Billy Ray Cyrus has offered a rare update on his relationship with daughter Miley, saying their bond has grown stronger again and that music remains the way they still connect best.
The comments come after several years of public speculation about tension within the Cyrus family, particularly following Billy Ray and Tish Cyrus’s divorce in 2022 and the fallout that followed.
Over time, Miley has been open about how adulthood changed the way she views both of her parents, saying she began to understand them more as individuals rather than as a married pair. In 2025, she also made clear that she was no longer estranged from her father and said the timing of their reconnection mattered.
Speaking more recently about where things stand now, Billy Ray said the connection with Miley has been rebuilt through music, a bond they have shared since she was a child.
“It’s been so good,” he said. “That’s our lifeblood and how we communicate.
“Since she was a baby, she’s been on this ride and seen the peaks and valleys and knows when you’re in this business it’s all a circus, and at some point, hopefully you get to play in the big top.”
He also made it clear he believes their relationship is now stronger than ever.
“Our relationship has never been better,” he said.
In 2026, the pair also reunited publicly for the Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special, a nostalgic reminder of the Disney series that helped launch Miley’s career and featured Billy Ray as her on-screen father. Miley has since described the show as an important part of her family story, while also acknowledging that the real-life relationship with her dad has taken time to repair.
Miley addressed the family dynamic directly in a 2025 interview, saying she had learned to give both parents grace as people who were navigating their own lives, not just the roles they played in her childhood.
“No. I think timing is everything,” she said when asked if she was still estranged from her father.
She then spoke about how age and perspective changed her understanding of the family split.
“As I’ve gotten older, I’m respecting my parents as individuals instead of as parents, because my mom’s 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.”
Miley said that, for a long time, she carried some of her mother’s pain from the divorce as her own.
“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,” she said.
“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.”
She acknowledged that getting to that point took time.
“I’m being an adult about it,” she said.
“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.”
Those comments came after years of rumors about a broader Cyrus family rift, including speculation around social media activity and Billy Ray’s absence from certain public moments. Miley later pushed back on the idea that she and her mother were truly divided, saying they remained extremely close.
“I rarely comment on rumors but my mama and I are too tight for anything to ever come between us,” Miley wrote at the time.
“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.”
Family remains a priority for Miley, and her comments over the past year suggest the situation has settled into a more peaceful place than it once was.
“My dad and I have had our challenges over the years,” she said. “Now, in my thirties, family is my priority above all else.”
Billy Ray, meanwhile, has continued to reflect publicly on family, music, and recovery as he moves through a new chapter in his career, including the release of his 2026 album The Hill and renewed attention on his personal life.