Billy Ray Cyrus Says He Mentioned Dolly Parton as He Told Miley He Approved of Her Name-Change

On 31st August, less than a week after her Godmother, Dolly Parton’s death. “Cyrus” has disappeared from Miley Cyrus’ social media, website and new album campaign. She is now simply Miley. Miley herself hasn’t actually explained why.

It could be nothing more than a strategic career decision ahead of a new rollout. After 20 years in the public eye, she is probably one of a very small number of artists who can drop a surname and everybody still knows exactly who you’re talking about.

But given the timing and fairly complicated few years the Cyrus family has had, it was always going to raise another question. Is dropping ‘Cyrus’ about her father, Billy Ray?

Apparently not. He responded swiftly on September 2nd with “Family means more than ever now… I always called my little girl Miley. Just... Miley.” He revealed that he had spoken to Miley the previous day and told her he “felt good” about her using only her first name. Billy Ray called it a “natural progression for an iconic superstar legend” and compared her to some pretty big company. Dolly. Cher. Elvis. Prince.

That support probably means a little more when you look at where their relationship has been.

Billy Ray and Miley’s mother Tish ended their marriage in 2022 after almost 30 years together, and Miley later admitted that she had sided with and taken on her mum’s pain from the separation on herself. Not because Billy Ray did anything, but because of the impact on her mother in a marriage with someone in the music industry.

Which impacted how she viewed him. In any divorce, it’s easy for children to get caught inside the mess of a parent's relationship, rather than having individual relationships with each of them.

As she got older, Miley said she strated seeing her parents as two individual people, rather than simply her mum and dad, something which helped repair her relationship with Billy Ray. Her relationship with her mother remained incredibly close.

Things with her dad were more complicated. Miley acknowledged that the pair had experienced challenges, but by 2025 she said enough time had passed for the family to heal, reconnect and that “bridges” had been built. She later wrote ‘Secrets’ as a peace offering to her father, someone she said she had “lost for a time but always loved”.

So while dropping one of the most famous surnames in country music could easily have looked like another chapter in that fallout, Billy Ray’s response suggests something very different. And the timing is important, because one name in Billy Ray’s star-studded list in his response feels particularly poignant right now - Dolly.

Dolly Parton died on August 25 at the age of 80. Less than a week later, on August 31st, Miley publicly became just Miley. There is nothing to suggest Dolly’s death caused that decision. An album, artwork and rebrand like this would have been planned well before August 25th. But Miley’s representatives since said this new era “continues to honour the profound influence of her godmother, Dolly Parton”, whose impact extended far beyond music throughout Miley’s life and career.

And their relationship really did. Dolly originally came into Miley’s life when she was born, as Billy Ray became friends with Dolly around the time ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ took off.

But the relationship Miley and Dolly eventually built became completely their own. Speaking in 2025, Miley explained that they became particularly close during Hannah Montana, when Dolly appeared as Aunt Dolly.

“There was something just very... divine and kismet,” Miley said, “We’re not blood, but we’re family.”

She described Dolly as someone who had held her like a daughter. Then came perhaps the simplest explanation of what they were to each other. “She chose me, really...We chose each other.”

Which makes the timing of Miley’s latest reinvention hard not to notice. Whether becoming simply ‘Miley’ is a career decision, a quiet nod to Dolly or just incredibly poignant timing, only Miley really knows.

But less than a week after losing a woman the whole world knew simply as Dolly, Miley followed her lead.

And perhaps that is why Billy Ray reaching for Dolly’s name first feels particularly lovely. Billy Ray gave Miley the ‘Cyrus’ name. He was also the person who brought Dolly into her life. But the relationship Miley and Dolly built was unique. She was a Cyrus. But she was Dolly’s too.

She chose Dolly, and she’s chosen to be just Miley.