Miley Cyrus’ mom, Tish Cyrus, revealed she had a “complete psychological breakdown” prior to divorcing Billy Ray Cyrus.
Tish, 56, shared on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast Tuesday that she made the difficult decision to leave Billy Ray, 62, in 2020 — the same year her mother died.
“It was so crazy because, honestly, my two biggest fears in life were always being alone and my mom passing away,” she said.
“I was like, ‘I just don’t know if I’ll survive when my mom dies.’ Like, honestly. And I had, like, one month of a, honestly, complete psychological breakdown. It was the worst thing — like, honestly. It was not good.”
Tish recalled calling celebrity psychiatrist Daniel Amen and asking him to “please put me in a mental hospital,” to which she said he responded, “‘I do not think that’s the best thing for either of us.'”
“I could not eat. I could not sleep. I could not stop crying. I literally weighed, like, 130 [pounds],” she told host Alex Cooper. “I don’t have my mom, and then I don’t have my husband that’s been my husband for 30 years. Like, holy crap, I’m scared.”
Tish explained that Billy Ray had gone to Tennessee during the COVID-19 pandemic while she stayed in California, where Miley, 31, lives.
“[Our marriage] had not been in a good place for a long time, and I think I did stay so long out of fear — literal fear — of being alone,” she shared, calling her newfound solitude “hugely transformative.”
The former couple, who married in 1993, had previously gone through brief separations in 2010 and 2013, but Tish knew this time would be permanent.
“[I was just] looking at myself and going, ‘What in the heck are you doing?'” she remembered. “And so I literally just had made that firm decision and was like, ‘I’m moving on with my life.’ And, you know what, girl? It worked out for the best.”
Tish noted that she “never wanted to get a divorce,” but once she decided to stop changing herself to satisfy her husband, their marriage “fell apart.”
Tish waited two years before filing for divorce in April 2022, and both she and Billy Ray quickly moved on.
The “Achy Breaky Heart” singer got engaged to fellow musician Joanna “Firerose” Hodges that August. They tied the knot in October 2023.
Tish, meanwhile, accepted a proposal from “Prison Break” star Dominic Purcell last April before saying “I do” in August.
The marital dissolution seemingly caused a divide among the Cyrus family, with Miley and her siblings Brandi Cyrus and Trace Cyrus only attending their mother’s wedding while Noah Cyrus and Braison Cyrus went to their father’s.
More recently, Miley made headlines for thanking Tish but not Billy Ray during her Grammys acceptance speech.
“I don’t think I forgot anyone,” the “Flowers” singer pointedly said at Sunday’s awards show before joking, “but I might have forgotten underwear!”
