Miley Cyrus is finally ready to address the bad blood with Billy Ray Cyrus!
As Perezcious readers know, she has been feuding with her dad since his divorce from Tish Cyrus two years ago. A source told E! News her parents’ breakup “put a strain on her relationship with her dad and it’s been hard to connect with him.” Adding fuel to the rumors, Miley noticeably omitted Billy Ray from her acceptance speech when she won a Grammy for Record of the Year. On top of the drama between the Hannah Montana alums, Noah Cyrus is at odds with Tish — all because her mom allegedly stole new husband Dominic Purcell from her. It’s a lot of drama, y’all!
Related: Noah Cyrus ‘Over’ Family Feud & Dominic Purcell Love Triangle!
For the most part, the whole family has remained quiet about the feud… but leave it to Miley to speak out! During her interview with David Letterman for his Netflix series My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, Miley addressed everything she learned over the years from Billy Ray. Starting with the good, she said:
“He has a relationship and a foot on the ground to the real and to nature and he always did, even when he was super famous. I’m grateful for being able to watch him ahead of me. He’s almost given me this map. And there’s a map of what to do and what not to do, and he’s guided me on both.”
On the downside? The Wrecking Ball crooner noted she “inherited the narcissism” from him, too. Wow. When asked to then compare how Tish and Billy Ray contributed to her successful career over the years, Miley feels they were “different” to the point that “they can’t be weighted on the same scale.” She explained:
“Without my dad, I know — I mean, not just literally I wouldn’t be sitting in this chair, I wouldn’t exist — but I would not, who I am as a person, it wouldn’t exist. Because my dad, as a creative and as an artist in the way that his brain works, has always made me feel safer in my own mind because we’re very similar in our ideas.”
The Last Song star explained she inherited “a lot of his perspective on reality and on life more so than the way” she “was raised.” Yet she was “raised” by her momma — who she calls her “hero.”
But what about the big question? How is her relationship with her parents now? David asked:
“Is it unlikely that both parents would share an equal role going through your life — where it’s always going to be one or the other is closer as things evolve?”
For Miley, she recognized “it’s really just not the closeness.” Her parents’ own upbringings impacted a lot in the family. She explained:
“I think it’s the capacity in which my mom was raised by a completely intact, beautiful family. Actually, my mom was adopted so my mom was chosen. Her parents couldn’t have children so they wanted her more than anything in the world. So my mom came in to this world being wanted and being loved and being given the most beautiful life. My grandmother spoiled not only her but me completely rotten.”
While Tish grew up in a loving home, Billy did not. Miley continued:
“The way my dad was raised, he grew up very poor in a very small town. His parents were divorced when he was very young. My dad had a pretty rough childhood and my childhood, really — I mean, we can go on and talk about the hard times and the struggles; you know, turning in my homework and learning my lines was tough — but I had food, I had love, I grew up in a beautiful big house. And my dad didn’t have that.”
With all that, Miley said she has “a lot of empathy and compassion for his childhood” as it created “the man he is now,” someone she obviously still has “a lot of love for.” Of course, that opened up the door to the biggest question of the interview: the rumored rift between her and Billy. David went on to wonder:
“There’s not estrangement here with your father. It’s just the way things are played?”
Her response? She said:
“Yeah. I think, what is so beautiful is that my parents, they served their children, and I know this. My parents served us and sacrificed so much for us. Anything we dreamed of, they made possible.”
It sounds like she still loves her pops — whether they’re close now or not. Perhaps there is still hope that these two could work things out — especially after the olive branch Billy Ray extended earlier this month… which happens to coincide with his divorce btw. What are your thoughts, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments below.
[Image via My Next Guest Needs No Introduction/Netflix, MEGA/WENN, Brian To/WENN]