Billy Ray Cyrus’ ex-wife Firerose still has some things to say about her messy divorce from the “Achy Breaky Heart” singer.
The Sydney-born musician, whose real name is Johanna Rosie Hodges, shared the one thing she would have done differently as she reflected on their brief marriage and subsequent breakup in an interview with the Australian Sunday Telegraph’s Stellar magazine published on Saturday.
“When I think about what I just went through, I would have told my 22-year-old self to run in the opposite direction and never look back,” she said, referring to her initial meeting with Cyrus.
Firerose met Cyrus met over a decade before their October 2023 wedding as she was leaving an audition in Hollywood on the same lot where “Hannah Montana” — which starred Billy Ray and his daughter Miley Cyrus — was being filmed.
“I was just a starving artist at the time,” Firerose, 36, told Stellar. “I didn’t have a TV because I couldn’t afford one. I knew of him, that once upon a time, he’d had a song. But I didn’t know much.”
After their quick interaction, Billy Ray invited her to the set.
“He said, ‘I’ll just introduce you to everyone else and we can hang out for the rest of the day,’” she recalled. “My gut instinct, honestly, was: what does this guy want? I probably should have had way better boundaries.”
At the time, Billy Ray was still married to his second wife, Tish Cyrus, who filed for divorce in April 2022.
Billy Ray and Firerose began a romantic relationship during the coronavirus pandemic after the Grammy winner reached out. After bonding over their shared love of music and collaborating on a few projects, the then-couple tied the knot last year.
“All I ever tried to do was love and trust this person, which was very ignorant of me. I really wanted to believe that he was the good version of the man I’d fallen in love with,” Firerose said.
But the honeymoon phase quickly fizzled out as Billy Ray, 63, filed for divorce in May after seven months of marriage, citing irreconcilable differences and inappropriate marital conduct as the reasons for the split.
He also sought an annulment on the grounds of fraud.
Shortly after, he accused Firerose of charging $96,000 on his credit card and requested a temporary restraining order against her to prevent her from spending his money.
She responded to his claims in a counter-complaint, accusing Billy Ray of “unpredictable and volatile” behavior that equated to “extreme verbal, emotional, and psychological abuse.”
In June, Firerose told Page Six she was blindsided by Billy Ray’s divorce filing, alleging he forced her out of their marital home on the same day she was scheduled to have a double mastectomy.
“Billy had very strict rules,” she claimed at the time. “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.”
The pair’s divorce was finalized on Aug. 5. As part of their settlement, Firerose received no money from her ex, however Billy Ray was required to hand over his claims to credits and royalties for songs they wrote and published together.
