Miley Cyrus Brought 'the Real Beverly Hillbillies' to "Hannah Montana" Set — Plus Dolly Parton (Exclusive)

09/16/2024 03:00 PM

Billy Ray would "erase it all in a second" if he could, while Miley calls the show "the greatest gift I could ask for" in new Disney book

Disney Channel fans: Buckle up.

A new book, Disney High: The Untold Story of the Rise and Fall of Disney Channel's Tween Empire by Ashley Spencer, unpacks the on-set squabbles, feuds and clashes that came with what the author calls "the pressure cooker of perfection" for the stars it launched, among them Hilary Duff, Raven-Symoné, Zac Efron, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, the Jonas Brothers, Demi Lovato and Zendaya.

Below, in an exclusive excerpt shared with PEOPLE, read all about the family drama on the early set of Hannah Montana.

When Miley joined Hannah, effectively so, too, did the extended Cyrus clan, whom Miley used to describe as "the real Beverly Hillbillies." Tish and Billy Ray first met at a nightclub in 1991 and married a  year after Miley was born. They settled on a sprawling farm in Franklin, Tenn., just south of Nashville. There, they raised their large, blended family, consisting of Miley, her younger siblings, Braison and  Noah, and Tish's two children from a previous relationship, Trace  and Brandi, whom Billy Ray legally adopted. (Billy Ray also has a son  named Christopher, born seven months before Miley, with another  woman). 

Related: Billy Ray Cyrus and Tish Cyrus' Relationship: A Look Back

Because the Hannah soundstage was actually two stages that had been combined into one, Billy Ray and Miley occupied a whole suite that included their separate dressing rooms, a sitting area and a kitchen. Tish's  mom, Miley's "Mammie," served as Miley's on-set guardian and ran the  MileyWorld fan club out of the shared kitchen, where she sorted through  mountains of fan mail and playfully chastised her granddaughter as she ran by with an "Oh, Miley! You're crazy!" Other times, she'd call Miley out if she felt her behavior got too unruly.

"If Miley was being a brat, her  grandma just wouldn't have it," Jason Earles said. "There was no room for  her to be a bad person." 

And then there was Miley's godmother, Dolly Parton. Billy Ray had  opened for Parton at several concerts in the early '90s and appeared in  her "Romeo" music video as Parton's strapping boy toy. They'd developed a close bond, and when Miley was born Parton told him, "She's got  to be my fairy goddaughter." While working on season 2, the Cyruses alerted the showrunners that Parton would be open to appearing on the show. Peterman called her up, and they worked out a guest role for her  playing Miley Stewart's Aunt Dolly. 

Related: 'Hannah Montana' 's Jason Earles on Mentoring the Next Generation of Disney Stars: 'It's Wild'

"Alright, that all sounds fine," Parton told him. "I'll be there." "Fantastic!" Peterman replied. "Is there anything you need when you  get here?" 

"Darlin'," she said, "all I need is a toilet and a place to hang my wig." 

The bond that Billy Ray and Miley had developed during her childhood growing up on the road was more like that of two friends than a 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 a line. When a season 2 episode of Hannah involved a  Cinderella-inspired fantasy sequence in which Robbie Ray charges down the stairs calling Miley Stewart a "useless freeloader" and yelling at her to clean the house, Billy Ray instead entered with his soft drawl,  kindly requesting Miley please do what he asked. 

The producers called cut and pulled Billy Ray aside. 

"You've got to yell at her," they told him. 

"I've never yelled at Miley," he said. "I'm afraid I'm going to scare her." In the balance of power, "Billy was the child, and Miley was the  adult a lot of the time," [writer Douglas] Lieblein said. "She never, ever showed up late or  unprepared. And we're talking about a 13- or 14- or 15-year-old girl. On the other hand, Billy would often just be lost. We'd be  like, 'Where's Billy Ray?' He was supposed to be on set, and then we call  him and he'd be, like, in Vegas." 

[Writer and producer] Poryes agreed, "I always say Billy was the biggest baby on the set. He  was my biggest problem, but he wasn't a big problem." 

