Support truly
independent journalism
Billy Ray Cyrus has seemingly confirmed that it is him berating his estranged wife, Australian singer Firerose, in a leaked audio recording.
The country musician, who is the father of pop star Miley Cyrus, married Firerose – real name Johanna Hodges – in October last year, after separating from Cyrus’s mother, Trish.
Billy Ray, 62, shared photos of the ceremony with Firerose, 35, on social media, calling it the “most perfect, ethereal celebration of love we could ever have imagined”.
In the leaked audio, which was obtained by the Daily Mail,Billy Ray appears to be enraged at being made late to go on stage for a show.
“You can still leave and get there in time,” Firerose can be heard telling him.
“If you had just shut the f*** up... I had to go when I was ready to go... if you would’ve just shut the f*** up and let it alone when I told you, it’s done. Now I’m really f***ing pissed,” Billy Ray responds.
“This ain’t about your surgery, this ain’t about nothing, this is about you being a f***ing selfish bitch.”
The surgery he refers to appears to be a preventative double mastectomy Firerose was due to undergo, having been diagnosed with the BRCA1 gene that places her at high risk of developing certain forms of cancer in 2020.
“I don’t think you’re real smart,” Billy Ray goes on in the audio recording. “I’ve changed my damn mind on that s***. What you are is a selfish bitch.
“That’s what you are. You’re a selfish f***ing bitch. You cannot continue to walk all over me and think that I’m going to go out in public with your dumb ass and f***ing have you do this s*** wherever you on in front of whoever.”
In what appears to be a separate conversation, where Billy Ray confusingly appears to refer to himself in the third person, he seemingly references his ex-wife, Tish, as well as Trish’s daughters Brandi and Trace from a previous relationship, and their daughter Miley.
Billy Ray has a son from a previous relationship and adopted Brandi and Trace when he married Trish. He and Trish also share Miley’s younger sister, Noah, who is also a singer.
“The other two children that were there was s*** from a previous marriage before she met Billy Ray, by two separate fathers.. No, wait a minute, I said that wrong, not a previous marriage – the other two children that were there, she was impregnated by two different men and had those two children before she met Billy Ray.
“Just think of it... The truth on, I mean, no, Brandi, Trace, and everyone knows [that] devil’s a skank.”
“Hell yeah I was at my wit’s end,” Billy Ray wrote in a statement shared to his Instagram Stories, after the audio was leaked, while also repeating allegations he made against Firerose after filing for divorce.
“See you in court,” he added.
Both Billy Ray and Firerose have accused one another of abuse during their short-lived marriage in court filings. The “Achy Breaky Heart” singer denied Firerose’s allegations that he was psychologically abusive and also accused her of physical, verbal and emotional abuse.
He filed for divorce on 22 May citing irreconcilable differences and “inappropriate marital conduct”. In a later filing in June, he filed an emergency motion accusing his estranged wife of making nearly $100,000 in unauthorised “fraudulent” credit card charges, seeking a temporary restraining order to stop her.
Firerose’s lawyers said these allegations were “untrue”.
Meanwhile, she claimed that she had been the victim of “extreme verbal, emotional and psychological abuse”, accusing Billy Ray of being “unpredictable and volatile” due to substance abuse. He has denied the allegations.
The Independent has contacted representatives for Firerose, Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus for comment.
