The Cyrus family has seen no shortage of fame — or drama — over the years, and family patriarch Billy Ray Cyrus is often at the center of it all.
Billy Ray is a father of six, sharing his eldest son Christopher with ex-girlfriend Kristin Luckey and Miley, Noah, Braison, Brandi and Trace with ex-wife Tish Cyrus. Billy Ray adopted Brandi and Trace when he married Tish, who welcomed her eldest two kids in a previous relationship.
Billy Ray and Tish broke up a few times during their 29-year marriage and ended their on-again, off-again relationship for good in 2022.
While they both stayed close with the kids (for the most part), it hasn’t been smooth-sailing for either parent. The “Achy Breaky Heart” singer, for his part, made headlines in January 2025 with his rocky performance at President Donald Trump’s inauguration, causing Trace to pen an open letter to him via Instagram. In the letter, Trace expressed his worry for his father, who he said he barely recognizes.
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Trace added that Billy Ray has grown apart from his daughters, who have been worried about him “for years.”
Keep scrolling to see where Billy Ray stands with each of his kids.
Miley
Miley and her dad have endured an up and down relationship over the years. The “Flowers” singer burst onto the national scene starring in Hannah Montana alongside Billy Ray, though he later said the show “destroyed” the family. (A remark Tish has denied.)
More recently, rumors of a rift between the two intensified when Miley left him out of her Record of the Year acceptance speech at the 2024 Grammys.
That June during an appearance on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, she opened up about her relationship with Billy Ray.
“He almost given me this map, and it’s a map of what to do and what not to do, and he’s guided me on both,” she said. “Without my dad, I know … who I am as a person wouldn’t exist. Because my dad as a creative and like, as an artist, and the way his brain works has always made me feel safer in my own mind.”
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She continued, joking: “I also inherited the narcissism from my father. I don’t know anything about my own siblings except for the part that I was doing. … I was moving to L.A., and that’s all I really knew.”
For his part, Billy Ray took time to wish Miley a happy 32nd birthday via Instagram that November.
“Happy Birthday Mile !!! Hope it’s the best one ever !” he wrote. “(I know I dropped the “y”. That’s what I called @mileycyrus most of her life.
Trace
Best known for his work with defunct pop rock band Metro Station and his past relationships with Brenda Song and ex-fiancée Taylor Lauren Sanders, Trace was adopted with Brandi into the Cyrus family in 1993.
In January 2025, he shared via Instagram a throwback photo of himself on stage with his dad. His lengthy caption explained that he was “genuinely worried” about Billy Ray’s health and that the two had not spoken “in a while.”
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“The man that I wanted so desperately to be just like I barely recognize now,” Trace wrote. “It seems this world has beaten you down and it’s become obvious to everyone but you. You may be upset with me for posting this but I really could care less at this point.”
He continued, “Me and the girls have been genuinely worried about you for years but you’ve pushed all of us away. Noah desperately has wanted you to be a part of her life and you haven’t even been there for her. That’s your baby girl. She deserves better. Somehow just like me, she still idolizes you though. We are all hanging on to memories of the man we once knew and hoping for the day he returns.”
Noah
Though Trace mentioned that Billy Ray “has not been there” for Noah in his post, the youngest Cyrus kid has had a close relationship with her dad in the past. The two collaborated on the 2022 song “Noah (Stand Still).”
“The honor is mine daddy!!! so grateful to share this track I wrote about you, pappy and papaw Cyrus,” she wrote via Instagram. “You’re my hero and inspiration .. I love u.”
Amid Billy Ray’s divorce from estranged wife Firerose in 2024, he referenced the song in a post via Instagram.
“Sometimes you gotta take your daughter’s advice and just ‘Stand Still,’” he wrote.
“Love my daddy so much,” Noah, who Us reported had drama with her mother over Tish’s marriage to Dominic Purcell, commented on the post.
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Braison
Braison and Billy Ray have been working closely as Braison is producing his dad’s next studio album. Though Trace wrote that Billy Ray has pushed much of his family away, Braison has valued the time he has spent working on the record.
“I’ve spent this past year getting to know my dad better than I ever have,” Braison said in a statement. “I’ve heard stories, jokes and songs that I don’t think anyone else has. It’s an opportunity to tell my dad’s story through music and I’m fortunate to be able to take it. Music, stories and family are the most important things to my dad so to bring the two together is a full circle endeavor.”
In a statement of his own, Billy Ray lauded his son’s talent.
“Braison is very talented and [2025] is his year,” he said. “I’m glad to be a part of it. This record is gonna be special. I’m gearing up for what will be the journey of a lifetime.”
Brandi
Brandi, an actress, singer and now podcaster, is the oldest of Billy Ray’s kids. He adopted her in 1993 when he married Tish. Though she hasn’t spoken much about her relationship with Billy Ray, Trace said in his open letter that he “and the girls” have been worried about him for years.
Brandi did credit Billy Ray with encouraging her interest in horses when she was young.
“I have been riding horses since I was 6 years old,” she told World Equestrian Center in 2021. “I was very fortunate that, when my dad got his record deal in the early 90s, he took his money and bought a ton of land in Tennessee, so I grew up on a horse farm. My dad put me on a horse and just said, ‘Have at it.’ It was a hold on and figure it out kind of thing and I spent almost every day riding on the property with him.”
Christopher
Though Chris spoke positively of his relationship with Miley in a 2009 interview with the Mirror, Chris’ mother said that Billy Ray and Chris are not close. “[Chris] tried to keep a lot [of his emotions with his estranged dad] inside but I know when he’s hurting and really getting to him,” Luckey said at the time.