Disney Channel fans: Buckle up.
new book, Disney High: The Untold Story of the Rise and Fall of Disney Channel’s Tween Empire by Ashley Spencer, reveals the bickering, arguments and conflicts on set that came with what the author calls “the pressure cooker of perfection” for the stars he launched, including Hilary Duff, Raven-Symoné, Zac Efron, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, the Jonas brothers, Demi Lovato and Zendaya.
Read all about Hannah Montana’s early filming family drama below in an exclusive excerpt shared with PEOPLE.
‘Disney High: The Untold Story of the Rise and Fall of Disney Channel’s Tween Empire’ by Ashley Spencer.
Press of St. Martin
When Miley joined Hannah, so did the extended Cyrus clan, whom Miley described as “true Beverly Hillbillies.” Tish and Billy Ray first met in a nightclub in 1991 and married a year after Miley was born. They settled on a large farm in Franklin, Tenn., south of Nashville. There they raised their large, blended family, consisting of Miley, her younger siblings, Braison and Noah, and Tisha’s two children from a previous relationship, Trace and Brandi, who were legally adopted by Billy Ray. (Billy Ray also has a son named Christopher, born seven months before Miley, with another woman).
Billy Ray Cyrus and Tish Cyrus’ Relationship: A Look Back
Because Hannah the sound stage was actually two stages joined into one, Billy Ray and Miley took up the entire suite which included their separate dressing rooms, sitting area and kitchen. Tisha’s mom, Miley’s “Mammie,” served as Miley’s on-set guardian and ran the MileyWorld fan club from the shared kitchen, where she sorted through mountains of fan mail and playfully scolded her granddaughter while running with “Oh, Miley”! You are crazy!” Other times she would ask Miley out if she felt her behavior was getting too wild.
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Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton in 2019.
Kevin Mazur/Getty
“If Miley was a brat, her grandma just wouldn’t want it,” Jason Earles said. “There was no room for him to be a bad person.”
And there was Miley’s godmother, Dolly Parton. Billy Ray performed for Parton in several concerts in the early ’90s and appeared in her music video “Romeo” as Parton’s strap-on toy. They developed a close relationship, and when Miley was born, Parton told him, “She has to be my fairy godmother.” While working on Season 2, the Cyruses warned showrunners that Parton would be open to appearing on the show. Peterman invited her and they arranged a guest role for her to play Miley Stewart’s Aunt Dolly.
‘Hannah Montana’ Jason Earles on Mentoring the Next Generation of Disney Stars: ‘She’s Wild’
“Okay, that all sounds good,” Parton told him. “I’ll be there.” “Fantastic!” Peterman replied. “Do you need anything when you come?”
“My dear,” she said, “all I need is a toilet and a place to hang my wig.”
The relationship Billy Ray and Miley developed during her childhood growing up on the road was more like that of two friends than parent and child. Tish, who also served as Miley’s manager, was the one who had to discipline and put her foot down when either of them crossed the line. When episode 2 season Hannah included a fantastic Cinderella-inspired sequence in which Robbie Ray rushes down the stairs calling Miley Stewart a “useless freelancer” and yelling at her to clean house, Billy Ray instead walks in with his quiet drawl, politely asking Miley to do as he asks.
The producers called Cut and pulled Billy Ray aside.
“You have to yell at her,” they told him.
“I never yelled at Miley,” he said. “I’m afraid I’ll scare her.” In the balance of power, “Billy was the kid and Miley was the adult a lot of the time,” [writer Douglas] Lieblein said. “She never, ever showed up late or unprepared. And we are talking about a 13 or 14 or 15 year old girl. Billy, on the other hand, would often just be lost. We’d say, ‘Where’s Billy Ray?’ He was supposed to be on set, and then we’d call him and he’d be, like, in Vegas.”
[Writer and producer] Poryes agreed: “I always say Billy was the biggest baby on set. He was my biggest problem, but he’s not big problem.”
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Miley and Billy Ray Cyus at the premiere of ‘Hannah Montana: The Movie’ in 2009.
Rex USA/Shutterstock
Those who worked on the series described Billy Ray as a gentle, gentle man who generously shared his time and emotions with the other actors. Jason Earles lived an hour and a half away from the studio during the first season, so Billy Ray offered to let him stay with the Cyruses whenever he wanted and called him “Jason Ray Cyrus”. Other times, Billy Ray would wander around the set, talking to other actors when he should have been working.
