8 Things The Cyrus Family Tried To Hide From The Spotlight
"I'll tell you right now—the damn show destroyed my family," Billy Ray Cyrus
Shutterstock | featureflash photo agency | debby wong | dfree | kathy hutchins | joe seer The Cyrus family has been in the spotlight for over three decades, thanks to the successful career of Billy Ray Cyrus and his daughters Miley and Noah Cyrus.
However, most of the family have earned their stripes, with Billy Ray and Tish Cyrus being the proud parents of six children in total: Brandi, Trace, Christopher Cody, Miley, Braison, and Noah.
Brandi and Trace are Tish's oldest children from a previous relationship. Like many in the Cyrus family, they are musically inclined. Trace, 33, previously dated actress Brenda Song and plays in the popular band, Metro Station, while Brandi is a popular DJ and co-host on a podcast called 'Your Favorite Thing'. She has often performed alongside Billy Ray and half-sister Miley on tour.
Of course, everyone knows Miley Cyrus thanks to her lustrous career — from starring as Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel to performing record-smashing and award-winning hit songs.
Then there is Noah Cyrus, who has risen to prominence in recent years with her own venture into music, scoring two hit singles at the age of sixteen, according to NME.
RELATED: 10 Controversial Things Miley Cyrus Has Said Or Done That Had Fans Divided
While the Cyrus family have remained pretty tightknit throughout the years of their careers, they have tried to keep certain things out of the eyes of the media — and some of the Cyrus kids have opted out of the spotlight as a whole.
Here are 8 things the Cyrus family tried to hide from the limelight:
1. Miley Cyrus has a half-brother who is 7 months older than her.
Seven months before Miley Cyrus had been born, Christopher Cody, her half-brother, had arrived.
According to Mirror, his mother, Kristin Luckey, had a "brief relationship" with Billy Ray "when she was a waitress in South Carolina." Although Billy Ray hadn't been hiding his other child, he allegedly didn't have much of a role in Christopher's life.
"Chris reaches out to have a relationship but it's been months since they engaged," his mother said. "Chris is a great kid and he handles it very, very well. He tried to keep a lot inside but I know when he's hurting and really getting to him. No one acknowledges his birthday or even Christmas for him."
Despite the distant relationship Christopher has with his father, he has met his sister five times and still thinks highly of Miley, saying, "She's the same now as she was before all this fame. She's still my goofy sister."
2. The marital issues between Tish and Billy Ray.
Like any marriage, the relationship between Billy Ray and Tish Cyrus had been full of ups and downs.
But the first bad sign in their relationship happened in 2010, when Billy Ray filed for divorce after 17 years of marriage with Tish, according to People.
"As you can imagine, this is a very difficult time for our family," the couple said in a joint statement. "We are trying to work through some personal matters. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers."
In an interview with GQ, Billy Ray shared that a lot of the "personal matters" between him and Tish had to do with them managing a show business family.
However, Billy Ray ended up calling off the divorce 5 months later, according to People. "I want to put my family back together," he announced during an appearance on 'The View,' adding, "Things are the best they've ever been."
The bliss didn't seem to last, however, and three years after the first impending divorce, it was Tish's turn to try and leave the marriage.
According to People, just one month after Tish filed for divorce, the couple ended up reconciling, again.
"We both woke up and realized we love each other and decided we want to stay together," they said in a statement. "We both went into couples therapy something we haven't done in 22 years of being together, and it's brought us closer together and really opened up our communication in amazing ways."
3. A rumored affair between Tish Cyrus and Bret Michaels.
According to US Weekly, a report alleged that Billy Ray had filed for divorce from Tish in 2010 after learning that she had had an affair with rockstar Bret Michaels, as well as another fling.
Michaels had reportedly gotten close to the family after recording a song with Miley and later engaged in a relationship with her mother. "Billy Ray was completely unaware of what was going on," a source told US Weekly.
However, Michaels shut down the rumor, according to People. "I've been friends with her family forever," he said. "It started out with me and Miley simply working on a song together. Her mom, Tish, likes 'Every Rose Has Its Thorn,' the first concert Miley ever saw was Poison, and so they wanted to remake it for the new record."
He continued, "When I was in the studio, Miley came in and sang on my song and that was it."
4. The strain Miley's role of 'Hannah Montana' had put on the Cyrus family.
During an interview with GQ, Billy Ray opened up about the Disney Channel show that catapulted his family into stardom, and he didn't really have nice things to say about it.
"I'll tell you right now—the damn show destroyed my family," Billy Ray said.
"And I sit there and go, 'Yeah, you know what? Some gave all.' It is my motto, and guess what? I have to eat that one. I some-gave-all'd it all right. I some-gave-all'd it while everybody else was going to the bank. It's all sad."
