Miley Cyrus is opening up about the emotional work it took to mend her relationship with her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, after a long period of family tension.
Speaking on the June 10 episode of Monica Lewinsky’s Reclaiming podcast, the Grammy winner reflected on a particularly challenging chapter for her family, calling it their own “dark decade.”
“What did you call your decade? Dark decade?” Miley asked Monica. “Yeah, we had one of those.”
The 32-year-old explained that things had gotten so strained between members of the Cyrus family that, at one point, communication broke down completely.
“Half of us weren’t speaking to each other at one point,” she shared. “And we cleaned all that up.”
Miley, who is the sister of Brandi, Trace, Christopher, Braison, and Noah Cyrus, acknowledged that the tension had been building for years, long before it became public.
She described how her mother Tish Cyrus’ divorce from Billy Ray in 2022 highlighted how much had gone unresolved within the family.
“In that situation, I watched what happens when you don’t clean things up as they’re happening,” Miley said.
“They really do stack, and then all of a sudden you go, ‘Oh my god, it’s been 10 years, and this is a mess that I barely even know how to start.’ This is emotional hoarding.”
When it came to reconnecting with her dad, Miley shared how she decided to take the first step.
“I just kind of bust through the pile that’s stacked, and just go, ‘I’m here. You’re here. Let’s start by having a good time together,’” she said.
“And then as we start bringing some happiness and joy into each other’s life, then we’ll just be in a better place to have these conversations. ‘Cause I’d rather get it balanced first.”
That effort included personally working to rebuild those communication lines earlier this year.
“We’re so messy we didn’t even do any of that,” she joked when asked about therapy. “To get each other in a room to even get to counseling would have been a war. So, it was easier to just go, ‘White flag.’”
For Miley, that white flag represented more than just surrendering to peace—it meant creating a safe space for her family.
“I always wanted my family to feel like I was the safe place that I always had the white flag when they came to talk to me,” she added.
