Tish Cyrus Admits She Wanted to Make Marriage to Billy Ray Cyrus Work for a 'Little Too Long': 'It Was Tough on Everyone'

Mar. 15, 2025

Billy Ray Cyrus and Tish Cyrus at the 2019 Grammy Awards.Photo: David Crotty/Patrick McMullan/Getty

Tish Cyrusis opening up about her divorce from ex-husbandBilly Ray Cyrus, and the ways in which it affected their five children.

Tish, 57, appeared on the Nov. 25 episode of theSibling Revelry with Kate Hudson and Oliver Hudsonpodcast, and explained that whileending her marriagewas never something she wanted to do, she felt as though she’d hit a breaking point.

Tish and Billy Ray, 63, divorced in April 2022 after more than 28 years of marriage. They share daughtersMiley, 32, andNoah, 24, and sonBraison, 30. The “Achy Breaky Heart” singer also adopted Tish’s daughterBrandi, 37, and sonTrace, 35, from her previous marriage.

“I never wanted to be divorced,” Tish said, pointing to her parents’ decades-long marriage as her inspiration. “[But] for us, you’re in the public eye and the world that we exist in is already so odd and at some times unstable. I wanted to make it work, probably for a little too long, like, for my own mental health. There became a point that, like, I didn’t have a choice.”

Billy Ray Cyrus, Miley Cyrus and Tish Cyrus in 2019.Kevin Mazur/Getty

Kevin Mazur/Getty

Tish said she knew her split from Billy Ray was “tough on everyone” in her family, especially her children, even though they were all adults at that point.

“My son Trace, for example… He was bummed. He was like, ‘I wish my mom and dad would never get… I wish that wouldn’t have happened,’” Tish recalled. “I was an only child and had the best upbringing and best parents and never went through anything like that. So I don’t really know how it affects you, but… it was definitely something that was probably hard on them, no matter how you do it.”

She continued, “And I think that we did it really well. I think I did really well, and I do think that I just wanted it to be the easiest as possible for everyone involved.”

John Shearer/Getty

“In the prior filings, like, especially Noah, was so young, and that was definitely a big thing,” Brandi said. “My mom really wanted the family to stay together for Noah. But then once Noah was an adult, I do feel like it was… It was not great, but also, we’re all old enough to understand it. We’re able to zoom out and see it for what it was.”

Tish has sinceremarriedPrison Breakstar Dominic Purcell,while Billy Raysplit from Australian singer Firerosein May after several months of marriage.

In February, Tishopened up to PEOPLEabout her split from Billy Ray, saying she was “terrified” to leave her marriage, and feared she’d never find love again.

“I thought I was going to be alone forever,” she said. “And that was one of the times that I had the crippling breakdown of anxiety. I joke about it and say I had a complete psychological breakdown. There were 30 days where I was not eating, sleeping, just felt like I was just coming out of my skin. And it was really scary.”

source: people.com