen that happen more than once. I seen my mom pull one woman out of my dad's convertible by the hair of the head and stomp her a** in the ditch." 

The couple split up when Cyrus was just 5 years old, a moment the singer vividly recalled in his memoir. "My dad turned on the ignition, backed out of the driveway, and disappeared over the hill," he wrote. "He never returned, and we never again lived under that roof as a family. From then on, there was no question that life was not fair." 

Before he was causing hearts to ache and break all over the world, Billy Ray Cyrus was just another country crooner paying his dues by playing in a band — Sly Dog — and hoping to make it big. His rugged good looks caught the eye of many a fan, but one in particular stood out from the crowd. Cindy Smith, a devoted groupie, caught the singer's eye and a whirlwind romance began. "The first night I remember seeing Cindy, she was wearing a small halter top and very short shorts," he recalled in "Hillbilly Heart." "It was probably twelve fifteen on a Friday or Saturday, and with her sweet little face, greenish blue eyes and that outfit, Cindy stood out among the crowd on a packed dance floor." 

Details about Billy Ray Cyrus' first marriage to Cindy Smith are few and far between, but we do know that their union played out like a bad country song. They married just a few months after they met, and their partying lifestyle, coupled with Cyrus' ambition and what he described in his book as "entanglements" took a toll and the couple divorced a few years later. "There were no hard feelings," Billy Ray wrote of the relationship (via E! News). "Both of us recognized our marriage was a relic from another time." While their union wasn't successful, their songwriting partnership was. Smith helped Cyrus pen a couple of his biggest hits including "Some Gave All." 

The phrase "party like a rock star" is rooted in truth. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll have a reputation for going hand in hand. But rockers aren't the only ones who like to go hard or go home. Some of country music's biggest hits revolve around rollicking rowdiness, and Billy Ray Cyrus was no stranger to the lure of the lifestyle.

In an interview with Bobby Bones on his podcast "Bobbycast," the "Could've Been Me," singer opened up about his use of drugs at the height of his fame. "I always had a rule. I said I'd go play the first set completely straight. ... In between the break, I might take a little puff. ... By the third set I'd have a puff, possibly, unfortunately maybe a snort." Cyrus also copped to drinking "excessive alcohol," admitting, "By the fourth set I was legally drunk."

After Keith Whitley, with whom Cyrus shared a manager, died of alcohol poisoning, the singer tossed his cocaine in a river and kicked the alcohol to the curb; however, like his daughter — whose bong rips went viral — Cyrus still enjoyed the occasional toke. As he candidly admitted in the interview, "I kind of allowed myself to say, 'Okay, if you get rid of these two devils, alcohol and the cocaine, you can keep a little bit of the marijuana because that's kind of your medicine.'"

There is no question that the Disney+ hit "Hannah Montana" changed the life of Miley Cyrus and the entire Cyrus clan, but according to Billy Ray Cyrus, it wasn't necessarily a change for the better. "I'll tell you right now — the damn show destroyed my family," the singer said in an interview with GQ. Ironically, his role as the father of a teenaged pop star is the one for which Cyrus is most well-known, despite having appearances in "Mulholland Dr.," and the TV holiday feel-good film, "Christmas in Canaan." Cyrus said he only took the role on the show that shot his daughter to stardom as a way to support her ambitions, despite being paid significantly less than the other stars. But after a couple of seasons it became clear to him that things were going south. "The business was driving a wedge between us," he said.

Cyrus explained that by the time "Hannah Montana" ended its run, his family had completely fallen apart. He blamed his lack of strong disciplinary skills as part of their demise and admitted that he was more "friend" than parent, taking the heat on more than one occasion for his daughter's antics. "All those people around, they used me every time," he said of MIley's team. " It became so obvious that, man, no matter what happens, they're going to put you up there and let you take the bullet."

As his family was falling apart, Billy Ray Cyrus and his wife, Tish, found themselves at a crossroads, ultimately deciding to end their marriage. The couple shared their sad relationship news in a joint statement provided to People: "It is after 30 years, five amazing children and a lifetime of memories, we have decided to go our separate ways — not with sadness, but with love in our hearts."

While the news was a shock to the public, a long-time rocky relationship led to Billy Ray and Tish Cyrus' divorce – and their children were not surprised. A source close to Miley Cyrus told Hollywood Life, "Miley and her siblings have been expecting this for over a year now, as their parents have not been living together for several years and they have not been happy together for as long as anyone can remember."

Fans of the singer might remember that the couple's relationship got off to a shaky start when Cyrus, who was expecting his first child with Tish, revealed that his former girlfriend, Kristin Luckey, was also carrying his child. "He came to me and just, you know, said that we needed to talk and he immediately thought that I would leave," Tish told ABC News. She chose to stay and the pair tied the knot, but they filed for divorce and reconciled on two separate occasions before "irreconcilable differences" finally drove them apart for good. 

Before the ink was even dry on his divorce from Tish Cyrus, Billy Ray Cyrus was involved with a much younger woman: Firerose (real name Johanna Rose Hodges), an Australian singer. According to Cyrus, the two musicians met by chance years ago at the Disney studios where he was filming "Hannah Montana." They reconnected during the pandemic and recorded a song together, "New Day," and their friendship began to deepen into something more.

Just four months after Cyrus' divorce was final, the couple became engaged. "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," he told People. "Again, we're musicians, first and foremost, both of us. And we found this harmony, and this rhythm, this melody to life."

