Last weekend, bingo cards across the globe were thrown in the trash after Elizabeth Hurley and Billy Ray Cyrus revealed that they were in the most surprising celebrity romantic sitch that 2025 has thus far witnessed.
If you’re lost and looking for answers as to how this partnership came to be, you’re not alone — but don’t worry, because Billy Ray’s got you covered.
During a recent episode of The Ty Bentli Show, Billy Ray revealed that he and Elizabeth first connected while shooting the 2022 film Christmas in Paradise.
“We did very few scenes together, but the couple times we were in the same scene there was a chemistry there,” Billy Ray said about meeting Elizabeth on set. “We just laughed, and it was at a time I wasn’t laughing a lot. 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.”
Billy Ray then said that, after not speaking with Elizabeth for several years, he recently — and, presumably, following his messy divorce from Firerose — received a text from a number he didn’t know. “‘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,'” he claims the message read.
“So, I text back, I go, ‘Who is this?’ And it’s like, ‘Elizabeth Hurley.'”
Billy Ray went on to describe Elizabeth as “so impressively brilliant” and a “smart businesswoman,” drawing a direct comparison to Dolly Parton. He also said that he has “no expectations of where we go from here,” and it sounds like the two of them are taking things one step at a time.
“If you can laugh together, you can make it through everything,” he said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been this happy.”
