Firerose, Billy Ray Cyrus’s ex-wife, has spoken out for the first time since their split, revealing she ‘accepted his lunacy as reality’.
The Australian-born singer, 34, and country music star, 63, recently finalised their divorce after Billy filed papers three months ago citing ‘irreconcilable differences’.
Firerose, who first met her ex-husband when she was just 22, claims she was by herself when she was given news of the filing and was mere days away from undergoing a preventative mastectomy.
Now the musician has opened up about the difficult time in her life, revealing she knew something was wrong the day of his filing when she woke up in the morning after the pair went to bed together and he wasn’t there.
While she said it ‘wasn’t abnormal’ for him to give her the silent treatment, she said he didn’t return for the entire day and still wasn’t there when she went to bed that night.
Speaking to Stellar Magazine, she said: ‘I was alone on the farm by myself, with no security lights on. I was terrified and baffled, as he wasn’t answering my calls or texts, and he knew I had to be at the hospital the next day.’
Firerose continued to say the ‘unusual’ behaviour saw her leave the Achy Break Heart hitmaker’s Nashville farm the following day, postpone her surgery to the following month and hasn’t spoken to him since.
Painting a picture of their relationship, Firerose claimed Billy, who was previously married to Tish Cyrus, ‘love bombed’ her when they began seeing each other during the Covid-19 pandemic and as things between them progressed, she ‘became very introverted’.
‘My family and friends all had the same experience: me withdrawing and pushing them away. The way I experienced it was: “Oh, he’s just really protective”,’ she said.
Firerose and Billy announced their engagement in August 2022 and wed in October 2023.
She claims at the time of their wedding, she was only allowed to have her hairstylist attend: ‘It was quite hurtful, in retrospect, and it breaks my heart. How did I not think that that was so weird and unacceptable? I justified it like, well, that’s my life now. I accepted his lunacy as reality.’
Continuing, she said that when she realised the type of relationship she was in, she would Google things like: ‘What does it mean when your husband refuses to talk to you like you don’t even exist – and then they come back after that and pretend nothing is wrong?’ But admitted that at that point, ‘it was too late’.
Seven months later, the former spouse’s relationship had come to an end, and Firerose spoke publicly about the alleged ‘extreme verbal, emotional and psychological abuse’ she endured.
She continued to tell the news outlet: ‘I share this [story] only with the hope that somehow there’s more awareness of the fact that this is much more common, unfortunately, than anyone would like to think. I had to learn that it was something outside of me, something that I couldn’t fix.’
Following news of their separation, a shocking audio recording of Billy was obtained by the Daily Mail and heard him go on an expletive-filled rant about Firerose.
The audio, which Billy Ray confirmed was authentic, was reportedly about a situation in which the singer missed a stage performance, something he evidently blamed on Firerose and called her ‘a selfish f**king b***h,’ among other things.
Firerose and Billy’s divorce was settled in August. Firerose received $0 in the settlement.
She told Stellar that she is now devoting energy to her relationship with music and is currently working on an album that she says will help her ‘make sense of everything I’ve been through’.
Reps for Billy Ray Cyrus have been contacted for comment.
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