Billy Ray’s Mystery Text From Elizabeth Hurley Sparked Romance

The country singer’s revelations are coming after he and Hurley went Instagram official on Easter Sunday.

Billy confirmed his relationship with Hurley less than a year after he finalized his divorce from singer Firerose in May 2024.

PEOPLE Magazine got an excerpt from Billy’s upcoming interview on Apple Music Country’s “The Ty Bentli Show,” where he dished on his romance with the “Austin Powers” actress.

Billy revealed that they met while filming the 2022 movie, “Christmas in Paradise,” on the Caribbean island of Nevis.

At the time, Billy had just separated from his ex-wife Tish, with whom he shares daughters Miley Cyrus, Noah Cyrus, and Brandi Cyrus, and sons Trace and Braison Cyrus.

Billy shared of his first meeting with Hurley, “We did very few scenes together but the couple times we were in the same scene there was a chemistry there.”

He added, “We just laughed, and it was at a time I wasn’t laughing a lot.”

The “Words by Heart” crooner elaborated on the extraordinary aspects of his first meeting with Hurley.

He said, “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.”

Despite the initial strong connection they felt, Billy and Hurley would go two years without speaking to each other after filming “Christmas in Paradise.”

In addition to their lack of communication, Billy found himself in a difficult phase of life.

However, amid the difficulty, he got a message from someone he wasn’t expecting.

The 63-year-old opened up about his difficult period at the time, noting, “I felt like, ‘Wow, can life get any harder? Can it get any tougher?'”

He continued, “For me, at a certain point it was like, you can’t get knocked down any flatter than laying on your back when life is kicking you.”

However, when Billy least expected it, Hurley showed up. He shared, “And in this moment….a friend reached out.”

Billy disclosed that he didn’t know the number of the person who sent him the text message.”

He also revealed the message’s content, noting that it was along the lines of, “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; you’ve got a friend in your corner.”

The “Achy Breaky Heart” crooner compared the message to a heartfelt note he once received from Johnny Cash back in 1992, “when I was taking a bit of a pounding from the critics.”

He recalled, “Johnny said, ‘Hey, you know, just remember that all things that are good come from almighty God above and that stuff happens, and in your case… the good outweighs the bad. Let ‘em have it. I’m in your corner.'”

Reflecting on the message from Hurley, Billy said it reminded him “a bit of what Johnny had written me at my lowest point.”

He continued, “So, I text back, I go, ‘Who is this?’ And it’s like, ‘Elizabeth Hurley.’ Of all the people to reach out to me in that second that maybe I needed most… this friend who made me laugh.”

Billy Ray Cyrus described Hurley as “a great human being” and shared in-depth details about their bond, noting, “If all we ever were [is] the friends that we are, I would take that. She’s so impressively brilliant. She reminds me a lot of Dolly Parton. She’s a very smart businesswoman.”

He added, “If you can laugh together, you can make it through everything.”