Firerose Cyrus believed country star Billy Ray Cyrus when he told her: “One day, we’re going to have an epic love story beyond what anyone could imagine.”
But after just seven months of marriage, the two are embroiled in a nightmare divorce with accusations of abuse on each side.
Firerose said she felt like a prisoner at home in Tennessee, trapped without a car. Lisa Rhea Photography
In an exclusive interview Firerose, 36, told Page Six how the “Achy Breaky Heart” star — and the father of Miley Cyrus — kicked her out of their Tennessee home on the same day she was meant to have a double mastectomy. She had recently being diagnosed with the BRCA1 gene, which means she is at high risk of developing breast cancer.
Her voice cracked as she alleged how Billy Ray, 62, continually screamed at her and made her feel like a prisoner at their remote farm just outside Nashville.
Both Firerose and Billy Ray Cyrus have accused each other of abuse and isolating the other from family. Lisa Rhea Photography
“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.”
Friends and family were banned from visiting, she claimed, adding: “If I had to send a text, I had to read it out to him for permission. It was the same for email.”
“It felt like Firerose was in a prison that she didn’t sign up for,” one of her close friends, a stylist, told Page Six.
The stress became so bad, Firerose said, that she passed out two days before their wedding last October and was taken to the hospital.
She claimed Billy Ray would give her the silent treatment for hours and sometime even days.
Billy Ray filed for divorce from Firerose just seven months after their wedding —on the day she was meant to have surgery. billyraycyrus/Instagram
“I withdrew …I was afraid to talk,” she said.
Firerose — an Australian singer whose name is Johanna Rose Hodges — first met Billy Ray at a Hollywood studio in 2010, while he was still married to his second wife, Tish. She was 22; he was 48 and starring alongside Miley on the Disney Channel’s “Hannah Montana.”
They became friends and he told her they were “soulmates” and would have a love story for the ages, she said, although they barely stayed in touch.
The couple lived on a remote farm, and Firerose was isolated from family and friends, she said. billyraycyrus/Instagram
But 10 years later, Billy Ray tracked down Firerose to duet with him on a version of Tanya Tucker’s “Delta Dawn.”
He also said he had not stopped thinking about her over the past decade.
“Every day, he told me, ‘I’m getting divorced’ but he said it was complicated because of the kids, and they had been married for so long. I just accepted everything he told me to be true,” said Firerose, who was four years sober at the time.
They began dating, but when they released the duet “A New Day” in 2021, Firerose said, Billy Ray told her not to talk about their relationship in public.
Billy Ray is estranged from his superstar daughter Miley Cyrus (center), who is close to her mom, Tish (right). The trio is seen here at the 2019 Grammys. WireImage
When Tish filed for divorce in April 2022, Firerose was taken by surprise — because she believed Billy Ray had done so long before.
“I would never ever have entered into a relationship with a married man, but he was such a great manipulator,” Firerose said.
When she moved from Los Angeles to live with him in Tennessee in 2022, she claimed, he soon isolated her “from every single person in my life” — save for her AA sponsor, whom she insisted on speaking to.
Billy Ray has six kids. He and ex Tish (far left) are seen with daughters Noah, Miley and Brandi at the 2017 MTV Video Music awards. Getty Images for MTV
Her family and friends soon began to worry about her, sources told Page Six.
Firerose also alleged that Billy Ray became verbally abusive. Page Six has reviewed evidence of him yelling at her.
“He would rage at me, shout at me at the top of his lungs. He would terrify me, yelling, ‘You stupid dumb f–ing b–ch, crazy w–re,’” Firerose said. “It was illogical and insane and terrifying.
Reps for Billy Ray had no comment.
Firerose, on stage with Billy Ray (center) and Travis Denning, says that she lost her managers and a fortune in bookings when her husband filed for divorce. Getty Images for ACM
The dad of six has a famously fractured relationship with his kids — including superstar daughter Miley, who failed to thank him when she won her first Grammy this year.
Page Six understands that one of his children went so far as to encourage Firerose to leave him.
“There is no relationship that Billy has that is not affected by his narcissism,” said Firerose.
Despite everything, the two got engaged in August 2022.
In the run up to the wedding, she claimed, Billy Ray invited to fly her aunt and uncle over from Australia — only to renege on the offer, leaving them “heartbroken.”
The note that Firerose sent to Billy Ray amid their split, that she claims shows how toxic their marriage was. Courtesy of Billy Ray Cyrus
Firerose described Billy Ray as a Jekyll-and-Hyde-like character: “He kept saying ‘dumb f–king b—ch,’ then ‘You’re the love of my life, I can’t wait to marry you.’”
