The pair have been sparking engagement rumors for months after showing off her sparkly diamond ring on Instagram.
After months of speculation, Billy Ray Cyrus is finally confirming his engagement to singer Firerose. The 61-year-old country crooner and the 34-year-old Australian singer, who legally changed her name to Firerose, have been sparking rumors that they're getting married for months as she regularly flashes her sparkly ring on Instagram.
Now, they've officially confirmed that they are engaged. "She's the real deal," Cyrus tells People of his fiancée.
He shares the story of meeting Firerose on the set of Hannah Montana, the series he starred in with his daughter, Miley Cyrus.
"I loved doing that show," he says of the Disney Channel program, which ran for four seasons from 2006 to 2011. "There's a couple old pine trees on the lot that look like Tennessee. [My dog] Tex and I would go out there in the middle of the day and he'd take care of his business and we'd stretch and I'd think how much I missed Tennessee. On that given day, Firerose came out of the front door. There was almost a moment of, I don't know, recognition. I was like, 'This girl's a star.'"
Firerose says she was a longtime fan of Cyrus', noting that she's "known his music since forever."
After Firerose petted Cyrus' dog, she told him she'd had an audition that day for a part she did not get. He decided to step in and put her in touch with producers and other executives he knew.
"I think she met a lot of the cast and met the producers, writers. And, in some ways, well, in a lot of ways, we became friends," Cyrus says.
Years later in July 2021, they released their duet, "New Day," together.
"We began sharing music, and it just evolved," Cyrus says of the romance.
At the time, Cyrus was going through a divorce from his wife, Tish Cyrus.
"Billy confided in me a lot of what was going on in his life," Firerose says of that time period. "I was just the best friend I could possibly be, supporting him."
Cyrus says that their collaborative relationship "evolved" from "musical soulmates to soulmates," calling their connection a "happy, pure love that to me, I didn't know could exist."
The proposal happened in August after Firerose moved to live with Cyrus on his farm in Franklin, Tennessee.
"Billy looked at me and said, 'Do you, do you wanna marry me?' And I was just like, 'Of course I do. I love you,'" says Firerose, who later picked out a diamond and designed her own ring. "He said, 'I love you. I wanna make this official. I wanna be with you forever.'"
Despite reports that there's been a rift between Cyrus and his children since his split from their mother, he insists that his family was well aware that their marriage was over long ago.
"Everyone knew that that relationship was over a long time ago," he says. "Everybody's turning the page. It's been a lot, but everyone knew that it was time for a change."
Tish Cyrus filed for divorce in April after 28 years of marriage. In the filing, it was noted that the two had not lived together since February 2020, and she cited irreconcilable differences as the grounds for their divorce. Tish and Billy Ray Cyrus are parents to Noah Cyrus, 22, Braison Cyrus, 28, Miley Cyrus, 29, Trace Cyrus, 33, and Brandi Cyrus, 35. Billy Ray also has a 30-year-old son, Christopher Cody, with Kristin Luckey.
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