The father of six said that things on the show started to shift after the first two seasons, adding that the fourth and final season had been the worst.
He continued, saying that he wished the show had never happened; "I was going to work every single day knowing that my family had fallen apart, but yet I had to sit in front of that camera," he said. "I look back and I go, How did I ever make it through that? I must be a better actor than I thought."
Though, Billy Ray seemed to retract his comments about the show while on 'Good Morning America,' according to People. He admitted that his divorce had been the real reason he'd been upset.
"I love Hannah Montana. I love Disney. I wouldn't change anything," he said.
5. Billy Ray's regrets about not being "a better dad".
As Miley and many of her siblings grew up in the spotlight, her image in particular changed drastically throughout her career, putting her in many controversial situations.
In Billy Ray's interview with GQ, he admitted that his "I'm a cool dad," mantra had been in response to the fact that Miley had been growing up and trying to be more independent. However, in an interview with 'Good Morning America,' according to People, he shared that there had been times he'd wished he could have been a stronger father — and less of a friend — to her.
"I did kind of approach being a dad as a friend," he said. "I was a great playmate. I mean, for teaching [my children] how to camp and build fires and ride motorcycles and four-wheelers, and horses, and all those fun kind of things. I was really good at that."
"As far as sitting down and doing algebra and science, the homework, I wasn't very good at that," he added. "So I look back on it and think, 'You know what? Maybe, no doubt, I could have been a better dad.'"
6. Miley's alleged relationship with a 20-year-old when she was only 15.
According to US Weekly, back when Miley was only 15-years-old, she had struck up a romance with 20-year-old Justin Gaston, a country musician and former contestant on Billy Ray's reality show 'Nashville Star.'
Billy Ray had even tried to downplay the relationship, saying, "I'll tell you what—they are great friends, and they make a good team. They write a lot of songs together, and they sing—it's incredible," according to Hollywood Gossip.
Though, in a radio interview with Ryan Seacrest, Miley gushed about her rumored boyfriend. When asked if they were dating, the 'Hannah Montana' star coyly replied, "Maybe, maybe not."
She then went on to proclaim that "I'm totally gushing right now!" as she talked about Gaston's musical talents, good looks, and that he was a "really great Christian guy."
7. Fears that Miley's fame would put her in a dangerous situation.
During his interview with GQ, Billy Ray made comments expressing concern about his daughter Miley and insinuated that she might be in the same situation as Kurt Cobain, Anna Nicole Smith and Michael Jackson.
"Kurt was one of those guys. That's why I'm concerned about Miley. I think that his world was just spinning so fast and he had so many people around him that didn't help him," Billy Ray told GQ. "Like Anna Nicole Smith—you could see that train wreck coming. I was actually trying to reach out to Anna Nicole Smith, because I kept telling Tish and everybody around me, going, 'This is a disaster.'"
When asked to expand on his concerns for Miley and if he truly does worry about her safety as a world-renowned performer, Billy Ray went on to say to GQ, "I don't know. I'm her daddy so maybe I'm a little sensitive to it, but now's a real good time to make sure everything's okay. An ounce of prevention's worth a pound of cure."
However, during an appearance on 'Good Morning America,' according to People, Billy Ray tried to clarify the comments even further after reports emerged that his previous comments had upset Miley.
"What I meant to say, and what I hope I said was fame can be a dangerous animal," said Billy Ray. "And it's a delicate thing. You know, when you get in this industry and you strike so hard for that moment. But, fame is dangerous."
8. Miley's body dysmorphia and anxiety attacks while filming 'Hannah Montana'.
In 2015, while doing an interview for Marie Claire, Miley opened up about the grueling process she faced while filming her Disney Channel show, and growing up in the spotlight.
"From the time I was 11, it was, 'You're a pop star! That means you have to be blonde, and you have to have long hair, and you have to put on some glittery tight thing,'" she told the publication. "Meanwhile, I'm this fragile little girl playing a 16-year-old in a wig and a ton of makeup. It was like Toddlers & Tiaras."
She opened up her body dysmorphia that had spawned from being extremely young on TV.
"I was told for so long what a girl is supposed to be from being on that show. I was made to look like someone that I wasn't, which probably caused some body dysmorphia because I had been made pretty every day for so long, and then when I wasn't on that show, it was like, Who the f**k am I?"
She continued, saying she had experienced panic attacks during that time. "I would have anxiety attacks. I'd get hot flashes, feel like I was about to pass out or throw up. It would happen a lot before shows and I'd have to cancel."
"Then the anxiety started coming ... I would be with my friends, thinking, I should be having so much fun. You get in this hole that seems like you're never going to be able to get out of."
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics. Follow her on Instagram.