How Billy Ray Cyrus Reportedly Felt About Miley's Ex Liam Hemsworth
Before Miley Cyrus gained worldwide fame as Hannah Montana and later as a pop music sensation, everyone knew her as Billy Ray Cyrus' little girl (even if their relationship is tarnished nowadays). As his eldest daughter, Miley was every bit the daddy's girl. Their bond grew into something far deeper than the conventional relationship, with the "Achy Breaky Heart" hitmaker admitting to ET in 2013: "I almost feel a little bit bad as a daddy saying it, but I've always been a better friend to Miley than I have been a daddy."
Billy Ray has a vested interest in his daughter's personal life and Miley's long-term relationship with actor Liam Hemsworth, which involved two engagements, a marriage, and sadly, a divorce, was no exception. When they split initially, a source dished to OK! magazine that Miley's dad wanted to play cupid and find someone more suitable for her, and ideally older.
"Billy Ray is convinced that a strong, supportive guy will help keep Miley grounded," they revealed (via AZ Central). "Billy Ray is looking for someone successful who won't take advantage of Miley. He'd love to get her together with country singers like Kip Moore or Chris Young, who are warm and level-headed.” This didn't necessarily mean Hemsworth lacked these qualities. In fact, Billy Ray had a soft spot for the "Hunger Games" star.
Billy Ray thought Liam was a 'great' guy
Throughout Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth's relationship, Billy Ray Cyrus never seemed to have an inkling that their romance would eventually end up with a couple of achy-breaky hearts. In a 2017 interview with ET, the "Some Gave All" crooner expressed nothing but admiration for his daughter's then-boyfriend. "Liam is a great guy. I like his heart. He's got a great spirit about him," Billy Ray gushed before going on to share a lesser-known side of Hemsworth that took him by surprise. "He's a great artist [...] I go into this room and there's, like, 1,500 paintings up [...] He's very humble about it."
Eventually, Billy Ray and Hemsworth got super close. At one point, the country icon pulled up to Harry Connick Jr.'s talk show wearing one of the Aussie native's shirts, which he "borrowed" without asking for Hemsworth's permission. "I think if you bring something back, you didn't really steal it,” Billy Ray joked (via Today). "I kind of borrowed it from Liam Hemsworth. He didn't know though and he doesn't know. I happened to be getting ready to come up and do this show and there was a clean shirt there [...] I've got to finish this show, fly back home and go put it in his closet so he doesn't know it's gone."
He supported Liam and Miley's marriage
By the time Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth decided to tie the knot, Billy Ray Cyrus was nothing but supportive. An insider close to the family informed People that he was always rooting for them. "Billy Ray loves Liam. He's happy his daughter has found the right guy," they confirmed. The singer-songwriter himself elaborated in an interview with E! News that all he cared about was the couple's happiness, noting, "Miley and I, we always had this slogan — 'If you ain't happy, it ain't working.' Just seeing these — I still call 'em kids — these two kids happy, that's all that matters."
Billy Ray had the same sentiment even when the couple was going through rough times, including Miley and Hemsworth's initial breakup and their eventual divorce. His support never wavered, and not once did Billy Ray publicly badmouth Hemsworth either. Miley's happiness remained paramount, with Billy Ray clarifying to ET, "Everything happens for a reason and the main thing for me, as Miley's daddy, is she's happy." As for how the pop star feels about her parents divorcing after almost three decades together, a source divulged to E! News that it's caused tension with the once-close duo.