Miley Cyrus Addresses Estrangement with Dad Billy Ray Cyrus as She Calls Mom Tish Cyrus 'My Hero'

The Grammy winner opened up about her relationship with her her parents during an appearance on David Letterman's Netflix show, 'My Next Guest Needs No Introduction'

• Miley Cyrus appears on the latest episode of David Letterman's My Next Guest Needs No Introduction

• She agreed with the host when he asked, "There's not estrangement here?"

• Cyrus joked, however, that "I also inherited the narcissism from my father"

Miley Cyrus is getting candid about the complicated relationship she has with her father, Billy Ray Cyrus.

During an interview with David Letterman for the newest episode of his Netflix series My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, the Grammy-winning "Flowers" singer discussed the good and the bad things she's learned from Billy Ray.

"He has a relationship and a foot on the ground to the real and to nature and he always did, even when he was super famous," Miley, 31, said of her dad, who rose to stardom in country music with his hit "Achy Breaky Heart" in 1992. "I'm grateful for being able to watch him ahead of me. He's almost given me this map. And there's a map of what to do and what not to do, and he's guided me on both."

"I also inherited the narcissism from my father," she noted during the interview.

Related: Billy Ray Cyrus Recalls 'Best Memories' with Daughter Miley Cyrus at CMA Fest amid Rumored Family Rift

Asked to compare how her parents contributed to her successes today, Miley insisted they were "different," explaining to the talk show host that "they can't be weighed on the same scale, actually."

"Without my dad, I know — I mean, not just literally I wouldn't be sitting in this chair, I wouldn't exist — but I would not, who I am as a person, it wouldn't exist. Because my dad, as a creative and as an artist in the way that his brain works, has always made me feel safer in my own mind because we're very similar in our ideas," she continued. "So I think a lot of his perspective on reality and on life, I've inherited from him, more so than the way that I was raised — which really, my mom raised me."

"Honestly, my mom is my hero," Miley said of Tish Cyrus, who also appeared on the special.

Related: Noah Cyrus Is 'Very Loyal' to Dad Billy Ray Following 'Really Hard' Divorce from Mom Tish: Source (Exclusive)

Her comments come amid a rumored family rift that allegedly began shortly after Tish, 57, filed for divorce from Billy Ray in April 2022.

Both moved on not long after that, Tish marrying Dominic Purcell in August 2023. Billy Ray walked down the aisle with Firerose in October 2023, though he filed for divorce from the singer (whose real name is Johanna Rose Hodges) on May 22, irreconcilable inappropriate marital conduct as the reason for divorce and seeking an annulment on the grounds of fraud.

Amid their parents' divorce, the Cyrus siblings appeared to take sides. Miley, Brandi, 37, and Trace, 35, were all at Tish's wedding, but Braison, 30, and Noah, 24, were not present.

A source told PEOPLE in February that Noah, 24, has been “very loyal to Billy Ray” following his divorce. An insider later revealed that Noah was casually seeing Purcell, 54, before her mom married him, which may have contributed to the tension.

In February, when Miley won her Grammy for record of the year, she noticeably omitted her dad from her acceptance speech at the ceremony, where she was accompanied by Tish and Brandi. "I don't think I forgot anyone,” she said after thanking her mom, sister and her “love” Maxx Morando. “But I might have forgotten underwear. Bye!" 

Related: Tish Cyrus Urged Billy Ray Cyrus to Play Miley's Dad on Hannah Montana So Their 'Family Could Be Together'

In her chat with Letterman, Miley was asked about her relationship with her parents now, Letterman wondering, "Is it unlikely that both parents would share an equal role going through your life — where it's always going to be one or the other is closer as things evolve?"

"It's really just not the closeness," Miley responded. "I think it's the capacity in which my mom was raised by a completely intact, beautiful family. Actually, my mom was adopted so my mom was chosen. Her parents couldn't have children so they wanted her more than anything in the world. So my mom came in to this world being wanted and being loved and being given the most beautiful life. My grandmother spoiled not only her but me completely rotten. My dad didn't have that."

Speaking about her dad's upbringing, Miley pointed out their differences.

"The way my dad was raised, he grew up very poor in a very small town," she said. "His parents were divorced when he was very young. My dad had a pretty rough childhood and my childhood, really —I mean, we can go on and talk about the hard times and the struggles; you know, turning in my homework and learning my lines was tough — but I had food, I had love, I grew up in a beautiful big house. And my dad didn't have that. So I have a lot of empathy and compassion for his childhood, which obviously developed to create the man he is now that I have a lot of love for."

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Letterman, 77, then inquired about the rumored rifts. "There's not estrangement here with your father," he said, "it's just the way things are played?"

"Yeah," Miley said. "I think, what is so beautiful is that my parents, they served their children, and I know this. My parents served us and sacrificed so much for us. Anything we dreamed of, they made possible."

My Next Guest Needs No Introduction is now streaming on Netflix.

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