Billy Ray Cyrus is once again headed down the aisle.
The country star shared the story of finding love again after getting divorced from his wife of 28 years Tish Cyrus in April in a new interview with People. Cyrus explained that, “For everything that's good, there's always been something equally as bad. I've never really known the middle.” So after grieving the end of his marriage and the death of his mother Ruth Ann Casto just four months later, he is now getting to experience some of that good, confirming that he is engaged to Australian singer Firerose and crediting his late dog Tex with playing matchmaker.
The “Achy Breaky Heart” singer explained that 12 years ago he was on the set of his daughter Miley Cyrus's Disney Channel show, Hannah Montana, and “There's a couple old pine trees on the lot that look like Tennessee. Tex and I would go out there in the middle of the day and he'd take care of his business and we'd stretch and I'd think how much I missed Tennessee. On that given day, Firerose came out of the front door. There was almost a moment of, I don't know, recognition. I was like, 'This girl's a star.'” While Cyrus didn't know who she was at the time, Firerose knew him. “Growing up in Australia, my love of music was predominant over everything,” she said. “I've known his music since forever.” Cyrus quipped, “'Since forever.' That's how long I've been around.”
Firerose came over to say hi to his dog and “She told me she'd had an audition and I said, 'Well, I'm sure you got the job,'” Cyrus recalled. “I just thought, well, the casting agents, the producers, the writers, they're all on the floor of where we do Hannah Montana. And I actually said to her, 'Don't ever take a strange man up on this offer, but, in this case, Tex will testify that you will be totally safe. I'm going to introduce you to a producer and you can kind of make yourself at home and watch us rehearse and you know, maybe it might lead to a role or just another contact at Disney.' And so, off me and her and Tex went back to the studio and I think she met a lot of the cast and met the producers, writers. And, in some ways, well, in a lot of ways, we became friends.”
From there, the pair stayed in touch. “Our friendship was so solid over the years,” Firerose said. And, at the beginning of the pandemic, they became songwriting partners. “She plays all of her own instruments and writes her own songs,” Cyrus said. “We began sharing music, and it just evolved.” In July 2021, they released their first song together, “New Day.” In the process of writing that track, the Australian singer said, “Billy confided in me a lot of what was going on in his life,” alluding to his marital issues. “I was just the best friend I could possibly be, supporting him.” After finalizing his divorce earlier this year, Cyrus said it “took a lot of prayer. A lot,” to begin moving on with his life and ask Firerose if they could become more than just friends.
The country music star explained that with the onset of the pandemic, “There was sickness and death, and hard times. All of the sudden, the life that I've always known as a touring artist didn't exist anymore. A moment of so much change. And at the same time, Firerose, who had been such a light of positivity, such a best friend. And then when we began sharing the music, it just evolved more into, as musical soulmates, to soulmates, happy, pure love that to me, I didn't know could exist. Again, we're musicians, first and foremost, both of us. And we found this harmony, and this rhythm, this melody to life.”
Early this summer, Firerose moved in to Cyrus's Franklin, Tennessee farm and, in August, he proposed, albeit without getting down on one knee or even buying a ring. “Billy looked at me and said, ‘Do you, do you wanna marry me?’ And I was just like, ‘Of course I do. I love you,’” Firerose said of their special moment. “He said, ‘I love you. I wanna make this official. I wanna be with you forever.’” The singer later picked out a diamond and designed her own engagement ring. Getting choked up, Cyrus added, “Finding Firerose and getting engaged and then losing my mom [a few weeks later]—see? The teeter-totter will not stay in the middle,” he said. “But having somebody to ride it out with now—that's giving me a little more balance.” The musician concluded, “She's the real deal.”
