As Billy Ray Cyrus and Firerose's divorce battle continues to play out on the public stage, the country singer is speaking out. On July 24, 2024, audio of one of Billy Ray and Firerose's explosive fights before their split leaked online, and he can be heard berating her and talking about his children in a negative light, including Miley Cyrus. After the world had the chance to hear the audio for themselves, Billy Ray took to Instagram to respond.
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Daily Mail published audio of the fight, which seems to have started because Billy Ray was too late to a show to be able to perform — something he blamed on his then-wife.
"This would not be happening if you had just shut your f—ing mouth. Look what a f—ing mess you've made," he can be heard saying.
Later, he references Firerose's double mastectomy, saying, "This ain’t about your BRCA, this ain’t about your surgery, this ain’t about nothing. This is about you being a f—ing selfish b—-."
Elsewhere in the audio, Billy Ray talked about himself in the third person as he went on a tirade about ex-wife Tish Cyrus and their children.
"The other two children that were there, she was impregnated by two different men, and had those two children before she met Billy Ray," he said in a clip that appeared to have been recorded during a different conversation. "Just think if I said that. The truth … Noah [Cyrus], Brandi [Cyrus], Trace [Cyrus]."
He then goes on to add, "Everyone knows devil’s a skank." Daily Mail claims that comment was about Miley, but Billy Ray doesn't mention her by name.
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Now that the fight has been made public, Billy Ray has responded with a post on his Instagram Stories addressing what he said in the audio.
Though the post has since expired, according to a screenshot captured by People, Billy Ray wrote that he was at his "wit's end" with Firerose at the time of their fight.
"As every day went by, I started realizing something was wrong. And that’s before I knew she was a fraud," he said, going on to add that he "had no idea" she'd been arrested for burglary in 2016.
He continued, "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. See you in court."
In a statement shared with People, Billy Ray's lawyers, Rose Palermo and Jason Talley, said that the leaked audio is a "last-ditch effort to squeeze money out of Mr. Cyrus."
"Mr. Cyrus 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," the statement said, referring to Firerose by her legal name, Johanna Hodges. "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."
