Miley Cyrus Says She Inherited "Narcissism" From Dad Billy Ray Cyrus (2024)

Elyse Dupre

June 13, 2024 at 12:10 PM·10 min read

Originally appeared on E! Online

Don't you ever say, Miley Cyrus just walked away from talking about her family.

Because the "Wrecking Ball" singer recently shed some light on where she stands with Billy Ray Cyrus amid rumors of a rift.

In fact, during her appearance on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman, Miley referenced her dad after being unable to recall which family members moved with her from Tennessee to California for Hannah Montana in the aughts.

"I have a terrible memory because I also inherited the narcissism from my father that I don't know anything about my siblings except for the part that I was doing," she replied as David Letterman laughed. "It's true. It's OK."

And when the former late-night host wondered if Miley ever considered Billy Ray her hero, she noted she gave that title to her mother Tish Cyrus. However, the "Flowers" artist made it clear there are still characteristics she's happy to have gotten from her dad.

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"My father, I'm grateful for first his genes," she shared. "My dad has great hair, and I got that. But he also—he has a relationship and a foot on the ground to the real and to nature, and he always did even when he was super famous. I'm grateful for being able to watch him ahead of me. He's almost given me this map. And there is a map of what to do and what not to do, and he's guided me on both."

Miley Cyrus Says She Inherited "Narcissism" From Dad Billy Ray Cyrus (1)

She also said she takes into account what her dad—who recently filed for divorce from wife Firerose—has been through.

"I do think him and I have really different upbringings," the 31-year-old added. "The way that my dad was raised, he grew up very poor in a very small town. His parents were divorced when he was very young."

"My dad had a pretty rough childhood," Miley continued. "And my childhood really—I mean, we can go and we can talk about the hard times or the struggles. You know, turning in my homework and learning my lines was tough. But I had food, I had love, I grew up in a beautiful, big house, and my dad didn't have that."

As a result, Miley explained, she has a lot of compassion for Billy Ray's past, "which obviously developed to create the man that he is now that I have a lot of love for."

And Miley expressed how Billy Ray—who recently shared how proud he is of her in an Instagram post—helped shape her into who she is today.

"Without my dad, I know—I mean, not just literally I wouldn't be sitting in this chair I wouldn't exist—but I would not, who I am as a person, it wouldn't exist," she said. "Because my dad, as a creative and like as an artist in the way that his brain works, has always made me feel safer in my own mind because we're very similar in some of our ideas. So I think a lot of his perspective on reality and on life I've inherited from him more so than the way that I was raised—which really, my mom raised me."

So when David said Miley and Billy Ray aren't estranged but "it's just kind of the way things are played," she weighed in.

"Yeah, I think what is so beautiful is my parents, they served their children and I know this," she said. "My parents served us and sacrificed so much for us. Anything we dreamed of, they made possible."

In addition to Miley, Billy Ray and Tish—who split in 2022, with her now being married to Dominic Purcell—share kids Brandi Cyrus, 37; Trace Cyrus, 35, Braison Cyrus, 30; and Noah Cyrus, 24. The "Achy Breaky Heart" singer is also dad to son Christopher Cyrus, 32, from his relationship with ex Kristin Luckey.

To learn more about the headline-making Cyrus family, keep reading.

E! News has reached out to Billy Ray for comment but has yet to hear back.

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