Love blossomed for Billy Ray Cyrus and Elizabeth Hurley nearly four years after they costarred in 2022’s Christmas in Paradise.
“We did a film two years ago down in the Caribbean, and we did very few scenes together, but the couple times we were in the same scene, there was a chemistry there that [I] felt,” Cyrus said on Apple Music’s Ty Bentli Show in April 2025. “We just laughed, and it was at a time [when] I wasn’t laughing a lot and I found that the oddest thing.”
He added, “Then two more years of life went by, and it was this evolution that some might’ve looked at and certainly 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 lying on your back when life is kicking you in the gut.’”
Cyrus was going through a divorce from Firerose when Hurley reached out. The pair confirmed their romance in April 2025, sharing a PDA pic via Instagram on Easter Sunday.
Inside Billy Ray Cyrus and Elizabeth Hurley’s ‘Very Recent’ Romance
“Billy Ray and Liz have both been through a lot in life and have bonded over life experiences,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly in a cover story that month. “Liz is a very compassionate person, which Billy Ray adores.”
Keep scrolling for Cyrus and Hurley’s relationship timeline:
2022
Hurley and Cyrus played Joanna Christmas and Jimmy Love, respectively, in Netflix’s Christmas in Paradise.
“The opportunity to work with Billy Ray, whom I’ve long been a fan of — my son was the age where he used to watch Hannah Montana all the time, so of course, I used to watch it with him,” Hurley told MovieWeb, referring to son Damian, whom she shared with late ex Stephen Bing. “I knew Billy Ray really well from that, and of course, some of his music. That was a big plus.”
2024
Two years after the movie’s release, Hurley sent Cyrus a friendly text.
“I didn’t even know the number, and it’s like, ‘Hey, it looks like life might be a little bit tough and just wanted you to know I’m in your corner. You got a friend in your corner,’” Cyrus recalled on Bentli’s Apple Music show the next year, calling Hurley a “great human being” and “impressively brilliant.”
April 2025
Before Hurley and Cyrus made their Instagram debut as a couple on Easter, they kept their budding romance under wraps.
“Her friends have known about it for a while as it’s not a new thing,” a second source told Us, noting the British actress “had sworn them all to secrecy and they didn’t tell anyone outside of her tight circle of mostly gay men.”
Later in April, Hurley shared more Instagram pics of the couple cuddled up at Cyrus’ Nashville farm.
May 2025
While attending the Breast Cancer Research Foundation’s Hot Pink Party in New York City, Hurley offered further insight into their relationship.
“I think people found Billy and I being together a little surprising,” she told reporters on the red carpet. “It’s not surprising to me because we’re actually quite similar and get on extremely well. There has been quite a reaction. … We both like to laugh a lot, and we both love the country. And we both love country music, both love movies. We’ve got a lot in common — and cowboy boots, definitely.”
According to Hurley, she and Cyrus also bonded over being single parents. While Hurley is mom to son Damien, the Grammy winner is a father of six. (Billy Ray shares Brandi, Trace, Miley, Noah and Braison with ex-wife Tish Cyrus and son Christopher with ex Kristin Luckey.)
They made their red carpet debut at the “Orizzonti | Rosso” Exhibition’s opening dinner in Rome on May 24 alongside Damian.
“Roma,” Hurley later captioned Instagram photos from the evening.
