Billy Ray Cyrus Regrets ‘Hannah Montana’ — Claims It ‘Destroyed My Family’

Billy Ray Cyrus regretted becoming involved in the hit Disney Channel series Hannah Montana, which catapulted his family into the public eye. On the heels of the series final season in 2011, Billy Ray admitted that perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to become involved in the sitcom that put his daughter, Miley, on the map and his family under a public microscope. Here’s what he had to say.

‘Hannah Montana destroyed my family’ claimed Billy Ray Cyrus

In a 2011 interview with GQ Magazine, Billy Ray Cyrus was asked if he believed the smash Disney Channel series Hannah Montana played a part in the breakdown of his family. He went one step further to say the series “destroyed my family.”

“Oh, it’s huge—it destroyed my family. I’ll tell you right now—the [expletive] show destroyed my family,” Billy Ray exclaimed.

He continued, “I hate to say it, but yes, I do. Yeah. I’d take it back in a second. For my family to be and just be everybody OK, safe, sound, happy, and normal would have been fantastic. Heck, yeah. I’d erase it all in a second if I could.”

Billy Ray Cyrus believed the ‘business’ drove a wedge between him and his children

Billy Ray Cyrus couldn’t believe how successful Hannah Montana was right out of the gate. The Disney Channel series told the story of tween Miley Stewart, who, unbeknownst to her friends and classmates, had a secret double life as the world-famous pop star Hannah Montana.

Hannah Montana debuted on March 24, 2006, as a lead-in to a rerun of High School Musical and had 5.4 million viewers. By season 3, the series averaged around 7 million viewers.

However, Billy Ray felt things changing within his family. “The business was driving a wedge between us,” he claims.

“How many interviews did I give and say, ‘You know what’s important between me and Miley is that I try to be a friend to my kids’? I said it a lot,” Billy Ray continued.

“Sometimes I would even read other parents might say, ‘You don’t need to be a friend; you need to be a parent.’ Honestly, I didn’t know that ball was out of bounds until it was way up in the stands somewhere,” he revealed.

By January 2010, shooting for Hannah Montana‘s final episodes began; at that time, Billy Ray was separated from his then-wife Tish. He admits that season four “was a disaster” and looks back on that period, wondering, “How did I ever make it through that? I must be a better actor than I thought.”

Miley Cyrus got candid about Billy Ray Cyrus and her childhood in ‘Endless Summer Vacation: Continued’

In the Hulu special Endless Summer Vacation: Continued (Backyard Sessions), Miley Cyrus candidly spoke of how fame affected the Cyrus family. She believes her dad’s upbringing led him to handle the spotlight differently than she did.

“My dad grew up the opposite of me,” Miley said. “I grew up on a soundstage, in a house with a family that was super close and all lived under the same roof.”

She continued, “And I grew up financially stable and emotionally stable, I think, in my relationships also. And that’s something that my dad didn’t have.”

Miley concluded, “Him feeling loved by a big audience impacted him emotionally more than it ever could me. When he feels special or important, it’s like healing a childhood wound, and I’ve always been made to feel like a star. It makes me emotional, so I think that’s the difference.”

In August 2022, Cyrus became engaged to Australian singer Firerose. They met in 2011 on the set of Hannah Montana.