Those who worked on the show described Billy Ray as a gentle, tenderhearted man who generously shared his time and emotions with the  other actors. Jason Earles lived an hour-and-a-half commute away from  the studio during the first season, so Billy Ray offered for him to stay  with the Cyruses whenever he'd like and dubbed him "Jason Ray Cyrus."  Other times, Billy Ray would wander around the set, having heart-to hearts with the other actors when he should have been working. 

But it was very clear to everyone involved that Billy Ray didn't enjoy doing Hannah Montana. Playing second fiddle on a kids' sitcom wasn't  exactly creatively fulfilling. He did it for Miley. "Billy Ray Cyrus didn't  need to be there, and he didn't want to be there," said Frances Callier,  who played Hannah's bodyguard, Roxy. "You think about that: You don't  need the money. You don't have to get up at six o'clock in the morning  every day. But you'll do it for your child. I thought that was beautiful." 

Related: Tish Cyrus Urged Billy Ray Cyrus to Play Miley's Dad on Hannah Montana So Their 'Family Could Be Together'

As time went on, however, Miley's success seemed to weigh on Billy  Ray. Her superstardom served as a constant reminder of the ways in  which his own star had fallen. "I have always been known as Billy Ray  Cyrus' daughter," Miley told The New York Times in 2006. "Now, they say my name." 

It was a classic Hollywood story of shifting stardoms, just playing  out through a father and daughter rather than a couple. "Billy lived A  Star Is Born," Lieblein said. "He was the biggest star in his country music world for a very long time. His little girl would come on stage with  him, and she would be this little treat for the audience. One hundred  thousand people were there screaming, 'Billy!' Then, he thinks, Oh, I'm  going to do this little Disney Channel show and help launch her career. By  the end of the first season, she had changed the way tickets were sold  to concerts in America, and he couldn't sell out 6,500 seats at Primm, Nevada. When that happened, we went, 'We all know how this ends,  right?'" 

Between Hannah scenes, Billy Ray would retreat to his dressing  room, where the crew quipped he was having "a creative moment," as  they suspected he imbibed alcohol and weed. "We would always joke about it. Billy Ray would joke about it. Miley made jokes about it," Lieblein said. "But I never saw him visibly drunk. I never saw him visibly high. I will say it would be impossible to tell the difference."

Others said Billy Ray's habits were an issue that interfered with his work. "He would  come on set, let's say unprepared and not focused, and we all knew what was going on," Poryes said. "We just couldn't do anything about it, as  much as we tried. We had a show to do." 

By season 4, Billy Ray was miserable. "It got to the point where Billy was like, 'She's the show. You don't need me anymore. You can write me  out,'" Peterman said. 

Added Poryes, "At his soul, he is a loving guy and a very devoted dad.  He got himself into something that turned out to be way more than he  thought it was. If it was just Billy making the choice, he probably would  have left the show. He was there for Miley, and he stuck it out for 101  episodes for Miley." 

Related: 'Hannah Montana' Cast: Where Are They Now?

In 2010, Billy Ray filed for divorce from Tish. And when Hannah Montana wrapped for good, he promptly moved back to Tennessee, while the rest of the family continued on with their lives in L.A. One  month after the final Hannah episode aired, he gave a melancholy interview to GQ magazine, lamenting the ways in which Hannah had ruined his life, Satan was attacking his family, and how he'd lost control of his  daughter, who was now 18 and, in his view, surrounded by enabling "handlers." 

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"I'll tell you right now — the damn show destroyed my family," he  said, adding that he wished the series had never happened. "I'd take  it back in a second. For my family to be here and just be everybody okay, safe and sound and happy and normal, would have been fantastic.  Heck, yeah. I'd erase it all in a second if I could." 

On Hannah's 15th anniversary in 2021, Miley expressed the opposite sentiment. She sent flower arrangements to many of those involved with the show and penned a letter to her former alter ego, writing in a two-page handwritten memo that "breathing life into you for those six years was an honor." She ended with, "Not a day goes by where I forget where I came from. A building in Burbank, Calif., with a room full of people with the power to fulfill my destiny. And that 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 the author and reprinted by permission of St. Martin's Press.

Disney High: The Untold Story of the Rise and Fall of Disney Channel's Tween Empireby Ashley Spencer is out Sept. 24 and is available now for preorder, wherever books are sold.

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