Why Miley Cyrus Says She Inherited "Narcissism" From Dad Billy Ray Cyrus

Don't you ever say, Miley Cyrus just walked away from talking about her family. 

Because the "Wrecking Ball" singer recently shed some light on where she stands with Billy Ray Cyrus amid rumors of a rift.

In fact, during her appearance on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman, Miley referenced her dad after being unable to recall which family members moved with her from Tennessee to California for Hannah Montana in the aughts. 

"I have a terrible memory because I also inherited the narcissism from my father that I don't know anything about my siblings except for the part that I was doing," she replied as David Letterman laughed. "It's true. It's OK." 

And when the former late-night host wondered if Miley ever considered Billy Ray her hero, she noted she gave that title to her mother Tish Cyrus. However, the "Flowers" artist made it clear there are still characteristics she's happy to have gotten from her dad.

"My father, I'm grateful for first his genes. My dad has great hair, and I got that. But he also—he has a relationship and a foot on the ground to the real and to nature, and he always did even when he was super famous. I'm grateful for being able to watch him ahead of me. He's almost given me this map. And there is a map of what to do and what not to do, and he's guided me on both."

She also said she takes into account what her dad—who recently filed for divorce from wife Firerose—has been through.

"I do think him and I have really different upbringings," the 31-year-old added. "The way that my dad was raised, he grew up very poor in a very small town. His parents were divorced when he was very young."

"My dad had a pretty rough childhood," Miley continued. "And my childhood really—I mean, we can go and we can talk about the hard times or the struggles. You know, turning in my homework and learning my lines was tough. But I had food, I had love, I grew up in a beautiful, big house, and my dad didn't have that."

As a result, Miley explained, she has a lot of compassion for Billy Ray's past, "which obviously developed to create the man that he is now that I have a lot of love for."

And Miley expressed how Billy Ray—who recently shared how proud he is of her in an Instagram post—helped shape her into who she is today.

"Without my dad, I know—I mean, not just literally I wouldn't be sitting in this chair I wouldn't exist—but I would not, who I am as a person, it wouldn't exist," she said. "Because my dad, as a creative and like as an artist in the way that his brain works, has always made me feel safer in my own mind because we're very similar in some of our ideas. So I think a lot of his perspective on reality and on life I've inherited from him more so than the way that I was raised—which really, my mom raised me."

So when David said Miley and Billy Ray aren't estranged but "it's just kind of the way things are played," she weighed in.

"Yeah, I think what is so beautiful is my parents, they served their children and I know this," she said. "My parents served us and sacrificed so much for us. Anything we dreamed of, they made possible."

In addition to Miley, Billy Ray and Tish—who split in 2022, with her now being married to Dominic Purcell—share kids Brandi Cyrus, 37; Trace Cyrus, 35, Braison Cyrus, 30; and Noah Cyrus, 24. The "Achy Breaky Heart" singer is also dad to son Christopher Cyrus, 32, from his relationship with ex Kristin Luckey.

To learn more about the headline-making Cyrus family, keep reading.

E! News has reached out to Billy Ray for comment but has yet to hear back.

Billy Ray Cyrus married Tish Cyrus (née Leticia Finley) on Dec. 28, 2003.

At the time they already shared 12-month-old daughter Destiny Hope Cyrus—you may know her as Miley Cyrus now—and Tish was pregnant with their son Braison Cyrus, who was born May 9, 1994.

Seven months before Miley was born on Nov. 23, 1992, Billy Ray's ex-girlfriend Kristin Luckey gave birth to their son Christopher Cody Cyrus on April 8.

When the "Achy Breaky Heart" singer married Tish, he adopted her daughter Brandi Cyrus (born May 26, 1987) and son Trace Cyrus (Feb. 24, 1989), whose biological father is their mom's ex-husband Baxter Helson.

Trish and Billy Ray's youngest, daughter Noah Cyrus, was born Jan. 8, 2000.

From 2006 to 2010, Billy Ray played the father of Miley's normal-kid-who-moonlights-as-a-pop-star character in the Disney Channel sitcom Hannah Montana and a 2009 film adaptation.

While the Cyrus family was still based in Nashville, Billy Ray and Miley made the move to L.A. to jumpstart her own entertainment career.

