Death, divorce, and the one path she never walked — Tish Cyrus may have one of the most famous surnames in country music, but she's no stranger to an achy breaky heart.
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00:00Death, divorce, and the one path she never walked. Tish Cyrus may have one of the most
00:05famous surnames in country music, but she's no stranger to an achy, breaky heart.
00:10Miley Cyrus may have the voice, but Tish had the twinkle toes. Tish grew up practicing
00:15ballet, and she even once dreamed of making it big before deciding to go down a different
00:19path. As Miley once told Rolling Stone, she danced ballet from the time she was three
00:23till she was 30, but she was very shy. She could never do this, so she wanted it for
00:28In fact, Tish wasn't just shy. She has struggled with anxiety through most of her life, which
00:33partly kept her from pursuing her ballet career. She told People magazine,
00:37"...my anxiety has affected me since I was in my 20s. I lost my dad when I was 19 to
00:41lung cancer, and just seeing what he went through gave me so much health anxiety."
00:45My mom literally forced me to go see a doctor and get on some medication."
00:50Tish may not have gone on to star in The Nutcracker, but that doesn't mean she's lost her touch.
00:55In one TikTok video, she can be seen line-dancing in cowboy boots to the song
00:59Austin by Dasha, and she certainly doesn't appear to have two left feet.
01:03Before Billy Ray Cyrus came along, Tish Cyrus was married to her first husband, Baxter Neal
01:09Helsen. Helsen was a drummer in Kentucky when they met, performing mostly in local events
01:13or at bars. Helsen and Tish were married from 1986 to 1989, and they had two children together,
01:19their daughter, Brandi, and their son, Trace. After a contentious split that led to a heated
01:24custody battle, Helsen stepped out of the spotlight and relocated to Phoenix, Arizona.
01:29Tish's future husband, Billy Ray, ultimately adopted Brandi and Trace in 1993, and the
01:34children have yet to speak out publicly about Helsen.
01:37As their relationship blossomed, Tish went on to grow her family with Billy Ray Cyrus.
01:42The couple had met at a club in 1991, not long before Billy Ray's career blew up with
01:47his hit, Achy Breaky Heart. As the story goes, he was drawn to her because she was the sober
01:51one out of her group of friends, though she admits she began to let her hair down more
01:55when they became official.
01:56"'I used to be fat.'"
01:58Tish and Billy Ray welcomed their first child, Miley, in 1992, and they wed the following
02:03year. In 1994, Tish gave birth to their second biological child, a son named Brayson, followed
02:09by their daughter, Noah, in 2000. Tish Cyrus didn't plan to be a manager before Hannah
02:14Montana exploded onto the scene. Once Miley became a global superstar, though, she began
02:19to learn the ropes pretty quickly.
02:21I just was kind of thrown into that, you know, when we moved here for Miley to do Hannah
02:25Montana."
02:26Tish explained that she managed her daughter alone for years before bringing in another
02:30co-manager. She also co-manages her daughter Noah's career, and make no mistake, she puts
02:35in the work.
02:36And, you know, when they were younger it was harder because there were times that we would
02:42be on tour and I'd have to ground Miley and put her on, you know, and she'd be like,
02:46you're fired! And I'm like, you're not 18!
02:48Nowadays, Tish and Miley are the best of friends, which Tish says makes her nervous
02:52at times.
02:53It's a lot of pressure just because I don't want to make mistakes knowing that I'm also
02:57her mom.
02:59In October 2010, Billy Ray Cyrus filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences
03:05as the reason for his split with Tish. Around that same time, it was rumored that Tish had
03:09engaged in an extramarital affair with former Rock of Love star Bret Michaels. But the rock
03:14star later refuted those claims. Billy Ray and Tish issued a joint statement at the time,
03:19saying,
03:20"'As you can imagine, this is a very difficult time for our family. We are trying to work
03:23through some personal matters. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers.'"
03:27The pair ultimately reconciled the following year, however, and Billy Ray appeared to blame
03:31Hannah Montana for the near-dissolution of his family. Speaking to GQ in 2011, he said,
03:36"'It destroyed my family. I'll tell you right now. The damn show destroyed my family.'"
03:41Billy Ray went on The View months after his filing to share the news of his rekindled
03:45relationship with Tish. He said,
03:47"'I've dropped the divorce. I want to put my family back together. Things are the best
03:50they've ever been.'"
03:52Tish and Billy Ray Cyrus' roles reversed in 2013, as this time it was Tish who filed for
03:57divorce from Billy Ray Cyrus. In a statement published by People magazine, Tish said,
04:02"'This is a personal matter, and we are working to find a resolution that is in the best interest
04:06of our family. We ask that you respect our privacy at this time.' Tish, who listed their
04:11date of separation as "'to be determined,' asked for joint primary and legal custody
04:16of their then-underage daughter, Noah, allowing Billy Ray visitation rights. Tish also requested
04:21alimony in her filing, asking that the country singer pay for her legal fees as well."
