NEED TO KNOW
- Miley Cyrus revealed that she and dad Billy Ray Cyrus are on good terms in a new interview
- The singer admitted earlier this month that she and her famous father “have had our challenges” over the years
- “I think timing is everything. As I’ve gotten older, I’m respecting my parents as individuals instead of as parents,” Miley said
Miley Cyrus is on good terms with dad Billy Ray Cyrus.
The singer, 32, spoke about her up-and-down relationship with her father in a new interview with The New York Times published on Saturday, May 31. When asked by the publication if she and the “Achy Breaky Heart” artist, 63, are “estranged,” Miley responded with a simple, “No.”
“I think timing is everything. As I’ve gotten older, I’m respecting my parents as individuals instead of as parents — because my mom really loved my dad for her whole life, and I think being married to someone in the music industry and not being a part of it is obviously really hard,” she continued. “And so I think I took on some of my mom’s hurt as my own because it hurt her more than it hurt me as an adult, and so I owned a lot of her pain.”
“But now that my mom is so in love with my stepdad, who I completely adore, and now that my dad, I see him finding happiness, too — I can love them both as individuals instead of as a parental pairing,” added Miley, referring to Billy Ray’s relationship with Elizabeth Hurley and mom Tish Cyrus’ marriage to Dominic Purcell.
“I’m being an adult about it,” the Something Beautiful musician further explained. “At first it’s hard, because the little kid in you reacts before the adult in you can go, ‘Yes, that’s your dad, but that’s just another person that deserves to be in his bliss and to be happy.’ My child self has caught up.”
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Billy Ray and Tish, 58, divorced after almost three decades of marriage in 2022. They welcomed three children together — Miley, Braison and Noah — after they wed in 1993, and Billy Ray also adopted Tish’s children, Brandi and Trace.
After they called it quits, the former spouses found new love. Tish married Purcell, 55, in August 2023, and Billy Ray wed Firerose that October, though they split less than a year later. He started dating Hurley, 59, earlier this year.
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Miley and Billy Ray rose to global fame together in 2006, after they starred in Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel. The father-daughter duo went on to release music together, and collaborate on various other projects, though they had a bumpy relationship over the years, especially after Billy Ray split from Tish.
In June 2024, Miley gave more insight into her family dynamic during a candid interview on Netflix’s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman. There, she said her mother is her hero, but she added that she learned a lot about how to handle fame from her father.
Miley squashed “rumors” surrounding her familial relationships earlier this month.
She shared a rare public statement on her Instagram Stories addressing false claims about her mother, while also giving an update on the status of her relationship with her father, days after Tish appeared to unfollow her on Instagram.
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Miley wrote, “I rarely comment on rumors, but my mama and I are too tight for anything to ever come between us. She’s my best friend. Like a lot of moms, she doesn’t know how to work her phone and somehow unfollowed me — simple, coincidental, and uninteresting.”
The “Angels Like You” crooner then addressed her relationship with her dad, acknowledging that they “have had our challenges over the years.”
“Now, in my thirties, family is my priority above all else,” Miley concluded her message. “I’m at peace knowing bridges have been built and time has done a lot of healing. Grateful for the good health and love that flows through my family.”
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