‘They’ve butted heads’: Liz Hurley is ‘distant’ from son Damian and spending all her time with Billy Ray Cyrus, as insiders tell ALISON BOSHOFF how model has moved out of his mother’s home

No mother and son have ever been closer than Damian Hurley and his model mother Liz.

Their lives have always been remarkably intertwined, with Damian taking hundreds of bikini photos to support his mother’s swimsuit business and even casting her in 2024’s Strictly Confidential, his directorial debut.

However, two sources close to them say that there is now ‘some distance’ between the two.

This is partly because Damian moved into his own home in Earl’s Court, west London, earlier this year; The move comes just after Liz, 60, fell head over heels for American singer Billy Ray Cyrus.

He now spends a lot of time with Billy Ray, including on his farm in Tennessee. “Liz is in the honeymoon phase,” someone says. ‘And maybe Damian would prefer to see her alone.’

He and Damian are still ‘best friends’ but I hear they’re not on the same level socially anymore.

‘They now set out without each other and Damian begins to make his own way. I even heard that they clash with each other from time to time,” says a source.

Now 23 years old and a successful model in his own right, it’s definitely time for ‘Master Damian’ to cut his apron strings a bit.

This week, Hurley was posing in an orange bikini on Instagram and wishing her followers a “Happy Tuesday,” and Damian was the first to comment with five red hearts.

A friend says: ‘Damian has never doubted his genius or his beauty, thanks to the way he was raised by Liz. From him he learned a belief that he was the best of the best and deserved only the best.’

The friend adds that the person Damian sees as his father is Arun Nayar, Liz’s ex-husband. Her biological father was the late heir and film producer Steve Bing, who brutally abandoned Liz when she became pregnant. He later had to take a DNA test before accepting Bing’s paternity.

‘Damian is still very close to Arun’ I was told.

Even though he’s forging his own path, Damian is still his mother’s biggest cheerleader. This week, Hurley was posing in an orange bikini on Instagram and wishing her followers a “Happy Tuesday,” and Damian was the first to comment with five red hearts.

In an interview last month, Hurley said he hoped to make another movie with his son. ‘Damian and I are developing a movie, as well as piloting a young adult TV show,’ he said. ‘I love working with my child. He works incredibly hard. He’s always writing. I have a script [of his] ‘I’ll be able to read it on my iPad for tomorrow’s flight.’

She added that she and Billy Ray, the Hairy Achy Breaky Heart singer and father of pop star Miley Cyrus, have been together for about a year. ‘Billy Ray is amazing. ‘We are very happy, very happy.’

But many of Hurley’s friends are still stunned by her romance with Billy Ray. The duo met on a movie set in 2021 and reunited while they were in the process of divorcing.

They apparently spent the summer together at his home in Herefordshire.

“He loves England,” Hurley said. ‘The weather is nicer here in the summer than in Tennessee. He lives 40 minutes outside of Nashville. Very good. The funny thing is, it’s actually very similar to England. ‘It’s probably the equivalent of Surrey.’

He added: ‘Damian and Miley met. Billy’s kids are great and Billy spent a lot of time with Damian. Everybody loves everybody, it’s so nice.’

Hurley got her romance off the ground on Easter after meeting Billy Ray Cyrus on a movie set in 2021. But many of his friends are said to be stunned by the romance

Billy Ray Cyrus and the Hurleys at the National Television Awards in London last month

Hurley kicked off the romance on a high note this Easter with a post featuring the two in each other’s arms.

Their 2021 film together, Christmas in Paradise, was criticized by almost everyone who saw it, but there are rumors that a ‘spark’ occurred while filming in the Caribbean, despite the fact that he has since divorced one partner, married and divorced another.

Sources in America say Billy Ray’s first wife, Tish, 58, who he was married to at the time, ‘had thoughts and suspicions’ that her husband was having an affair with Liz, but said: ‘Billy Ray flatly denied it.’

The source said: ‘They became very close on set and seeing them now together was a slap in the face for Tish, but it also confirms that she was probably right in her suspicions. They never stopped keeping in touch.’

Tish and Billy Ray officially divorced in April 2022 after nearly three decades of marriage. They hadn’t lived together since 2020, so they broke up while she and Hurley were making Christmas in Paradise, she said in court documents.

The couple had daughters Miley (32), Noah (25) and son Braison (31). Billy Ray also adopted Tish’s daughter Brandi, 38, and son Trace, 36, from her previous marriage.

Tish said that both parties in the marriage talked about ‘disrespect’ and that they had previously filed for divorce in 2010 and 2013, but had reconciled. In 2022, they announced their divorce with a joint statement: ‘After 30 years, five wonderful children and a lifetime of memories, we have decided to go our separate ways, not with sadness, but with love in our hearts.

Damian moved into his own home in Earl’s Court, west London, earlier this year; This move took place right after Hurley and Cyrus began their relationship.

‘We grew up together, built a family we can be proud of, and now it’s time to forge our own paths.’

Billy Ray found his way to another woman: 37-year-old singer Firerose, real name Johanna Rose Hodges. She first met him in 2007, when she was 22, on the set of the teen hit movie Hannah Montana. They started dating in May 2022 and got married in October 2023, then broke up in May 2024.

It was a bitter and public breakup in which each accused the other of verbal and emotional abuse. Court documents show Firerose walked away with $0 — literally nothing.

Meanwhile, Billy Ray had become estranged from his children, and his adopted son Trace, a recovering alcoholic, said he was worryingly absent from any of their lives.

Two days after a chaotic performance at Trump’s inauguration that featured numerous technical issues, Trace posted a message on Instagram asking her father to get help.

She wrote: ‘Unfortunately I can now barely recognize the man I so desperately wanted to be just like. It seems that this world has defeated you and it has become obvious to everyone except you.

‘You may be mad at me for sharing this, but I could really care less at this point. ‘Me and the girls have been really worried about you for years but you pushed us all away.’

He continued: ‘You’re not healthy, dad, and everyone notices it. As I write this with tears in my eyes, I hope you understand that this message only comes from a place of love, but also fear that the world may lose you very soon. I don’t know exactly what you’re dealing with, but I think I’ve got a pretty good idea and I’d love to help you if you’d open up and get some help.’

A Cyrus family source said that, contrary to Trace’s post, the singer was ‘completely sober’ during the performance, adding: ‘Billy Ray is healthy and happy and does not use any substances. The man doesn’t drink. ‘He doesn’t do drugs.’

Shortly after, Billy Ray called for ‘healing to begin’ for his family. He wrote: ‘We are calling on Sunday. Thank you for the California Rain. I pray for those who are heartbroken and in their pain. I pray for my family. For my children… my sons, my daughters… and their mothers. Let this moment be the beginning of healing for all of us. ‘The past does not equal the future.’

He has since reconciled with his daughter Miley and appears to be trying to start a blended family with Hurley; Her relationship with Damian – despite the ‘some distance’ – certainly makes for the happiest parent-child plot.