Billy Ray Cyrus and Dolly Parton’s Close Friendship Lasted a Lifetime—’I Will Always Love Her’
Billy Ray Cyrus opens up about his decades-long bond with Dolly Parton and the touching note she sent him
Key Takeaways
AI-generated summary reviewed by our editorial team.- They formed a lasting friendship after an unexpected 1992 meeting when she put him on tour.
- Family ties: Dolly became Miley’s godmother and is her seventh cousin once removed.
- Honor their bond by remembering their friendship, music and shared memories.
Dolly Parton and Billy Ray Cyrus had an unbreakable bond, one that spanned multiple generations. After growing up watching Dolly Parton soar to superstardom, the two were able to meet and become close friends. Following Parton’s passing, Cyrus shared a heartfelt message for his late friend.
“Like every little boy, I grew up loving Dolly Parton,” Cyrus wrote in his Instagram post. “She was a part of our lives, on our TV’s, right in our living rooms.”
After an unexpected meeting in 1992 and a deep connection that followed, their friendship was one that would last a lifetime and beyond. Cyrus shared the final message Parton left for him before her passing, detailing their close friendship.
“Dolly recently sent me a beautiful message, telling me she loved me with her whole heart,” he wrote. “I will always love her in the same way….with my whole heart…and I always will.”
Parton and Cyrus met in an unexpected way
Dolly Parton and Billy Ray Cyrus’ close relationship began a few decades ago, back in 1992 when his hit song, “Achy Breaky Heart,” was topping the charts. Cyrus was invited to tour with Parton and after an unexpected first encounter, they were bonded for life.
“When ‘Achy came out, Dolly put me on her tour as an opening act,” Cyrus shared in a 2018 interview. “It wasn’t long after that that some of the headlines in the tabloids had Dolly and myself, pictures of us, saying something was going on. I was so upset about it…I hadn’t really met her. So, I told my manager—it was a National Enquirer—I said, ‘You think I could go meet Dolly and tell her how sorry I am about this?’ My manager said, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna make that happen.’ So, before my show, I went to Dolly’s dressing room, and they escorted me in. Dolly’s sitting there all beautiful, just like an angel.”
Cyrus shared that he went in and showed her the tabloid, apologizing for the rumors that had been going around. But Parton was hardly fazed by it. Instead of reacting badly, “She looked at it, and then she looked at me and said [with a wink], ‘Honey, that sells records.’ We laughed, and I never thought about it. From that moment on, we became very good friends.”
She became Miley’s godmother
While Parton and Cyrus were touring together, he and his wife, Tish, were expecting a baby girl, Miley. After the awkward tabloid incident had broken the ice, the two had become good friends and Cyrus felt Parton was close enough to ask a big favor.
Parton recalled the moment he asked her to be a godparent to his daughter.
“He said… ‘We’re having a girl, and you’ve got to be her godmother!’ And I said, ‘Well, I’d be honored,’” Parton recalled. “So actually, Miley and I took over from there. We’ve just stayed very, very close through the years… I love Miley. She’s my little sweetheart. I’ve known her since before she was born, actually.”
Their bond became even more familial when Miley and Dolly discovered they were actually related. After a genealogical test, the two learned they were actually seventh cousins, once removed, thanks to a related great grandfather.
The two grew extremely close over the years and it wasn’t long before she and Miley became twin flames.
Miley commonly referred to her godmother as Aunt Dolly, a sentiment she brought into her TV show, Hannah Montana. Miley specifically asked the show’s creators to bring Dolly on as a guest star, which introduced the icon to an entirely new generation of fans.
“She did so great on Hannah Montana and I got famous,” Parton recalled in 2023. “She really made me a lot of new fans that follow me to this day because of her, when she put me on the Hannah Montana show, all those little kids now have grown up and they’ve followed Aunt Dolly all these years.”
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