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Tish Cyrus says she encouraged her ex, Billy Ray Cyrus, to star in “Hannah Montana” ’cause she thought it would bring them together — a hope we now know didn’t pan out in the long run.
The 56-year-old reflected on how the Disney Channel series impacted their family on a new “Call Her Daddy” episode, saying she saw the show as a double whammy … a chance to move Billy’s career forward — it had hit a wall after his 1992 hit “Achy Breaky Heart” — and a chance to make them a strong family unit.
Tish explained that a lightbulb went off in her head when ‘Hannah’ casting directors joked they “couldn’t afford” Billy for the show during Miley’s audition … prompting her to jump in and tell them the idea wasn’t too far-fetched.
She then turned to Billy, urging him to audition, and while she knew it would be a pay cut for him, it meant their family would be together again.
At that time, the whole Cyrus family, including their 5 children, had been living in Toronto, where Billy was filming another show — and Tish was stressing over the thought of constantly traveling back and forth between Canada and L.A. for Miley’s new starring role — so getting Billy on the series was a golden opportunity.
Tish’s reflection on “Hannah Montana” clearly appears to be more on the “what could have been” scale, but Billy Ray remembers it much differently … telling GQ in 2011, the show “destroyed my family.”
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Tish legally parted ways from Billy in 2022, and married Dominic Purcell in August 2023 — and that new marriage is reportedly a source of major contention between Miles and her dad.