In the “nobody saw this coming” category of 2025 celebrity news, country music veteran Billy Ray Cyrus and British actress Elizabeth Hurley have officially coupled up, leaving fans and fellow celebrities equally stunned. Their Easter Sunday Instagram reveal—featuring Cyrus in lime green bunny ears planting a kiss on Hurley’s cheek—sent social media into a collective double-take faster than you can say “achy breaky heart.”
Holiday Movie Magic Turned Real
The seeds of this unexpected pairing were planted back in 2022 on the sun-drenched shores of Nevis, where the duo filmed the holiday movie “Christmas in Paradise” alongside Kelsey Grammer. Much like those Hallmark movies where business rivals inevitably fall for each other while saving the small-town bakery, their on-set chemistry apparently simmered behind the scenes.
“They had a great time shooting that movie together—it was beautiful and relaxed, and it really stuck with him,” a source close to Cyrus told People magazine. The professional relationship took a personal turn recently, with the same source confirming they’ve “been seeing each other romantically for a little bit.”
Digital Breadcrumbs
Sharp-eyed fans might have caught the relationship breadcrumbs dropped earlier this month. On April 9, Hurley posted a Maldives vacation video soundtracked to Cyrus’s 1993 hit “She’s Not Cryin’ Anymore”—the celebrity equivalent of writing someone’s name in your notebook with hearts around it.
Their Easter announcement photo, with its wooden fence backdrop and Hurley’s strategic cowboy hat, reads like a carefully choreographed debut. And honestly? That staging deserves respect. In an age where celebrities leak relationship news through “accidental” paparazzi shots outside Nobu, there’s something refreshingly deliberate about their approach.
Complicated Backstories
Both bring enough relationship history to fill a Netflix limited series. Cyrus’s romantic resume includes three marriages—most recently to Australian singer Firerose, which ended in a messy divorce just eight months ago after barely eight months of marriage. His 28-year marriage to Tish Cyrus, with whom he shares five children including pop star Miley, ended in 2022.
Hurley’s romantic history features her 13-year relationship with Hugh Grant (which she once described by saying his friends called him “Grumplestiltskin”), a four-year marriage to businessman Arun Nayar, and a relationship with Australian cricket star Shane Warne. She shares 23-year-old son Damian with late businessman Steve Bing.
The Internet Reacts
“Wait….what?” commented actress Melissa Gilbert on their announcement post, channeling the collective confusion of millions. The reaction perfectly encapsulates the mood of a public struggling to imagine the tattooed country star with the perpetually glamorous British model and actress.
Despite the raised eyebrows, there’s already family approval in the mix. Damian Hurley responded to the post with heart and celebration emojis, suggesting he’s already on board with mom’s new relationship. After directing his mother in the erotic thriller “Strictly Confidential” last year (yes, that happened), perhaps nothing about Liz’s life surprises him anymore.
For a couple that spans different continents, industries, and public personas, the romance represents something refreshingly unpredictable in celebrity culture. Whether this cross-cultural coupling lasts or fizzles remains to be seen, but in a landscape of carefully calculated celebrity relationships, their “nobody would have guessed this” energy feels almost revolutionary.
