Billy Ray Cyrus Opens Up About ‘Happy’ Relationship with Elizabeth Hurley

Billy Ray Cyrus, 63, is dishing on his relationship with Elizabeth Hurley, 59, and how they reconnected after meeting a few years ago.

Cyrus opened up on Apple Music Country’s “The Ty Bentil Show,” in an excerpt obtained by People magazine, recalling how they worked together on “Christmas in Paradise” in 2022.

He shared, "We did very few scenes together, but the couple times we were in the same scene there was a chemistry there. We just laughed, and it was at a time I wasn’t laughing a lot."

The singer also recalled, “I figured we were so different, but in some very strange way we had way more in common than we had different."

After filming wrapped, they didn’t speak for two years, and Billy Ray hit a low point in his life. "I felt like, ‘Wow, can life get any harder? Can it get any tougher?’”

He said it was in this moment that “a friend reached out.”

While he didn’t recognize Hurley’s phone number, he got a text that said, "Hey, it looks like life might be a little bit tough and just wanted you to know I’m in your corner; you’ve got a friend in your corner."

Billy Ray revealed, "So, I text back, I go, ‘Who is this?’ And it’s like, ‘Elizabeth Hurley.’ Of all the people to reach out to me in that second that maybe I needed most… this friend who made me laugh.”

He gushed over the actress calling her a “great human,” adding, "If all we ever were [is] the friends that we are, I would take that. She’s so impressively brilliant. She reminds me a lot of Dolly Parton. She’s a very smart businesswoman.”

The star added, “If you can laugh together, you can make it through everything."

Fans were shocked when they hard-launched their relationship on Instagram with a photo of him kissing her on the cheek. Now, he says followers should brace themselves for more kissing pics.

"There will be one coming where she’s kissing me because people have been saying, ‘Why’s he always kissing her?’ Unfortunately, when I see her, when she puts her cheek out there, I don’t know what happens, I just kiss it."

He insisted, "It's just been beautiful… and again, no expectations of where we go from here other than her and her son — I do love him a lot, and it’s great that God brought them into my life when he did. It’s just a good thing. It’s been a long time since I’ve been this happy."

Cyrus was previously married to Firerose from October 2023 to June 2024. They finalized their divorce in May 2024. Before that, Billy Ray was married to Tish Cyrus for 30 years. They finalized their divorce in 2022.

Hurley was married to businessman Arun Nayar from 2007 to 2011.