EXCLUSIVE How Liz Hurley's son Damien played a key role in her new romance with Billy Ray Cyrus - as friends reveal the VERY surprising dynamic that's led to love: ALISON BOSHOFF

Daily Mail​

23-04-2025

Well, yee-haw! Liz Hurley, our very own jolly hockey sticks bombshell, has found a cowboy to soothe her heart in the unlikely form of troubled, tattooed singer Billy Ray Cyrus.
He arrives in her life with considerable baggage and a suspiciously ebony beard.
It's the unlikeliest of romances. Of course it is easy to see what attracted Billy Ray, freshly and disastrously divorced, to La Hurley. At 59, she still boasts the sweeping hair, pillowy cleavage and perfectly slicked pout which have been her show-stopping trademarks for more than 25 years.
She and Billy Ray, 63, co-starred in a terrible film, Christmas In Paradise, which was made in 2021 and released in 2022, and although he's since divorced one wife – then married and divorced another – there is talk that there was a 'spark' between them when they were filming in the Caribbean.
That spark has ignited into a full-on love affair, announced via an Instagram post – a photo of him planting an affectionate kiss on Liz's cheek – on Easter Sunday.
But what on earth does Elizabeth, as she insists on being called, see in him?
The answer, I can reveal, is that the Kentucky-born Achy Breaky Heart singer – father of pop icon Miley Cyrus – is a man's man and he makes her, in the words of another country mega-hit, feel like a woman.
It's rather a re-run, then, of her romance with incorrigible larrikin charmer Shane Warne and that got as far as an engagement and the tentative setting of a date before they called it quits in 2013. (Famously, Hurley put cricket icon 'Horny Warnie' on a diet, calmed down his brassy highlights and even had him wearing moisturiser and tinted lip balm. Maybe she is hoping to work a similar magic on her rough-around-the-edges cowboy.)
A friend says Sunday's announcement picture, apparently taken on Liz's 200-acre sheep and alpaca farm in Herefordshire by her son Damian, says it all: 'She likes to get a man on the farm and see how they deal with it, see how much of a man they are. She likes a man to be a man, to be rugged.
'The dynamic is that he kind of worships her, which she really likes. She has been joking that they are like Lady Chatterley and Mellors [the gamekeeper in D.H. Lawrence's novel Lady Chatterley's Lover] but that perhaps they will live happily ever after.'
Liz has been telling friends he is her 'gentleman caller', which is 'very Elizabeth. It's a kind of a coy joke. I don't think its heading for an engagement at this point, but it's serious enough to go public. She enjoys the attention and the flattery and he is in showbusiness so he gets it. He understands her life and he has status.
'And he has money, which is a good thing. I hear he is very generous. Mostly though she loves how he can't stop talking about how wonderful she is.'
There is one very significant figure in all of this: Damian, Liz's 23-year-old son by playboy lover Steve Bing, who infamously dumped her when she was pregnant. I'm told: 'The new relationship is filling a void because Damian has moved out. He's got his own place in Earl's Court [west London] so although they still see each other a lot and are really close, it's not just the two of them at home any more.'
Liz has always had 'walkers' to take her to events and people to flirt with, my source says, but at this point there is space in her life for a full-on romance: 'She is the kind of woman that needs a man and this has come at just the right time for her.'
My source adds: 'She does like the attention and he has been love-bombing her with attention.
'It only really took off about six weeks ago, although he was texting her a lot before then – I guess for a few months before. He has been writing her the most beautiful texts three or four times a day. She says they are almost like poetry. Saying how beautiful and young and sexy she is.'
That of course will be music to Liz's ears. And the wave of global publicity which has followed the Insta-announcement has been similarly lapped up by the actress, whose career has never quite reached the heights of long-time boyfriend Hugh Grant, although she has worked hard to make money – first as a model for Estee Lauder and now via her swimwear company, which she relentlessly promotes. My source says: 'The romance is not just for the cameras but she won't be disappointed that it has put her back on the front pages globally.'
Liz was allegedly downcast by the lukewarm reception received last year by Strictly Confidential, the film that was directed by her son and in which she starred.
'She had hoped it would see her following a Demi Moore path and being reassessed as an actress. She thinks she is as good an actress as Demi and that she looks as good. She is still interested in the spotlight.'
Perhaps it's all the more painful for Liz as former lover Grant, who rose to fame as a handsome romcom leading man, nabbed a Bafta nomination last year for his spine-chilling lead in the film Heretic.
Grant, happily married with children – two with actress Tinglan Hong and three with his now-wife Anna Eberstein – was also the best thing in Paddington 2, in 2020, playing master of disguise Phoenix Buchanan.
He brought the house down with his performance of Sondheim's Rain On The Roof, sung over the final credits.
