Why Tish Cyrus tried to make Billy Ray Cyrus marriage work for ‘too long'

This article originally appeared on E! Online

Tish Cyrus is reflecting on her divorce from Billy Ray Cyrus.

More than two years after their split in 2022, Tish — who has managed the careers of their daughters Miley Cyrus and Noah Cyrus — opened up about the demise of their 28-year marriage despite her efforts to stay together.

“I never wanted to be divorced,” Tish admitted on the Nov. 25 episode of Kate Hudson and Oliver Hudson’s "Sibling Revelry" podcast. “For us, you’re in the public eye and the world that we exist in is already so odd and at some times unstable. I wanted to make it work — probably for a little too long — like, for my own mental health.”

She added, “There became a point that, like, I didn’t have a choice.”

After the former couple — who also share Brandi Cyrus, 37, Trace Cyrus, 35, and Braison Cyrus, 30 — called off previous divorce filings in 2010 and 2013, Tish admitted the 2022 split “was tough on everyone,” even though all of their children were adults at that point.

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“My son Trace, for example,” she said. “He was bummed. He was like, ‘I wish my mom and dad would never get … I wish that wouldn’t have happened.’”

Brandi, who joined her mom on the podcast, also shared her perspective on why Tish tried to make the marriage work for as long as she did.

“In the prior filings, especially, Noah was so young,” she explained, “and that was definitely a big thing. My mom really wanted the family to stay together for Noah. But then, you know, once Noah was an adult, I do feel like it was not great.”

“But also,” she continued, “we were all old enough to understand it.”

After the divorce, Tish tied the knot with "Prison Break" star Dominic Purcell in 2023. Billy Ray exchanged vows with singer Firerose that same year, but filed for divorce in May after seven months of marriage, accusing the Australian-born musician of isolating him from his family and lying about her identity. The two reached a settlement in August.

And when it comes to realizing it was finally time for her and Billy Ray to part ways, Tish admitted that the relationship defined so much of her life.

“During that period, I took a really good, hard look at life, my life, and like, ‘What was I gonna do?’” she told Alex Cooper during a February episode of "Call Her Daddy." “[The relationship] had not been in a good place for a long time. And I think I did stay so long out of fear of being alone. Like, I had met him when I was 23, 24.”

Fortunately, her loneliness was short-lived as her romance with Purcell developed quickly after their first date.

“The next day, he was like ‘Yeah, I love ya,’” she revealed. “And I was like, ‘I love you, too.’ After that, it was just on.”