Billy Ray Cyrus ‘Attempting to Lean on Tish’ Despite Her New Hubby Dominic Purcell’s Objections

Billy Ray Cyrus is kissing up to his ex wife, Tish Cyrus, trying to worm his way back into the family’s good graces and infuriating her protective hubby Dominic Purcell in the process, a source exclusively reveals to In Touch.

“Billy Ray is going through the worst time of his life with the divorce from Firerose and all these money problems, and he’s incredibly needy and attempting to lean on Tish and get sympathy,” the source dishes.

“He wants to make it right with everyone, not just Tish, but Miley [Cyrus] and his other kids.”

Billy Ray, 63, has a long road to walk if redemption is his goal. The country star’s ex wife, Tish, 57, filed for divorce in April 2022 after a period of soul searching following her mother’s death in August 2020, when the couple were stuck separated from each other during the COVID 19 pandemic.

“I was like, ‘I just don’t know if I’ll survive when my mom dies.’ Like, honestly. And I had, like, one month of a, honestly, complete psychological breakdown. It was the worst thing — like, honestly. It was not good,” she explained during a February episode of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast.

“During that period,” Tish said, “I took a really good, hard look at life, my life, and like, ‘What was I gonna do?’”

“Because it had not been in a good place for a long time. And I think I did stay so long out of fear of being alone. Like I had met [Billy Ray] when I was 23, 24.”

She continued, “So being alone, and all of a sudden just having kind of the weight of the world off my shoulders, and I was able to just breathe. And smoke pot and garden and go skinny dipping in my pool. That’s what I did during ​COVID. It was hugely transformative.”

Whatever the end result of that transformation was, it didn’t include then-husband Billy Ray, as she filed for divorce shortly afterward citing irreconcilable differences.

The country star also has a ways to go mending relations with his estranged daughter, pop sensation Miley Cyrus.

A source told E! News in October 2022 that Miley, 31, “of course hopes he is happy but has been closer to her mom Tish throughout the divorce,” adding that Miley didn’t “have a relationship” with her dad’s fiancée, 35, at the time.

“The divorce between her parents have put a strain on her relationship with her dad,” the source continued, “and it’s been hard to connect with him in the last year. She hopes they can eventually work on their relationship.”

A second insider previously told In Touch that “with Firerose out of the picture, she’s willing to at least try to repair the damage and once again have a loving relationship with him.”

However, not everyone is convinced Billy Ray’s intentions are golden as he tries to warm back up to the family he ditched for the 35-year-old country singer.

“Dominic is scoffing at this because Billy Ray treated Tish like garbage for so many years, he’s not buying it,” the first source says.

“Dominic sees himself as Tish’s protector and to be fair Tish sees him as 10 times the man Billy Ray will ever be.”

“Dominic and Tish’s marriage is solid, they’ve done their therapy, they’re good, and Billy Ray’s the personal space invader that neither of them wants.”