Trace Cyrus writes post-inauguration open letter to father Billy Ray: "You're not healthy"

It’s safe to say that this week’s Liberty Inaugural Ball was the first time that most people had seen much of country musician Billy Ray Cyrus in at least a couple of years. Although he’d been clinging to some semblance of mild relevance for a while almost entirely on the strength of the career of his daughter, Miley Cyrus—and then the brief resurgence he got when he latched onto the phenomenon that was Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road”—the elder Cyrus hasn’t released a new album in six years, and the tour date section of his web site is entirely fallow. His performance at the ball might have come off as pretty shocking for many people, then: Standing alone on the stage, Cyrus didn’t perform so much as he mostly mumbled along to the music video of “Old Town Road” playing behind him while listlessly strumming a guitar, and then, after technical problems, attempted to deliver an a capella version of “Achy Breaky Heart” that was somehow even worse. (He referenced Carrie Underwood’s similar struggles, but we’ll say this: 2025 Billy Ray Cyrus is no Carrie Underwood.) It was a performance that genuinely tipped over from “This is pretty bad” into “Hey, this is actively worrisome” territory.

That appears to have also been the conclusion of Cyrus’ son, musician Trace Cyrus, who penned an open letter to his father on Instagram on Thursday in which he wrote that “You’re not healthy Dad & everyone is noticing it.” Acknowledging that the two haven’t spoken in some time, Cyrus said “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,” and referenced his sisters by noting “Me and the girls have been genuinely worried about you for years but you’ve pushed all of us away.” The whole things makes for some pretty clear family drama that’s getting very openly litigated on Instagram, both because Cyrus has apparently cut off less public avenues of contact with his kids, and also because it’s 2025, and that’s apparently just where this happens now. The whole thing has no chance of being the actual biggest bummer to come out of the past week, because, well, the world, but on the micro scale it at least gives current events a run for their very depressing money.