Billy Ray Cyrus Reveals Shocking Sepsis Diagnosis That Nearly Took His Life
on Jun 10, 2026
Billy Ray Cyrus is opening up about one of the scariest moments of his life.
In a recent cover story with PEOPLE, the country star shared details about a frightening health scare that nearly cost him his life in 2024.
This is the first time Cyrus has publicly discussed the ordeal. He revealed that he went through a serious battle with sepsis.
“I got really sick and almost died,” he told the outlet. “And as I was trying to stay alive, at times they sent me home from the hospital, and I’d be there with Tommy Jack [his dog]. But my body was blowing up. And there was a toxicity of some type of whatever. And if it would have erupted, I would have died.”
Cyrus’ health continued to decline, and the chances of a full recovery seemed to grow slimmer. But he says that everything changed when he turned to prayer.
More specifically, he said he would kneel on what he called a “prayer rock” and spend hours each day praying to God.
According to the “Achy Breaky Heart” singer, those prayers were eventually answered, and he experienced nothing short of a miracle.
“I would go put my knee on there and say, ‘God, please. I need a miracle. I need a miracle.’ Tommy Jack would be sitting there with me going, ‘He needs a miracle. He needs a miracle,'” Cyrus recalled.
“Lo and behold, they were going to do one last surgery. I got to the hospital, they said, ‘Mr. Cyrus, get your [clothes]. It’s gone.’ It healed. I had a miracle.”
Cyrus’ health battle wasn’t over just yet, though. The sepsis led to challenges with vocal paralysis. The condition severely affected his voice, making it extremely difficult for him to speak, let alone sing.
However, he knew that he could survive anything with the power of faith.
“I’ve been stricken with a disease and I have no voice. I can’t talk… I start believing, once I had the first miracle, I said, ‘Cyrus, you can’t talk or sing now, but believe you can. Believe you can.'”
And Cyrus wasn’t going through it alone. He had his family by his side, and one special young family member gave him the encouragement he needed to keep believing things would eventually get better.
“In this very broken moment of my life, my little grandson Bear looked at me and said, ‘Try again,’ Cyrus shared. “And up until that moment, he had never spoken to me at all. I wasn’t even sure if he knew my name. In that moment I thought, ‘He’s telling you something.’ Is it about love? Music? Somehow, I got to try again at both. So I’m learning to try again.”
Billy Ray Cyrus’ Second Chance
The 64-year-old hasn’t taken his second chance at life for granted. Instead, Cyrus has used it as an opportunity to make changes and embrace new chapters, like finding love again.
In 2025, he and Elizabeth Hurley went public with their relationship on Easter Sunday through an Instagram post, after having known each other for several years.
Cyrus is also easing back into making music again, and he credits his daughter Noah and their song “Don’t Put It All on Me” for helping him get there. The father-daughter duet came out last year and was one of the first times he had sung again after his health crisis.
A big moment for him came in April, when he joined Noah on stage at Stagecoach Music Festival to perform the song live.
“I just love it so much,” Cyrus says of the song. “I do credit that particular song with saving me. It’s part of it, for sure.”
Now, the Grammy-winning artist is preparing for a full comeback of his own. Cyrus is getting ready to release his new album, The Hill, on June 16.
The project will be his first full-length album in 14 years.
