UPDATE, 7/2/24 at 1:02 p.m. ET:
Billy Ray Cyrus’ legal team issued a statement to Us Weekly following Firerose’s accusations.
“By tomorrow afternoon we will be releasing a statement to address the ongoing and growing list off false allegations by Ms. Hodges in her court filings and personal statements to the press,” the statement read. “Our office has been conducting a thorough investigation into Ms. Hodges in order to thoroughly respond to her latest string of false allegations. Ms. Hodges’ statements in the media appear to serve no other purpose than to harm the reputation of Mr. Cyrus for filing a Petition for an Annulment or Absolute Divorce for what amounts to a 7-month marriage, at best.”
Original story continues below:
In a new bombshell interview, Firerose opened up about her relationship with estranged husband Billy Ray Cyrus.
“Billy had very strict rules,” Firerose, 37, told Page Six in an interview published on Sunday, June 30. “I didn’t have a car. I was only allowed to go to the local chiropractor and allowed once a month to get my nails done … it was systematic isolation and I couldn’t find the courage to leave.”
Firerose alleged that her loved ones could not visit her. “If I had to send a text, I had to read it out to him for permission,” she said. “It was the same for email.”
After she moved to live with Cyrus, now 62, in Tennessee, she claimed he isolated her “from every single person” in her life. The one exception was her AA sponsor, whom Firerose asked to speak to.
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While she eventually had a car to drive to her therapist, she alleged that Cyrus would yell at her because he thought she was talking about him.
Firerose, who claimed she was set to have a double mastectomy the same day that Cyrus kicked her out of their home, said that some of her friends had offered to help care for her. (Firerose had recently been diagnosed with the BRCA1 gene.)
Cyrus, however, wanted her to stay at a cabin on the farm with a nurse. “I didn’t even know how to tell my friends they may not be allowed in the property,” Firerose said.
Firerose also recalled the early days with Billy Ray, whom she met in 2010 while he was still married to Tish Cyrus. A decade later, Billy Ray told Firerose that he hadn’t stopped thinking about her and wanted her to duet with him on a version of Tanya Tucker’s “Delta Dawn.”
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“Every day, he told me, ‘I’m getting divorced,’ but he said it was complicated because of the kids, and they had been married for so long,” Firerose told the outlet. I just accepted everything he told me to be true.”
After Billy Ray and Firerose began dating and released the duet “A New Day” in 2021, he asked her not to discuss their romance in public. When Tish, now 57, filed for divorce from Billy Ray in 2022, Firerose was shocked because she thought he had already.
“I would never ever have entered into a relationship with a married man,” she said, “but he was such a great manipulator.”
Ahead of her and Billy Ray’s nuptials, she claimed he invited her aunt and uncle from Australia. However, he left them “heartbroken” when he took back the offer, Firerose said.
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Days before she wed Billy Ray in October 2023, Firerose claimed that she passed out and was taken to the hospital. At the time, Billy Ray accused her of causing “a circus.”
Firerose also alleged that Billy Ray was verbally abusive. “He would rage at me, shout at me at the top of his lungs. He would terrify me, yelling, ‘You stupid dumb f—king b—ch, crazy w—re,’” Firerose said. “It was illogical and insane and terrifying.”
She continued: “He kept saying ‘dumb f—king b—ch,’ then ‘You’re the love of my life, I can’t wait to marry you.’”
Firerose added that Billy Ray would give her the silent treatment for hours — sometimes days. “I withdrew …I was afraid to talk,” she said.
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Since Us Weekly confirmed earlier this month that Billy Ray filed for an annulment from Firerose, the two have been engaged in a legal battle — which Firerose called “excruciatingly painful.”
“This is a smear campaign by the person I was deeply in love with for four years and in a relationship with and who has decided to wage full-blown war against me,” she told the outlet.
Firerose alleged that she lost the agents she shared with Billy Ray, which has led to a loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars of work — including a role in a Hallmark movie.
“When Billy decided to discard me it was [in] a brutal way,” Firerose said. “I would never treat another human being so cruelly.”
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Since Billy Ray filed to dissolve their marriage, his lawyers shared with Us a handwritten note allegedly penned by Firerose, which begs him to give her “a chance to make this right.”
“He’s attempting to use my loving notes as proof that he could not have been abusing me because I love him. But it’s because you love them that you tolerate this behavior,” Firerose said, adding that she thinks he will use “every single thing” against her.
“He’s an evil man,” she said.
While Billy Ray and Firerose’s romance has crumbled, he also appears to have a complicated relationship with his kids. (His and Tish’s daughter Miley Cyrus did not thank him while accepting a Grammy earlier this year.) “There is no relationship that Billy has that is not affected by his narcissism,” said Firerose.
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Firerose is now residing with a friend in Tennessee. “Knowing so many other women and so many other people who are, unfortunately, survivors of domestic abuse — and have to face all of this, every day, behind closed doors — makes me realize I have to find courage,” she said. “I don’t think I have it — but I have an obligation. If I can’t use my public platform, then what chance does anybody have?”
Us Weekly has reached out to Billy Ray’s reps for comment.
Billy Ray has previously “vehemently” denied the allegations that he was abusive toward Firerose. Us confirmed earlier this month that he’s accusing her of abuse in court documents.
If you or someone you know are experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support.
