Wedding bells will soon be ringing for Billy Ray Cyrus. A firm believer that “for everything that’s good, there’s always been something equally as bad,” Cryus is getting a dose of happiness following his April divorce from ex-wife Tish and the death of his mother, Ruth Ann Casto: he is engaged! The “Achy Breaky Heart” singer confirmed to PEOPLE in an interview published Wednesday that he is engaged to his girlfriend, singer Firerose, Cyrus telling the outlet, “she’s the real deal.”
The Wednesday confirmation comes a little more than a month after rumors first surfaced that the couple was set to marry after Firerose was spotted wearing a diamond ring on her left hand. However, it seems the couple has been engaged for even longer than that, the pair revealing to PEOPLE that Cyrus popped the question in August, shortly after Firerose moved to Cyrus’s Franklin, Tennessee farm.
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“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.’ He said, ‘I love you. I wanna make this official. I wanna be with you forever,’” Firerose shared, revealing that Cyrus opted to forego tradition and did not drop to one knee or present her with a ring. Instead, Firerose said she later picked out a diamond and designed her own ring.
Cyrus and Firerose have the country signer’s late German Shepherd Tex to thank for their relationship. The couple first met 12 years ago on the set of Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana. As Cyrus stepped outside to take Tex out for a bathroom break, 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.’” Cryus went on to introduce Firerose to the producers of the series, recalling how “in some ways, well, in a lot of ways, we became friends.” While the pair remained close over the following years, it was during the pandemic that their relationship truly blossomed. According to the couple, amid those months in lockdown, they became songwriting partners, with Cyrus sharing, “when we began sharing the music, it just evolved more into, as musical soulmates, to soulmates, happy, pure love that to me, I didn’t know could exist.” In July 2021 they released their first song together, “New Day.”
In their interview with PEOPLE, the happy couple also addressed reports of some strife within the Cyrus family. While rumors have surfaced that there is a rift between Cyrus and his children – sons Christopher Cody, Trace, and Braison, and daughters Miley and Noah – Cyrus said, “Everyone knew that that relationship was over a long time ago. Everybody’s turning the page. It’s been a lot, but everyone knew that it was time for a change.”