She said that, as a result of stress, she was struck down by migraines. Two days before the wedding, she fainted and was taken to the hospital. Even then, Firerose claimed, Billy Ray accused her of causing “a circus.”
The two were wed at the farm in October 2023.
“It definitely wasn’t this abundance of joy,” said a stylist who has been close friends with Firerose for six years and did her hair on the wedding day. “Billy Ray didn’t want her family there. He was very picky about who could come to the property. It would have been a better day for her if she had been able to have some family and some of her LA friends there.”
The couple with Billy Ray’s daughter Noah Cyrus (center). billyraycyrus/Instagram
Firerose said she was eventually allowed to have a car, and drove to see a therapist — only for Billy Ray to yell at her because he believed she was talking about him, she alleged.
She made the difficult decision to have a double mastectomy after being diagnosed with the BRCA1 gene mutation.
Billy Ray, she said, wanted her to stay at a cabin on the farm with a nurse. Some friends from LA had offered to come take care of her, but “I didn’t even know how to tell my friends they may not be allowed in the property,” said Firerose.
The 400-acre farm outside Nashville where Firerose lived with Billy Ray. She now lives with a friend in Tennessee. Google Earth
In the end, Firerose did not have the surgery when Billy Ray kicked her out and filed for divorce on May 23 — the very day the procedure was planned.
In new legal documents filed Monday, Billy Ray claimed that he was”physically, verbally and emotionally abused by his estranged wife. In an affidavit, Scott Adkins, Billy Ray’s manager, claimed he witnessed the abuse toward his client.
Billy Ray also denied the “mind boggling” allegations that he was abusive toward Firerose. He also accuses his wife of isolating him from his family, in filings.
Firerose called the legal battle “excruciatingly painful,” adding, “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.”
Miley won her first Grammy in February and thanked her mother, but failed to thank her father. AFP via Getty Images
A friend of Firerose’s who works in the mental health space told Page Six: “I’m one of the only friends who was aware of the verbal, emotional and psychological abuse Firerose has endured by Billy, as she was completely isolated and afraid of sharing what she was going through with others. As a victim of abuse myself, she felt comfortable confiding in me of her experiences and I could tell she was becoming worn down.”
In a motion filed earlier this month, Billy Ray accused Firerose of knowingly committing fraud “with the sole intention of inducing Plaintiff into a marriage to obtain the name ‘Cyrus’ under the belief that it would help her fledgling music career.”
The filing alleged that Firerose lied about her identity, using her married surname of Hodges on their marriage license when it asked for her birth name and listing her aunt and uncle’s names as her parents, instead of her biological parents.
Firerose and Billy Ray Cyrus were married for seven months. Lisa Rhea Photography
Firerose was raised by her aunt and uncle.
The filing also alleged that she lied about having been married before.
Firerose told Page Six she had been married once before, when she was 21, and the divorce was amicable. She said she tried “numerous times” to tell Billy Ray about her previous relationships and that he didn’t want to know.
“When Billy decided to discard me it was [in] a brutal way,” said Firerose, “I would never treat another human being so cruelly.”
Firerose says she is speaking out to help people who have suffered domestic abuse. Instagram/firerose
She lost the agents that she shared with her husband, who has accused her of fraudulently using credit cards they shared. As a result, Firerose said, she has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of work, including a role in a Hallmark movie.
One of Billy Ray’s divorce-related court filings included a note Firerose allegedly left him after leaving their home. It reads, “I am so sorry” and “Please give me a chance to make this right. I can explain everything but I need you on my side.”
“He’s attempting to use my loving notes as proof that he could not have been abusing me because I love him,” said Firerose, “But it’s because you love them that you tolerate this behavior.”
She freely admits she had some “very dark years” in her 20s that led her to get sober. “I think he will use every single thing against me,” she said. “He’s an evil man.”
Billy Ray accused Firerose of lying about never having been married — but she said he never wanted to hear about her past loves. AFF-USA/Shutterstock
There will be another court hearing on Monday, Page Six is told.
Firerose is now living with a friend in Tennessee and said she is starting to feel brighter, which is why she’s speaking out.
“Knowing so many other women and so many other people who are, unfortunately, survivors of domestic abuse — and have to face all of this, every day, behind closed doors — makes me realize I have to find courage,” she said, “I don’t think I have it — but I have an obligation. If I can’t use my public platform, then what chance does anybody have?”