Billy Ray and Tish announced in October 2010 that they were getting divorced, but by the following year were back together.

They filed for divorce again in June 2013 but reconsidered barely a month later, telling E! News at the time that they'd been to couple's counseling and it had done wonders for them.

But before they reconciled, when the news broke that her dad had made the first move in a Nashville court to end his marriage after 19 years, Miley tweeted, "@billyraycyrus since your text and email obviously aren't working would you like to talk like this?"

After a decade of being together off and on, and in the wake of losing their Malibu home in a fire, Miley and her The Last Song co-star Liam Hemsworth married in December 2018.

The decision came "from a place of trauma and just trying to rebuild as quickly as we could," Miley recalled on her "Used to Be Young" TikTok series.

But Liam filed for divorce in August 2019 and they finalized the paperwork in January 2020.

"It's honestly very simple," a source told E! at the time. "They fell in love when they were young and they are just different people now."

Tish and Billy Ray became grandparents in 2021 when their son Braison and his wife Stella welcomed son Bear Chance Cyrus on June 8. 

Tish filed for divorce fo a third time in April 2022, and this time it stuck.

Moreover, her petition citing "irreconcilable differences" noted that she and her husband of almost 30 years hadn't lived together since February 2020. 

"It is after 30 years, five amazing children and a lifetime of memories, we have decided to go our separate ways—not with sadness, but with love in our hearts," Tish and Billy Ray told People in a statement. "We have grown up together, raised a family we can be so proud of, and it is now time to create our own paths."

The exes noted that they hadn't come to the decision to split up for good "lightly or quickly," adding, "We will always be family and look forward to a continued and loving shared experience as friends and parents."

Billy Ray quietly got engaged to Australian singer Firerose, who's 27 years his junior, in August 2022 but waited to confirm the news until that November.

"Growing up in Australia, my love of music was predominant over everything," Firerose told People. "I've known his music since forever."

What started as a friendship turned into more during the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"All of the sudden, the life that I've always known as a touring artist didn't exist anymore," Billy Ray said. "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."

Around the time her ex-husband confirmed his engagment in November 2022, Tish went Instagram-official with Prison Break actor Dominic Purcell.

They got engaged in April 2023 and tied the knot that August in Malibu at sunset with Miley, Trace and Brandi all standing by their mom's side.

"Life is unpredictable & always full of changes," Trace captioned a photo of himself and two of his sibling with the bride. "I think the most important thing to do is cherish the past, look forward to the future, & always be happy in the present moment because that’s really all we have."

"To see my mom this happy and in love is very emotional for me," Miley told Vogue last summer ahead of her mom's wedding. "Dom and my mom share the sweetest, most genuine love. It's almost like it's for the first time, which is so fitting for my mom who is such a young soul."

As for her dad's next chapter, however, a source close to Miley told E! News in October 2022 that she wasn't in love with it and didn't have a relationship with her future stepmom.

"The divorce between her parents put a strain on her relationship with her dad and it's been hard to connect with him in the last year," the source said. "She hopes they can eventually work on their relationship."

Billy Ray told People that November, however, that his family had "no hard feelings" about his engagement.

"Everybody's turning the page," he said. "It's been a lot, but everyone knew that it was time for a change."

He and Firerose got married on Oct. 10, 2023, calling it the "beautiful, joyous day that our two souls united as one in holy matrimony."

Whatever rift opened up between Miley and her dad apparently hadn't been repaired by the night of the 2024 Grammys on Feb. 4.

Tish and Brandi were there, as was Miley's boyfriend Maxx Morando, and they all got shout-outs when the "Flowers" singer won Record of the Year.

As Miley concluded her speech, "I don't think I forgot anyone."

None of the three officially confirmed or denied eyebrow-raising reports that Noah was involved with Dominic before her mother was, but the Grammy-nominated singer had some choice words for an Instagram commenter in April 2024 after the person crudely suggested that Noah and Tish both had "sexy time" with the actor.

"I'm so sorry but will you pleeeeeass just choke on the fattest c--k," Noah wrote in response. "Just for a lil bit. Great thanks."

Barely eight months after they tied the knot, Billy Ray filed to annul the union, alleging in court documents the marriage was "obtained by fraud."

He listed May 22 as their date of separation.

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