Billy Ray Cyrus is opening up about his relationship with Elizabeth Hurley after going public earlier this month.
Cyrus, 63, recalled how he and Hurley, 59, reconnected during the Thursday, April 24, episode of Apple Music Country’s The Ty Bentli Show, saying it was Hurley who reached out via text after they met years prior.
“We did a film two years ago down in the Caribbean and we did very few scenes together, but the couple times we were in the same scene,” Cyrus recalled, “there was a chemistry there that [I] felt. We just laughed, and it was at a time [when] I wasn’t laughing a lot and I found out the oddest thing.”
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The Grammy winner explained that he and Hurley “had way more in common than we had different,” which left a mark on both of them. After filming 2022’s Christmas in Paradise, Cyrus said he didn’t speak to Hurley for a few years.
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“Then two more years of life went by, and it was this evolution that some might’ve looked at and certainly I felt like, ‘Wow, can life get any harder? Can it get any tougher for me?’” he said of his headspace when Hurley reentered his life. “At a certain point it was like, ‘You can’t get knocked down any flatter than laying on your back when life is kicking you in the gut.’”
In that moment, Hurley reached out via text message. “I didn’t even know the number, and it’s like, ‘Hey, it looks like life might be a little bit tough and just wanted you to know I’m in your corner. You got a friend in your corner,’” Cyrus recalled.
The country singer said it reminded him of when Johnny Cash wrote to him in 1992 when was “taking a pretty good pounding” and said, “’Hey, just remember that all things that are good come from Almighty God above. The good outweighs the bad. Let ’em have it. I’m in your corner.’”
The text message felt like a sign to Cyrus, who said he wrote back. “I go, ‘Who is this?’ And it’s, like, ‘Elizabeth Hurley.’” He added, “All the people to reach out to me in that second that maybe I needed most.”
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When asked whether his bond with Hurley was now an “actual relationship,” Cyrus played coy. “I would say it feels very … she’s a great human being,” he said, noting, “If all we ever were [are] the friends that we are [now], I would take that.”
He gushed, “She’s so impressively brilliant. She reminds me a lot of Dolly Parton. She’s a very smart businesswoman.”
Cyrus teased, “If you can laugh together, you can make it through everything.”
Cyrus and Hurley made headlines on Sunday, April 20, when they debuted their relationship in a joint Easter post. In the photo, Cyrus is kissing the British actress on her cheek as they spent time on a farm.
On Thursday, Cyrus revealed that fans will eventually see a photo “where she’s kissing me” joking that it’s usually the other way around because when he sees Hurley “she puts her cheek out there, I don’t know what happens, I just kiss it.”
The “Achy Breaky Heart” singer continued to talk about his budding romance, calling it “beautiful.”
Cyrus noted that he has “no expectations of where we go from here,” adding that for now he just loves spending time with Hurley and her son, Damian. (Hurley shares Damian, 23, with her late ex-boyfriend Steve Bing.)
“I do love him a lot, and it’s great that God brought them into my life when he did,” Cyrus said. “It’s just a good thing. It’s been a long time since I’ve been this happy.”
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While Cyrus and Hurley only recently went public with their relationship, a source exclusively told Us Weekly on Tuesday, April 22, that her friends “have known about it for a while.”
The Royals alum “had sworn them all to secrecy,” the insider said, noting that Hurley has a “history of dating eccentric guys, so it’s not a huge surprise she’d fall for Billy.”
A separate insider exclusively told Us this month that Cyrus and Hurley “really understand each other.” Since reconnecting, the source said the couple have been spending time on Cyrus’ farm since they “both enjoy the low-key, nature-loving lifestyle.”
Prior to his relationship with Hurley, Cyrus was married three times. He was married to Cindy Smith from 1986 to 1991. The singer welcomed his eldest son, Christopher Cyrus, with Kristin Luckey in 1992.
Billy Ray and Tish Cyrus were married from 1993 to 2022. The exes share daughters Miley Cyrus and Noah Cyrus and son Braison Cyrus. Billy Ray also adopted Tish’s two eldest children, Brandi Cyrus and Trace Cyrus, from a prior marriage when they got married. Billy Ray wed Firerose in October 2023, but they divorced in 2024.
Us Weekly
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