Miley Cyrus Opens Up About Her Father Billy Ray Cyrus Amid Family Drama

Miley Cyrus is shedding light on her relationship with dad Billy Ray Cyrus amid reported family drama.

On a new episode of “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman,” the singer talks about life with mom Tish Cyrus and famous dad Billy Ray.

When David asked if her father is her hero, Miley sighed, answering, "Honestly, my mom is my hero. My father — I'm grateful for…. First, his genes. My dad has great hair and I got that, but he also, he has a relationship and a foot on the ground to the real and to nature, and he always did, even when he was super famous.”

She continued, “I’m grateful for being able to watch him ahead of me. He's almost given me this map. There is a map of what to do and what not to do. And he's guided me on both."

Miley also noted during the interview, "I also inherited the narcissism from my father."

She added, "I don’t know anything about my own siblings except for the part that I was doing... I was moving to L.A. [for "Hannah Montana"], and that’s all I really knew."

Miley talked about how her mom grew up in an “intact beautiful family,” contrasting it with her dad’s upbringing.

She said, “The way that my dad was raised, he grew up very poor, in a very small town. His parents were divorced when he was very young. My dad had a pretty rough childhood.”

On the other hand, Miley went on, “I had food, I had love, I grew up in a beautiful big house, and my dad didn’t have that. So, I have a lot of empathy and compassion for his childhood, which obviously developed to create the man that he is now that I have a lot of love for.”

Letterman asked if he was fundamentally important in the early stages of her career, asking if she would give equal credit to both parents in that regard. The “Flowers” singer insisted, “They’re different. They can't be weighed on the same scale."

She explained, “Without my dad, I know… I would not be who I am as a person — it wouldn’t exist. My dad as a creative and as an artist… and the way his brain works has always made me feel safer in my own mind because we are very similar in our ideas. So, I think a lot of his perspective on reality and on life I’ve inherited from him, more so than the way that I was raised, because really, my mom raised me.”

David commented, “There is not estrangement here with your father? It’s just kind of the way things are played.”

She replied, “Yeah, I think what is so beautiful is that my parents, they served their children… and sacrificed so much for us. Anything we dreamed of, they made possible.”

The 62-year-old just posted a father-daughter photo of the pair on Instagram from when Miley was a toddler and wrote, “One of my best memories ever: @cma Fest, back when it was Fan Fair. That's @mileycyrus and me, surrounded by thousands of incredible fans at the fairgrounds.”

The singer set the post to Miley's song "Flowers" and recalled, “The next day, someone handed me this picture, and I wrote that poem right then on the bus. I’m incredibly proud of her. She's a survivor and a true artist. She learned early on to love and appreciate the fans who make everything possible. We both cherish the connection we have with our fans and are grateful for every single one of you!”

Despite starring on “Hannah Montana” together from 2006 to 2011, Billy Ray and Miley seem to have grown apart.

She left the “Achy Breaky Heart” singer out of her 2024 Grammys speech, and even ended by saying, “I don't think I forgot anyone, but I might've forgotten underwear. Bye!"

Miley, 31, didn’t mention Billy Ray in a follow-up post either, as she thanked her mom and others… including her fans.

The family has been through a lot of change in recent years.

Billy Ray and wife Tish divorced in 2022 after 30 years of marriage. In 2023, Billy Ray married Firerose and Tish married Dominic Purcell.