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Tish Cyrus Talks Divorce and Losing Her Mom
Tish Cyrus gave revealing details about how tough it was for her to deal with the loss of her mom, Loretta Finley, aka “Mammie,” and her breakup with Billy Ray Cyrus.
“I think both of those events were probably the most tragic times in my life and they happened to me back to back. I wasn’t even aware of it, I didn’t realize it. I didn’t even stop to think about it,” Tish, 58, recounted her emotional moment on The Squeeze podcast with Tay Lautner on January 14.
Tish’s mother who was 85 years old died in 2020 while the whole world was fighting the pandemic.
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Tish Cyrus Reveals the Close Relationship of Her Mother and Her Kids
Tish Cyrus revealed the deep connection that her mother, Loretta Finley, had with her family. While Miley Cyrus was busy filming Hannah Montana, Loretta stayed with them, and later, she moved into a house right next door.
“She was just a massive part of our lives,” Tish said.
They especially connected with Miley as the girl often took her grandma to the set. According to Tish, her kids “worshiped” her grandma, and the loss of her grandma was a big turning point in their lives.
“It happened that after her death, not long after that, my marriage started falling apart,” Tish confessed.
Tish Cyrus Opens Up About Divorce and Anxiety
After a long marriage of 28 years, Tish Cyrus initiated the divorce proceedings against Billy Ray Cyrus in April 2022. Two years later, in 2024, she spoke to PEOPLE about how scared she was to get out of the relationship; she was terrified that she would be alone forever.
She reportedly experienced anxiety breakdowns. In fact, she humorously remarked that she had a total mental breakdown. For a whole month, she barely ate or slept and was so anxious that she felt like she was “coming out of my skin.”
On her talk with Tay Lautner, a podcast episode aired on January 14, Cyrus mentioned that she was not joking when she said the time was “freaking rough” and that it had been “the roughest thing I’ve ever gone through.”
Tish Cyrus on Self-Medicating and Finding Healing Through Therapy
Tish Cyrus shared openly how she used marijuana to get over the grief of losing her mom and the end of her marriage.
“I have been so transparent that I was a major weed smoker”, she revealed and further expressed that she considered it as “the plant medicine” that helped her keep anxiety at bay and also get rid of the pain.
After she got rid of the habit of smoking, it was such a shock to her system that she got so much anxiety, almost to the point of being non-functional. “I did not know what was happening,” she said.
She figures therapy is what really helped her get through the situation. Just by talking about her life, her children’s careers, and her own problems, she started to get to a place of peace and recovery. “When I started therapy… they were like, ‘Wow,’” she said.
Tish Cyrus Finds Healing Through Therapy and New Relationship
Tish Cyrus credits her daughter Miley with recommending her The Body Keeps the Score, which was the book that helped her realize how unprocessed trauma could affect a person’s body when a person is not even aware of it.
After marrying Dominic Purcell in 2023, Cyrus referred to their relationship as “a beautiful” and “so safe… just no drama” giving her a stable place to work on her feelings.
She said that she could feel the intensity of her anxiety: “I was suffering just as much… anyone that has experienced anxiety at that level, it is awful. Absolutely awful, and it lasted for a long time.”
Cyrus said that she almost came apart at the seams for a year, “just trying to survive,” but now she is starting to get the hang of managing her anxiety and feels way better.
Tish Cyrus on Managing Anxiety and Advocating for Mental Health
Tish Cyrus revealed that she probably has mostly “on the other side” of her mental health crisis, but there are still moments when she gets anxious. “This morning, I felt really anxious — and it was about nothing on earth. But I’m trying to figure out how to control it,” she said.
Her own troubles have led her to work more with mental health organizations. She stressed the role of community, pointing out that the biggest difficulty is often feeling alone. “You feel like you’re the only one in the world who has to deal with it,” she told Tay Lautner.
Cyrus thinks that it is very beneficial for people who are in a difficult situation to listen to others who have gone or are going through the same thing. “It is really difficult to realize it when you are in it. But I think just listening to people is so — it’s probably the single most helpful thing.”
