Billy Ray Cyrus’ Australian wife Firerose has opened up about her bitter family rift and what caused her to become estranged from her parents.
The singer’s Sydney-based parents revealed to Daily Mail Australia how they lost contact with their daughter after she moved overseas to reinvent herself as Firerose.
Now, the 37-year-old country music singer, whose real name is Johanna Rosie Hodges, has come forward to claim there is ‘a reason’ she fell out with her mother and father.
‘There’s a reason Firerose has been estranged from her biological parents for many years,’ a representative said.
‘She has always considered her aunt her real mother, someone she adores and who has cared for her through all of life’s ups and downs.’
The singer grew up the middle child of three daughters in a suburban Jewish family home in Sydney’s wealthy northern suburbs.
She once bragged she came from ‘a family of symphony musicians’. Her mother Debbie was a professional violinist and her father Stephen is a retired doctor.
Last week, her parents said they were ‘essentially estranged’ from their daughter.
Country music singer Firerose (pictured with husband Billy Ray Cyrus) has opened up about her estrangement from her parents
Firerose (second left) is the middle child of three daughters to Debbie and Stephen Scholem
‘We have nothing to hide… but we’ve had to ask ourselves whether we want to get involved,’ her mother told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I think of Johanna as a bird that flew away. I often think of her when I’m on the verandah feeding the lorikeets.’
Former pals revealed Firerose had a reputation as a party girl when she was growing up as a teenage student at Sydney’s Newtown High School of the Performing Arts.
‘Firerose was always an issue for the family, a real wild child, partying all the time,’ one family friend told Daily Mail Australia
The news comes days after her parents lifted the lid on their daughter’s first marriage.
The country music singer wed struggling actor David Schoen Hodges years ago after she swapped Australia for a new life in the US, long before she met Cyrus, 62.
But even her own parents didn’t go to the wedding ceremony.
Firerose’s mother Debbie Scholem told Daily Mail Australia: ‘We have nothing to hide but we’ve had to ask ourselves whether we want to get involved.’
Father Stephen Scholem was this week seen pushing his grandchild, Firerose’s niece, in a stroller near his home in Sydney’s north
Firerose and Hodges are believed to have first met in Los Angeles, when she set up home in America as she tried to establish herself as an actress before moving into music.
The pair later split up, although they still follow each other on social media. He is now remarried with a child, and boasts an extensive list of minor film roles.
After she became Firerose, she released a series of flop singles before Billy Ray Cyrus took her under his wing in 2021 to release her track, New Day.
At the time, she described him as her ‘long-time pal and mentor’ but the relationship blossomed and soon became romantic until the couple eventually wed last October.
But her second marriage lasted just seven months and Cyrus filed for divorce in May after he exploded with anger when he found out about her first marriage.
Shocking new audio of Cyrus lashing out at Firerose was revealed this week where he is heard calling her a ‘selfish f***ing b***h’ and a ‘f***ing idiot’.
Daily Mail Australia played the harrowing exchange to her parents who admitted they knew nothing of her life with Cyrus.
The couple say they’ve only learnt about her arrest, her US citizenship granted last week and her apparent new-found Christian beliefs through media reports.
‘We don’t know about her life in Tennessee – we don’t know about her relationship with Billy Ray,’ Ms Scholem revealed.
‘The fights between the pair sound pretty distressing from both sides.’
But she added: ‘I imagine there was love between them at some point – why else would they have married?’
Firerose’s first husband was referenced by Cyrus in a recent Instagram post after the audio of his explosive exchange with his former wife was made public.
‘As every day went by, I started realising something was wrong. And that’s before I knew she was a fraud,’ he wrote.
‘I just knew something wasn’t right. That was before I knew she was David Hodge’s ex-wife. That’s before I knew her parents last name.
‘I had no idea she was arrested for felony residential burglary.’
He added: ‘Everything I thought I knew about her was a lie.
‘See you in court.’
Miley Cyrus gave a subtle hint about whose side she is on while her parents, Tish Cyrus and Billy Ray Cyrus feud
Both singers have made accusations against one another that involve fraud, abuse, and retaliation for a double mastectomy after Cyrus filed for divorce last May.
In return, Firerose alleges Cyrus subjected her to ‘extreme verbal, emotional and psychological abuse’ during their brief marriage.
The shocking audio of Cyrus’s tirade also included a rant at pop star daughter Miley Cyrus, branding her and his former wife and Miley’s mother as a ‘skank’ and ‘liar’.
Hours later, Miley shared a photo of herself embracing her mother Tish, 57, at a recent Gucci party in Los Angeles, as an apparent show of support.
The latest row comes after a judge granted a motion preventing Firerose from using Cyrus’s credit cards after he accused her of making ‘unauthorised charges.’
Last week she officially become a US citizen after living in the country for almost two decades and appeared delighted with her new status.
‘This amazing country’s been my home for 17 years. I couldn’t be more thrilled to become a US citizen!’ she posted on social media.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk