Billy Ray Cyrus took to Instagram with a Mother’s Day message that carried the weight of years of family turmoil.
“We have all been through a lot,”
he wrote, his words laced with humility and hope. Praising ex-wife Tish as “the very definition of a strong mother” and daughter Miley for her
“guts, courage, wisdom, and strength,” the country star admitted his own shortcomings and called for “an extra prayer for the CYRUS Family.”
public step toward mending a family fractured by divorce, public drama, and the relentless glare of fame.
The Cyrus clan’s history is a history of music, fame, and complicated ties. The “Achy Breaky Heart” singer and Tish, a producer and manager, were married in 1993. Their five children together are Miley, Braison, and Noah as well as Brandi and Trace, Tish’s children from her first marriage and whom Billy Ray adopted. Born to an early relationship is a son, Christopher Cody. The launch to global fame came in the form of Hannah Montana, the Disney Channel phenomenon in which Billy Ray was Miley’s on-screen father and solidified their reputation as a close family. In reality, however, cracks were beginning to show.
Billy Ray and Tish divorced in 2022, after close to three decades of marriage, a move triggering ripples in the family. The divorce signaled the start of publicized conflicts as children reportedly shifted against the other parent and the media waited with bated breath to analyze every action.
The last several years have been eventful times for the Cyruses. Tish’s January 2023 nuptials to actor Dominic Purcell at Miley’s Malibu estate with Miley as maid of honor were marred by rumors of a brief romance between Purcell and Noah before Tish. Noah’s nonappearance at the wedding together with Braison’s did nothing to dispel rumors of a break. Billy Ray’s short-lived marriage to singer Firerose came to a tumultuous end in a dramatic 2024 divorce when leaked audio showed his rants of anger and further damaged his reputation.
Miley’s Grammy acceptance speech in 2024, in which she credited Tish but left out Billy Ray, fueled speculation about estrangement. In the early part of the year, Trace Cyrus wrote an open letter to his father asking him to get help and citing both his health and actions in response to a questionable performance at Donald Trump’s inauguration. All the events contributed to speculation about a fractured family and their private grief publicized by the world.
But among all the tumult, some indications of healing have been seen. In May of 2025, Miley had addressed rumors on her Instagram Story by stating bluntly,
“Family is my priority above all else.”
She had noted difficult times with her father but insisted on how
“bridges have been built and time has done a lot of healing.”
She spoke similarly on Billy Ray’s Mother’s Day post when he posted how proud he was of Miley’s strength and apologized about how it had been to be married to him.
A public reunion at Billy Ray’s Tennessee farm for Braison’s 31st birthday in May 2025 offered a hopeful glimpse of progress. Photos of Miley, Billy Ray, and Braison together signaled a family striving to mend old wounds. Tish and Noah, too, have reconciled, with Tish noting that Noah now lives nearby and is engaged to designer Pinkus. These moments suggest a collective desire to move forward.
The saga of the Cyrus clan tellingly illustrates the price of fame on interpersonal relations. From the dizzying fame of Hannah Montana to the glare of the media spotlight, their lives have been on full display. Billy Ray has conceded the show “wrecked my family,” and Miley has long been open about the psychological strain of celebrity as a child.
Tish has also opened up about her own struggles with a “psychological break” during Covid. Their tale is a testament to even the most iconic clans dealing with common issues: love, loss, and seeking forgiveness.