Liz and Hugh are still friends long after their romance ended.
Speaking of friends, as you might expect, her choice of a new beau – who played at US President Donald Trump's inauguration – has been met with an intake of breath in her sophisticated social circle. 'People cannot believe it,' I'm told.
However, Billy Ray has Damian's approval. As a child, he loved watching him play the father of Hannah Montana, in turn played by his then teenage daughter Miley. And Hurley wouldn't get serious with anyone without Damian's say-so.
Also, her very best friend, Sir Elton John, is determined to be happy for her. This may take some effort as he's been on very friendly terms for a long time with Miley, who has fallen out with her father.
But Elton and Liz have been tight since the Bing days and he is 'the most loyal person on the planet'. In Elton's eyes, I'm told, Liz can do no wrong.
However, there are evidently mixed emotions among Billy Ray's friends and family.
While Damian posted a party emoji and a heart to indicate his approval, not one of Billy Ray's
six children has reacted to the Instagram post.
Sources in America say that the singer's first wife Tish, 57, 'had her thoughts and suspicions' that her husband was getting entangled with Liz while they were making Christmas In Paradise, but said: 'Billy Ray flat out denied it.'
The source tells me: 'They got very close on the set and seeing them together now is a slap in the face for Tish, but it also confirms that she was likely right about her suspicions. They never stopped being in contact.'
Tish and Billy Ray officially divorced in April 2022 after nearly three decades of marriage.
In court papers, Tish said they had not lived together since 2020, so by the time he was making Christmas In Paradise they were separated. The couple had daughters Miley, 32, Noah, 25, and son Braison, 30.
Billy Ray also adopted Tish's daughter Brandi, 37, and son Trace, 36, from a previous marriage. He also has a son, Christopher, 33, by a former girlfriend. Tish has spoken of 'disrespect' on both sides of the marriage. They had previously filed for divorce – but reconciled – in 2011 and 2013.
In 2022, they announced they were finally divorcing with a joint statement: 'After 30 years, five wonderful children and a lifetime of memories, we have decided to go our separate ways, not with sadness, but with love in our hearts. We grew up together, we formed a family that we can be very proud of, and now it's time to create our own paths.'
Billy Ray's path headed straight to another woman – the singer Firerose, real name Johanna Rose Hodges, whom he had first met in 2007 on the set of Hannah Montana. They started dating in May 2022 and were married in October 2023, before splitting in May 2024.
It seems to have been an unhappy whirlwind. After an increasingly bitter and public break-up, during which each accused the other of verbal and emotional abuse, court documents show that Firerose walked away with nothing.
Meanwhile, Billy Ray was becoming estranged from his children. Adopted son Trace – a recovering alcoholic – said Billy Ray was concerningly absent from all their lives.
Two days after a chaotic performance at Trump's inauguration in January, which had numerous technical issues, Trace posted a message on Instagram asking his dad to get help.
He wrote: 'Sadly the man that I wanted so desperately to be just like, I barely recognize now. It seems this world has beaten you down and it's become obvious to everyone but you.
'You may be upset with me for posting this but I really could care less at this point. Me and the girls have been genuinely worried about you for years but you've pushed all of us away.
'You're not healthy Dad & everyone is noticing it. As I write this with tears in my eyes I hope you realize this message only comes from a place of love and also fear that the world may lose you far too soon. I don't know what you're struggling with exactly but I think I have a pretty good idea & I'd love to help you if you would open up and receive the help.'
A Cyrus family source insisted that, contrary to Trace's post, the singer was 'completely sober' during the performance, adding: 'Billy Ray is healthy and happy and doesn't do any substances. The man doesn't drink. He doesn't do drugs.'
Soon after Trace's post appeared, Billy Ray appealed for 'the start of healing' for his family.
He wrote: 'Sunday callin. Giving thanks for the California Rain. Praying for the brokenhearted and their pain. Praying for my family. For my children… sons and daughters... and their mother. Let this moment be the start of healing for us all. The past does not equal the future.'
How both the new lovebirds must be hoping that holds true. Liz has had enough heartache to power a career's worth of country songs. Her romance with Grant disintegrated after his encounter with LA hooker Divine Brown. Bing dumped her when she was pregnant and many years later died by suicide.
Indian tycoon Arun Nayar had seemed the answer to a prayer, but their marriage only lasted for 45 months. Warne proved too much to handle, with rumours of sexting sprees with other women. Liz said his sudden death of a heart attack in 2022 was devastating.
For both Liz and Billy Ray, then, embarking on a new relationship is the triumph of hope over experience. The question is: will their shared romantic optimism be vindicated?