But it was clear to everyone that Billy Ray did not like to work Hannah Montana. Playing second fiddle to a children’s comedy wasn’t very creatively fulfilling. He did it for Miley. “Billy Ray Cyrus shouldn’t have been there, and he didn’t want to be there,” said Frances Callier, who played Hannah’s bodyguard, Roxy. “Think about it: you don’t need money. You don’t have to get up at six in the morning every day. But you will do it for your child. I thought it was wonderful.”
Tish Cyrus talked Billy Ray Cyrus into playing Miley’s father Hannah Montana So their ‘family could be together’
However, as time went on, Miley’s success seemed to weigh on Billy Ray. Her superstardom served as a constant reminder of the ways in which his star had fallen. “I’ve always been known as Billy Ray Cyrus’ daughter,” Miley said The New York Times 2006. “Now They’re Saying My Name.”
It was a classic Hollywood star-turning story, unfolding through a father and daughter rather than a couple. “Billy lived A star is bornLieblein said. “He was the biggest star in his world of country music for a very long time. His little girl would come on stage with him, which would be a little treat for the audience. A hundred thousand people were there screaming, ‘Billy!’ Then, think Oh, me‘I’m going to do this little show on the Disney Channel and help launch her career. By the end of the first season, she had changed the way she sold concert tickets in America, and he failed to sell out 6,500 seats at Primm, Nevada. When that happened, we said, ‘We all know how this ends, right?'”
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Miley Cyrus, Billy Ray Cyrus and Tish Cyrus pose while visiting backstage at the “Mamma Mia!” on Broadway in 2007.
Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic
Between Hannah scene, Billy Ray would retreat to his dressing room, where the crew said he had a “creative moment,” as they suspected he was high on alcohol and weed. “We would always joke about it. Billy Ray would joke about that. Miley was joking about it,” Lieblein said. “But I never saw him visibly drunk. I’ve never seen him visibly tall. I will say it would be impossible to tell the difference.”
Others said that Billy Ray’s habits were a problem that hindered his work. “He would come on set, let’s say unprepared and unfocused, and we all knew what was going on,” Poryes said. “We just couldn’t do anything about it, no matter how hard we tried. We had a show to make.”
By season four, Billy Ray was miserable. “It got to the point where Billy said, ‘She’s a show. You don’t need me anymore. You can write me off,’ Peterman said.
Added Poryes, “At heart, he’s a loving guy and a very devoted father. He embarked on something that turned out to be much more than he thought. If it was Billy’s choice, he probably would have left the show. He was with Miley and he lasted 101 episodes for Miley.”
‘Hannah Montana’ Cast: Where Are They Now?
In 2010, Billy Ray filed for divorce from Tish. And when Hannah Montana Wrapped up forever, he immediately moved back to Tennessee while the rest of the family resumed life in LA A month after the finale Hannah aired episode, he gave a melancholy interview GQ magazine, lamenting the ways in which Hannah ruined his life, Satan attacking his family and how he lost control of his daughter, who was now 18 and, in his opinion, surrounded by capable “handlers”.
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“I’ll tell you right now – the bloody show destroyed my family,” he said, adding that he wished the show had never happened. “I’d take it back in a second. It would be fantastic if my family was here and everyone was well, safe and sound, happy and normal. Hell yes. I would delete everything in a second if I could.”
On HannahOn the 15th anniversary in 2021, Miley expressed the opposite opinion. She sent floral arrangements to many of those involved in the series and wrote a letter to her former alter ego, writing in a two-page handwritten note that “it was an honor to breathe life into you for those six years.” She ended with: “Not a day goes by that I forget where I came from. A building in Burbank, California, with a room full of people who have the power to fulfill my destiny. And that’s what they did. They gave me you. The greatest gift a girl could ask for. I love you, Hannah Montana.”
Excerpted from DISNEY HIGH: The Untold Story of the Rise and Fall of Disney Channel’s Tween Empire by Ashley Spencer © 2024 by and reprinted with permission from St. Martin’s Press.
Disney High: The Untold Story of the Rise and Fall of Disney Channel’s Tween Empire by Ashley Spencer is out on September 24th and is available for pre-order now, wherever books are sold.
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Source: HIS Education