04:26But the pair shocked the internet just a month later when their second divorce filing was
04:30reneged. A month after the news of their divorce surfaced, they could be seen on Instagram
04:34getting cozy with one another, posting a now-deleted photo on the couch with the caption,
04:39"'Date night.'"
04:40Tish and Billy Ray later admitted to having worked through their issues in couples therapy.
04:44In a statement, they said,
04:45"'We both woke up and realized we love each other and decided we want to stay together.'"
04:49The pandemic was a difficult time in more ways than one for Tish Cyrus. Not only was
04:54she dealing with the threat of COVID, but she also grappled with the loss of her mother,
04:58leaving her living alone for the first time. She later told New Beauty,
05:01I always had two big fears in life. One, living alone because I never have, and two, losing
05:06my mom. And both of those happened in the past year."
05:09"'I always knew when something happened to my mom, like, it would probably be, like,
05:14the hardest day of my life.'"
05:15Tish revealed that Billy Ray Cyrus was holed up in Nashville during the pandemic, meaning
05:20she had to face her troubles on her own. She added,
05:22"'His mom is there. She's 85 and he didn't want to fly, so he stayed out there with her.
05:27So I was alone. And then in the midst of it, I lost my mom. My two biggest fears came
05:32true, and I survived them. It's not easy."
05:34Tish shared that her faith was her saving grace, allowing her to see the light at the
05:38end of the tunnel during such a dark period of her life. She said,
05:41"'Truly, if I didn't have my faith, my family. I think if I didn't realize that there was
05:46more, I don't know how I would have gotten through it. But I do know that I'm stronger
05:49because of it.'"
05:50After two failed divorce attempts, Tish and Billy Ray Cyrus finally divorced for real
05:55in 2022. That April, Tish was the one to file the papers with irreconcilable differences.
06:01Once again noted as the reason for the split, the former spouses delivered a statement to
06:05People magazine following the news, saying,
06:07"'It is after 30 years, five amazing children and a lifetime of memories, we have decided
06:13to go our separate ways, not with sadness, but with love in our hearts. We have grown
06:17up together, raised a family we can be so proud of, and it is now time to create our
06:21own paths.'"
06:22It seemed there had been trouble brewing for years, as Tish cited that she and Billy Ray
06:26had not been living under one roof in the two years leading up to the filing. Then,
06:30just months after the divorce was filed, Billy Ray got engaged to Australian singer Fire
06:35Rose. All eyes were on the Cyrus family's reactions to the news, but Billy Ray assured
06:40fans that it was all water under the bridge between him and Tish. In 2022, he told People
06:45magazine,
06:46"'Everyone knew that that relationship was over a long time ago. Everybody's turning
06:49the page.'"
06:50Tish didn't seem the least bit bothered, either, as she quickly moved on with Prison Break
06:54star Dominic Purcell around the same time. Tish Cyrus moved on from Billy Ray Cyrus,
07:00and right into the Instagram account of her future beau, Dominic Purcell. The two were
07:04first linked in 2016 when the actor slid into her DMs, but his girlfriend at the time blocked
07:10Tish shortly after, meaning that Tish didn't see the message until the following year.
07:14And I had followed him on Instagram, and he DMed me and just said, Hey Tish, just wanted
07:19to thank you, I think you're super cool."
07:21Tish reached back out following her divorce from Billy Ray. Tish and Purcell started seeing
07:25each other in the fall of 2022 and had made their relationship official by that November.
07:31Purcell got down on one knee the following April, and the two tied the knot in an August
07:35ceremony in Malibu.
07:37Not everybody was over the moon about Tish Cyrus' relationship with Dominic Purcell.
07:41Several months after the pair got married, reports surfaced that the Prison Break star
07:45had been involved with her daughter, Noah, before they got together. A source told People
07:49magazine,
07:50"[Noah and Dominic were seeing each other in a friends-with-benefits way, off and on.
07:54They stopped seeing each other and then Tish started something up. Tish knew he had been
07:57seeing Noah."
07:58While the source claimed that Noah and Purcell had cut things off by the time he started
08:02pursuing her mom, things have supposedly remained pretty icy between the mother-daughter duo
08:07ever since. Many have also speculated that this may be the reason that Noah decided to
08:11skip out on Tish's nuptials to Purcell in 2023. Despite what the rumor mill might say,
08:16it seems the mother-daughter duo may be open to reconciliation.
08:20In May 2024, Noah celebrated her mother's birthday by posting a throwback photo of the
08:25two to her Instagram story. Neither Tish nor Noah have spoken publicly about the alleged
08:30love triangle.