Billy Ray Cyrus: “Season four [of Hannah Montana] was a disaster”

Billy Ray Cyrus has spoken about his time on Hannah Montana.

Billy Ray, who is the real life father of Miley Cyrus as well as in the show, says he felt that “The business was driving a wedge between [them]”.

In an interview with GQ, Billy Ray said: “I knew I was working for peanuts. I’m not the smartest man in the world, but I know the difference. I went from $12,000 a week to, after four years and the millions that they make, $15,000 a week. Hell, yeah.”

After the first two seasons he felt things changing. “The business was driving a wedge between us,” he says. He tells me that he has never been able to discipline his kids and that he now wonders whether that was a mistake. “How many interviews did I give and say, ‘You know what’s important between me and Miley is I try to be a friend to my kids’? I said it a lot. And sometimes I would even read other parents might say, ‘You don’t need to be a friend, you need to be a parent.'”

“Well, I’m the first guy to say to them right now: You were right. I should have been a better parent. I should have said, ‘Enough is enough—it’s getting dangerous and somebody’s going to get hurt.’ I should have, but I didn’t. Honestly, I didn’t know the ball was out of bounds until it was way up in the stands somewhere.”

In January 2010, shooting for Hannah Montana’s final episodes began. “Season four, it was a disaster,” he says. “I was going to work every single day knowing that my family had fallen apart, but yet I had to sit in front of that camera. I look back and I go, How did I ever make it through that? I must be a better actor than I thought.”