Billy Ray Cyrus Speaks Out About Elizabeth Hurley, Reveals She Reached Out as He Was ‘Knocked Down’ in Life (Exclusive)

• Billy Ray Cyrus is opening up about his relationship with Elizabeth Hurley
• PEOPLE has an exclusive excerpt from his upcoming interview on Apple Music Country’s The Ty Bentli Show
• “It’s just a good thing. It’s been a long time since I’ve been this happy,” said Cyrus

Billy Ray Cyrus was feeling down — and then he got a text from Elizabeth Hurley.

After Cyrus and Hurley debuted their relationship in an Instagram post on Easter Sunday, the country star is opening up about how they grew close in a PEOPLE exclusive excerpt from his upcoming interview on Apple Music Country’s The Ty Bentli Show.

The Grammy winner, 63, recalled meeting Hurley, 59, while filming 2022’s Christmas in Paradise movie, filmed on the Caribbean island of Nevis not long after he separated from ex-wife Tish in April 2022.

“We did very few scenes together but the couple times we were in the same scene there was a chemistry there,” he said of Hurley. “We just laughed, and it was at a time I wasn’t laughing a lot.”

Cyrus continued, “The oddest part was first, how much we laughed. Second, I figured we were so different but in some very strange way we had way more in common than we had different.”

The “Achy Breaky Heart” singer said they “didn’t speak for two years” after filming Christmas in Paradise, and he entered a difficult period of life.

“I felt like, ‘Wow, can life get any harder? Can it get any tougher?’ For me, at a certain point it was like, you can’t get knocked down any flatter than laying on your back when life is kicking you,” explained Cyrus. “And in this moment… a friend reached out.”

At the time, he “didn’t even know the number” of the person who sent him a text along the lines of, “Hey, it looks like life might be a little bit tough and just wanted you to know I’m in your corner; you’ve got a friend in your corner.”

Cyrus likened the message to an uplifting interaction with Johnny Cash “when I was taking a bit of a pounding from the critics” in 1992: “Johnny said, ‘Hey, you know, just remember that all things that are good come from almighty God above and that stuff happens, and in your case… the good outweighs the bad. Let ‘em have it. I’m in your corner.’”

Hurley’s message reminded him “a bit of what Johnny had written me at my lowest point.”

“So, I text back, I go, ‘Who is this?’ And it’s like, ‘Elizabeth Hurley.’ Of all the people to reach out to me in that second that maybe I needed most… this friend who made me laugh,” added Cyrus.

He described the Austin Powers actress as “a great human being” while going in depth on their bond. “If all we ever were [is] the friends that we are, I would take that. She’s so impressively brilliant. She reminds me a lot of Dolly Parton. She’s a very smart businesswoman,” he said, adding: “If you can laugh together, you can make it through everything.”

The photo of Cyrus and Hurley shared in celebration of Easter featured him kissing her on the cheek. But according to the Hannah Montana actor, “There will be one coming where she’s kissing me because people have been saying, ‘Why’s he always kissing her?’ Unfortunately when I see her, when she puts her cheek out there, I don’t know what happens, I just kiss it.”

“It’s just been beautiful,” exclaimed Cyrus, “and again, no expectations of where we go from here other than her and her son — I do love him a lot, and it’s great that God brought them into my life when he did. It’s just a good thing. It’s been a long time since I’ve been this happy.”

The “Some Gave All” artist was last married to singer Firerose for less than a year before their divorce was finalized in May 2024. He shares daughters Miley, Noah and Brandi, and sons Trace and Braison with ex-wife Tish. He also shares son Christopher Cody with Kristen Luckey, whom he dated before Tish.

Hurley was married to businessman Arun Nayar from 2007 to 2011. She is mom to Damian Hurley, whom she shares with the late Steve Bing.