That melody hit a sour note just seven months into their marriage when Cyrus filed for divorce, claiming his new wife used his personal and business credit cards, spending nearly $100,000. Court documents obtained by E! News showed that in addition to claiming irreconcilable differences, the singer asked for an annulment based on allegations that the marriage was entered into fraudulently. In a statement to E! News, Cyrus said, "This has been absolutely the most crazy insane scam I have ever heard of. ... It's unfortunate it played out this way."

Billy Ray Cyrus' claimed that his third wife, Firerose, scammed him into their marriage to further her career, but the Australian beauty made some claims of her own. In the aftermath of their short-lived marriage Cyrus found himself accused of abusive behavior by his third wife.

In an exclusive interview with Page Six, Firerose detailed how her husband would scream at her, call her names, and monitor her every action, including her texts and e-mails. She claimed he isolated her from family and friends on their Tennessee farm, and essentially held her prisoner. "Billy had very strict rules," Firerose said. "I didn't have a car. I was only allowed to go to the local chiropractor and allowed once a month to get my nails done ... it was systematic isolation and I couldn't find the courage to leave." However, it turned out she didn't need to.

As Firerose detailed, Cyrus kicked her out of their home and filed for divorce. To add insult to injury, he gave her the boot on the same day she was scheduled to have a preventive double mastectomy, a surgery she then had to postpone. Cyrus has denied what he called the "mind-boggling" allegations, claiming that it was Firerose who was emotionally, verbally, and physically abusive to him — accusations she denied. Firerose told Page Six, "This is a smear campaign by the person I was deeply in love with for four years and in a relationship with and who has decided to wage full-blown war against me."

The ups and downs of Miley Cyrus' relationship with her dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, have been going on for years, but their issues seemed to escalate with his divorce from her mother, Tish, and his subsequent marriage to his third wife, Firerose. A source close to the family told The Sun that the father and daughter unfollowed each other on social media after the split, and that harsh words were exchanged. "Miley is all about peace but she didn't agree with some things that her father has done. It has really escalated and they are not on good terms," the source revealed. To add fuel to the fire, Daily Mail published an audio recording of an argument between Cyrus and Firerose in which he can clearly be heard calling the "Wrecking Ball" singer a "skank," perhaps in reference to Miley's controversial past.

Miley hit back when she famously left her father out of her acceptance speech when she took home the Grammy for Record of the Year in 2024. After thanking her mom, sister, and boyfriend, the pop star said, "I don't think I forgot anyone, but I might've forgotten underwear. Bye!"

Bill Ray has expressed regret over his parenting skills in the past, specifically with regards to his relationship with Miley. "I should have been a better parent," he acknowledged to GQ.

You'd think that working together on a hit television show would create a strong bond between a father and daughter. For Billy Ray Cyrus and his oldest daughter Miley who co-starred in "Hannah Montana," that wasn't the case. Instead, it caused a rift that escalated in direct proportion to Miley's stratospheric rise to fame that left her father in her shadow.

According to a source close to the family, Miley's talent and fame was the catalyst for the demise of the dynamic duo's relationship. "They were close, closer [than] Billy was to any of his other children ... [but] over the years that dynamic changed and when Miley became the star of the family and Billy's star faded, he became bitter of her successes," the source told Daily Mail. 

It's not difficult to believe that he had a hard time taking a back seat to his super talented prodigy, and Miley taking her mom's side in her parents' divorce may have also helped the resentment to fester. As her father's life was falling apart, hers was just blossoming. "Billy is bitter because he groomed a superstar who outshined him," the source continued. "Tish and Miley are on top of the world right now and do not look backwards and have no regrets." 

Following his public and ugly divorce from third wife Firerose, along with the widely publicized rift between Cyrus and his Grammy-award wining daughter, things seemed to go from bad to worse for country star Billy Ray Cyrus. The icing on his fallen cake proved to be his performance at the Liberty Ball for President Donald Trump. It was described in many reports as a "trainwreck," thanks to a slew of technical difficulties that took the singer a few embarrassing minutes to address. Per Daily Mail, the frustrated singer finally asked the crowd if they wanted him to keep trying or just quit, telling them, "I don't give a damn." 

Cyrus wasn't the only one plagued by technical difficulties at one of President Trump's events, though. Carrie Underwood was forced to sing "America the Beautiful" a cappella. The difference is that Underwood handled the situation calmly while Cyrus appeared visibly agitated. Some social media users accused him of lip-synching while others questioned why he seemed to wander around aimlessly. One user called it "possibly the cringiest few minutes in entertainment history" (via Daily Mail).

Cyrus later defended himself in an exclusive People interview. "I wouldn't have missed the honor of playing this event whether my microphone, guitar and monitors worked or not," he said. "I was there because President Donald J. Trump invited me." He continued, saying, "I've learned through all these years when the producer says, 'You're on,' you go entertain the folks even if the equipment goes to hell."

Although Billy Ray Cyrus blamed technical difficulties and defended his performance at the Liberty Ball, his excuses weren't enough to satisfy some people — specifically his son Trace. Trace, who was born to Tish Cyrus and Bexter Neal Helson, was adopted by Billy Ray when he was 4 years old. The singer's bizarre behavior was the last straw for Trace, and he took to Instagram to beg him to get some help. In his post, he recalled, "Since my earliest memories all I can remember is being obsessed with you and thinking you were the coolest person ever. I wanted to be just like you." 

Trace, who said he is now sober, said that the man he once idolized is now unrecognizable to him. He offered his help to Cyrus and encouraged him to reach out and become the father to his children that they all deserve. "Me and the girls have been genuinely worried about you for years but you've pushed all of us away," he wrote. As of this writing, it is unclear whether or not his words, which Trace said came from "a place of love," hit home with Cyrus, as he has yet to publicly respond.