Billy Ray Cyrus is not looking back at Hannah Montana with rose-colored glasses. While the Disney series made his daughter, Miley Cyrus, a household name, it also brought a storm, he says, tore his family apart. In fact, the country star went on record saying the show “destroyed my family.”
When TV Fame Turned Toxic for Billy Ray Cyrus
In a raw 2011 chat with GQ Magazine, Billy Ray Cyrus didn’t hold back when asked if the Disney hit messed up his home life. “Oh, it’s huge—it destroyed my family. I’ll tell you right now—the [expletive] show destroyed my family,” he confessed. And then he doubled down:
“I hate to say it, but yes, I do. Yeah. I’d take it back in a second. For my family to be and just be everybody OK, safe, sound, happy, and normal would have been fantastic. Heck, yeah. I’d erase it all in a second if I could.” Now, that’s a punch to the gut.
Back in 2006, Hannah Montana dropped like a firework. It introduced the world to a singing teen with a double life, and 5.4 million people tuned in on day one as per E! Online. By Season 3, the series was crushing it with nearly 7 million viewers per episode. But the bigger the show got, the worse things got at home.
Billy Ray said he started noticing cracks. “The business was driving a wedge between us,” he admitted. He tried to keep things grounded with Miley. “How many interviews did I give and say, ‘You know what’s important between me and Miley is that I try to be a friend to my kids’? I said it a lot.”
He thought being the cool, friendly dad was the move. But looking back? Maybe not. “Sometimes I would even read other parents might say, ‘You don’t need to be a friend; you need to be a parent.’ Honestly, I didn’t know that ball was out of bounds until it was way up in the stands somewhere,” he shared.
By the time Hannah Montana was filming its fourth and final season in 2010, the Cyrus family was already splitting at the seams. Billy Ray and his wife, Tish, had diverged.
The atmosphere on set? “Season four, it was a disaster,” he said bluntly. Even he couldn’t believe he got through it all. “How did I ever make it through that? I must be a better actor than I thought.”
Billy Ray’s honesty hit hard. Yes, Hannah Montana turned Miley into a megastar. But it also pushed their family under a 24/7 spotlight with zero off-switch. He doesn’t blame the fame. He blames the chaos that came with it. And given the choice, he’s traded it all for a quiet life with his family.
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