Billy Ray Cyrus isn’t backing down from the comments he made in leaked audio from a heated fight with his estranged wife, Firerose.
“Hell yeah, I was at my wit’s end,” Cyrus, 62, wrote via his Instagram Story on Wednesday, July 24. “As every day went by, I started realizing something was wrong. And that’s before I knew she was a fraud. I just knew something wasn’t right. That was before I knew she was David Hodges [sic] ex-wife. That’s before I knew her parents [sic] last name.”
Cyrus shared his side alongside a photo of a rose surrounded by a border of fire. He went on to note that he had “no idea she was arrested for felony residential burglary,” adding, “I saw before my very own eyes, everything I thought I knew about her, was a lie. She was trying to take over my career, my life and usurp the Cyrus name for her own gain.”
Cyrus concluded his post with a message to Firerose, writing, “See you in court.”
Us Weekly obtained audio of Cyrus and Firerose, 37, seemingly arguing about the timing of a performance of his on Wednesday. “I needed to leave two hours ago,” Cyrus states, to which Firerose responds, “No you didn’t, you can still leave.”
He reacted by shouting, “Get the f–k out of here. I had to go when I was ready to go. If you had just shut the f–k up.”
In the clip, Firerose asks the musician to “stop screaming” at her. Cyrus continues to blame her for the situation.
“If you would’ve left it alone when I told you, it’s done,” Cyrus said. “Now I’m really f–king pissed. You once again showed me you will not listen. I don’t know who the f–k you think you are but you will not f–king listen.”
During the tense conversation, Cyrus calls Firerose a “selfish bitch” and states that he doesn’t think she is “real smart.”
“This would not be happening if you were to just shut your f–king mouth,” he said. “Look what a f–king mess you’ve made. What a dumba–s f–king thing to do.”
While talking about his children, Billy Ray said “devil’s a skank.” It is unclear whether the comment was about his daughter, Miley Cyrus, or ex-wife Tish Cyrus. (Billy Ray and Tish, 37, share kids Miley, 31, Braison, 30, and Noah, 24. Billy Ray is also the adoptive father of Tish’s eldest two children —Brandi, 37, and Trace, 35 — and shares his son Christopher, 32, with ex Kristin Luckey.)
In the audio, Billy Ray appeared to react to Tish’s February interview on the“Call Her Daddy” podcast, in which she opened up about experiencing “disrespect in every form” during their marriage.
“She is a liar … a whore … and a cheat. Complete skank. Scum of the earth. A fraud. Makes Deanna [SIC] Lohan look like Mother Teresa,” he says in the audio. (Us reached out to reps for Billy Ray and Firerose.)
Billy Ray’s attorneys — Rose Palermo and Jason Talley of Cheatham Palermo and Garrett — addressed the audio drama in a statement to Us on Wednesday, stating that that he had “previously admitted in a court filing that he had been very vocally frustrated and angry with Ms. Hodges during their 7-month marriage as he began to uncover more and more of Ms. Hodges true motives for marrying him.”
They continued: “With regards to this recording, Ms. Hodges is the person who made the recording without telling Mr. Cyrus that she was recording him. Of course, she was intentionally on her best behavior since she knew the recording was being made.
Calling the recording “one-sided,” the attorneys stated that Firerose is “attempting to litigate her case in the press for her own personal gain and in an attempt to harm our client’s longstanding career, as she promised she would do if he tried to divorce her, which Mr. Cyrus alleged in a previous court filing.” They added: “At this point Ms. Hodges has played her last card, while Mr. Cyrus, on the other hand, has much more material to present to the Court to demonstrate the lies that she made public throughout these proceedings.”
Billy Ray filed for an annulment of his marriage to Firerose last month, citing irreconcilable differences and “inappropriate marital conduct” in court docs obtained by Us. The pair’s date of separation was listed as May 22, 2024, just seven months after they were married.
The two have since fired a number of accusations at each other, with Billy Ray accusing Firerose of cheating, blocking him from having contact with one of his daughters and abusing him verbally, emotionally and physically. Firerose, for her part, has accused her ex of domestic abuse and claimed she had to follow strict rules in their relationship.
Earlier this month, a Tennessee judge granted Billy Ray’s request to block Firerose from having access to his credit cards after accusing her of spending $96,000 of his money amid their divorce.
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.
