In the fall of 2022, Billy Ray Cyrus announced his engagement to someone named “Firerose.” They eventually married last fall, in a very autumnal wedding scene. Incidentally, while Billy Ray and Firerose announced their engagement months and months before Tish Cyrus got engaged to Dominic Purcell, Tish got remarried before Billy Ray. This whole time, we’ve been giving Tish the sideeye because she got with Dominic after he had a full-on relationship with Noah Cyrus (and now he’s Noah’s stepfather). I sort of forgot about all of the sketchiness around Billy Ray and Firerose. Well, when no one was looking, Billy Ray and Firerose fell apart. It sounds messy as hell.
Billy Ray Cyrus has filed for divorce from Firerose. Less than a year after the pair got married in October 2023, the 62-year-old country star filed for divorce from the singer — whose real name is Johanna Rose Hodges — in Nashville on May 22, according to documents obtained by PEOPLE.
The court documents cite irreconcilable differences and inappropriate marital conduct as the reason for divorce, while Cyrus is also seeking an annulment on the grounds of fraud.
At the time of publication, Cyrus and Firerose, 37, do not follow each other on Instagram.
Reps for Cyrus and Firerose did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
TMZ was first to report the news.
The two musicians were friends for years before they began writing songs together during the COVID-19 pandemic. They started dating in 2022 and got engaged later that year before tying the knot in October 2023.
As I said, MESSY. It’s one thing to suddenly file for divorce after less than eight months of marriage. It’s quite another to cite “inappropriate marital conduct” in what should have been a no-fault divorce. According to TMZ, Cyrus is asking the court for an annulment rather than a divorce, as in “wipe the slate clean, we were never even married.” I doubt he’ll get that, but I’m sure we’ll get more information on why he’s asking for that specifically. Like, when they first got engaged, I was surprised by how little verifiable information there was on Firerose in the US and Australia, where she’s allegedly from. We couldn’t even get a hard confirmation on her age for several years. She just appeared one day with an oddly empty backstory. It would not surprise me at all if some or all of her persona was a hustle or con.
Photos courtesy of Billy Ray’s Instagram.
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