In the latest edition of “How Did We Get Here?”, singer Firerose—born Johanna Rosie Hodges—has decided to pull back the curtain on her rollercoaster of a marriage to mullet icon Billy Ray Cyrus. A few months post-divorce, Firerose sat down with Stellar magazine to dish all the juicy details, and let’s just say… the tea is piping.
Boy Meets Girl Meets Red Flags
According to Firerose, their first meeting sounds like a scene straight out of a weird indie rom-com—minus the cute ending. Picture this: she’s 22, auditioning on a Hollywood lot, when out pops Billy Ray Cyrus like a genie with a guitar.
“He was all, ‘Hey, I’ll introduce you to everyone, and we can just, like, chill the whole day,’” Firerose recalled. And what did her gut say? “What does this dude want?”—which, honestly, feels like the right instinct when a guy who once rocked Achy Breaky Heart energy pops into your life uninvited.
In case you’re wondering if sparks flew that day—nope. “Romance? Not even a blip on my radar,” Firerose said. “If I could send a memo back to my 22-year-old self, it’d say: RUN. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Just sprint like your life depends on it.”
From Quarantine Tunes to Quarantine Doom
Fast forward to the pandemic—because what’s a global crisis without rekindling awkward old connections? The two reconnected as music collaborators, and then, plot twist: things got romantic. Suddenly, Firerose found herself deep in the Cyrusverse… and it was not the paradise she imagined.
“I went from my lively, outgoing self to a socially awkward turtle,” she confessed. “Unless we were working or in public, where I’d slap on a smile like it was a VIP wristband.” Her friends and family? Yeah, she kinda ghosted them. “But in my head, it was like, ‘Oh, he’s just being protective,’” she explained. Ah, yes. The classic protective or possessive? conundrum. Spoiler: It was possessive.
Rules, Rules, and… Hairdressers Only?
Apparently, Billy Ray had some interesting rules. For starters, Firerose was told she couldn’t just do normal stuff like go to church or public places, because—according to Billy—“People might follow you home, and boom, next thing you know, murdered.” Sounds reasonable. Who wouldn’t want to swap Sunday services for survival drills?
And then, there was the wedding guest list. Or rather, the lack of one. “I was allowed exactly one friend at my wedding,” Firerose revealed. “And guess who? My hairstylist.” (Because nothing says “I love you” like exclusive access to professional blowouts.)
In hindsight, she admitted, “Yeah, that was super weird. But at the time, I just shrugged and thought, ‘Well, I guess this is my life now.’” Ah, love—a journey where you accept lunacy as reality and call it ‘compromise.’
“It’s All Your Fault” – A Memoir by Billy Ray Cyrus
As their relationship unraveled, things took a turn for the melodramatic. According to Firerose, Billy Ray pulled out the ultimate breakup trump card: blame everything on the other person.
“He told me it was somehow all my fault—every bad thing that’s ever happened in his life. Which is impressive, honestly, considering I wasn’t even born when half his problems started,” she quipped. “For someone with a hit song and, like, a billion blessings, he sure knows how to find the emptiest part of a glass and cry about it.”
But Firerose didn’t quit on love easily. “I kept thinking, ‘Maybe if I just love him more, things will change.’ Spoiler alert: They didn’t.”
Moral of the Story?
If you find yourself dating someone with a mullet and an Achy Breaky Heart, make sure your hairstylist is on speed dial—because you never know when she’ll be your only wedding guest.
Catch the full saga on Stellar’s website. Or just save yourself the trouble and watch Hannah Montana reruns instead—same family drama, less heartbreak.
