Billy Ray Cyrus is letting the world know what he thinks about his superstar daughter, Miley, dropping the “Cyrus” from her stage name.
The “Achy Breaky Heart” singer didn’t always have the best relationship with his daughter, and his family. But it was actually thanks to Billy Ray getting together with Elizabeth Hurley (yes, that Elizabeth Hurley) that inspired him to mend the broken relationships that he had in his life.
Hurley encouraged Cyrus to reach out and make things right with his family and attempt to get his life back on track. Considering Billy Ray Cyrus has since shared multiple posts boasting about his daughters – Miley and Noah – it’s safe to assume that the mending of relationships worked.
Miley Cyrus actually confirmed that when she spoke with The Interview podcast last year, and said that she fully supports her father’s new relationship. The pop-star admitted that it was hard for her to see her dad with someone other than her mother, Tish, at first. But Miley was able to eventually let her inner child’s thoughts go and let her adult thoughts take charge:
“At first, it’s hard because the little kid in you reacts before the adult in you can go, ‘Yes, that’s your dad, but that’s just another person that deserves to be in his bliss and to be happy.’ So my adult self has caught up.”
And now, Billy Ray Cyrus is returning that grace.
It was just a couple of days ago that Miley Cyrus announced a new album – Bass Persuades – was on the way, and also made a bold change in terms of her career as an artist. Instead of going by Miley Cyrus, she’ll now go just by “MILEY.” First name… no last name, like many other superstars that have come before her:
So how did Billy Ray Cyrus take that news?
Surprisingly, the move by his daughter seemed to go over quite well with him. In a social media post, the 90s country star gave his perspective on the matter, and even related the situation to a name situation that played out with him early on in his career:
“Family means more than ever now. I always called my little girl Miley. Just… Miley. Just like I always called my little boy Braison. Bet you didn’t know… I was just CYRUS before ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ came out in 1992. All of my swag and t-shirts only read, ‘CYRUS… SOME GAVE ALL’ with a picture of a POW MIA flag on it that and the words, ‘You are not forgotten.'”
The more you know, right?
Billy Ray went on to say that he’s spoken with Miley about her decision, and fully supports it. He sees it as his daughter transcending into another level of superstardom, and he provided a couple of other names that were on a first name basis with the world that really worked out:
“I told Miley yesterday I felt good about her going with her first name. I mentioned Dolly and Cher. Thinking about it more and more…Elvis, Prince and so on. It’s a natural progression for an iconic superstar legend. And the legend continues! Looking forward to the new album. Now, if only Mercury/Polygram would have just not insisted on the ‘Billy Ray’ part and just let me be CYRUS… I could have done something!”
