Amid Billy Ray Cyrus‘ divorce drama with Firerose, Cheryl Burke is now coming forward with a story about his time on Dancing with the Stars!
Back in 2007, the country singer competed on the fourth season of the show with professional dance partner Karina Smirnoff. At the time, he was in the spotlight again while portraying the lovable Robby Ray Stewart on Hannah Montana, which also starred his daughter Miley Cyrus. But it turns out what he portrayed on screen wasn’t always how he acted in real life — at least, based on what Cheryl once witnessed on set!
On an episode of her podcast Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans late last month, the ballroom dancer claimed she saw Billy Ray “physically hurt” the stage manager on DWTS. Whoa!!! She recalled to her guest Jill Escoto at the time:
“I love Billy Ray. He was always so nice to me. But I have to tell you the story. We have dress rehearsal right before we go live, about two hours prior to the show, and we do this as if it’s the real thing, except it’s like an R-rated version because [host] Tom Bergeron would always just talk s**t and it was so funny.”
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While the cast would joke around and have a good time during the rehearsal, they also “took their dancing very seriously.” As Cheryl pointed out, the director had to get the lighting squared away so they “still had to get on our marks.” Toward the end of the dress rehearsal, a stage manager asked Billy Ray to “get on his mark,” so that “the director could light him.” However, the Achy Breaky Heart singer completely ignored him. The stage manager then asked him again to get on the mark several more times. But what does Billy Ray do instead of listening? The actor allegedly “donkey kicked him”! Over a simple request! Cheryl claimed:
“[The stage manager had] been asking like three, four times by then, and Billy Ray kicked him out of nowhere. Straight up donkey kicked him.”
OMG!
The 40-year-old television personality insisted the stage manager was “being so nice” before the assault. But afterward, the whole set turned into chaos:
“Don’t kick him, let alone, don’t kick anyone. It turned into a hot mess. His time was up after that. It was not OK. It came out of nowhere.”
Jeez. That is not cool to do to a crew member — or anyone! When Jill questioned if the kick was “an accident,” Cheryl shared that it was clear to everyone around that it wasn’t. She did mention that he was possibly “nervous” about the show since he was “getting crap from the judges.” But c’mon, there is no reason to kick someone for doing their job and asking you to do your job!
Burke said:
“No, it was very much intentional. Maybe he was nervous, but you can’t physically hurt somebody. You need to do your job. We’re not doing this for free either, by the way.”
This is not a good look for Billy Ray, especially amid the abuse allegations against him! Last month, Firerose claimed she dealt with “extreme verbal, emotional, and psychological abuse” during their short-lived marriage. The Ready, Set, Don’t Go artist denied the allegations, claiming he was the one who physically, verbally, and emotionally abused in the relationship. However, audio leaked backing the claims made by Firerose!
In the clip, Billy Ray belittled her and called her “f**king selfish bitch,” a “f**king idiot,” and more. Over what? He was upset she supposedly didn’t want him to perform with Nicki Minaj at one of the rapper’s concerts. In the leaked clip, he also said Miley was a “skank,” and ex-wife Tish Cyrus was a “whore.”
Following the leak, Billy confirmed that he had indeed said all those cruel words to Firerose. He attempted to justify his actions by saying he was at his “wit’s end” and suspicious about her at that point. But at the end of the day, that is no excuse to tear someone apart like that!
Now, we wonder if Billy Ray will respond and try to justify what allegedly happened on DWTS! Reactions to the claim from Cheryl? Sound OFF in the comments below!
[Image via Firerose/Instagram,ABC/YouTube, WENN/Avalon]
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