Tish Cyrus Shares What Could've Helped Her Be a "Better Parent"

Looking back at her parenting journey, Miley Cyrus' mom Tish Cyrus is blunt about her misgivings.

While sharing insight into her first times using marijuana, the 56-year-old shared why she thinks her parenting would have been different if she'd begun using it earlier.

The 56-year-old feels using marijuana makes her a better mom. However, that is something she discovered only a decade ago, when her youngest child was a teenager.

"I didn't start smoking until I was like, 46," Tish said on the Feb. 29 episode of her and daughter Brandi Cyrus' podcast Sorry We're Stoned. "I think I would've been a better parent if I would have smoked then. I do really wish I had smoked then."

Tish, who shares Brandi, 36, Trace Cyrus, 35, Miley, 31, Braison Cyrus, 29, and Noah Cyrus, 24, with ex-husband Billy Ray Cyrus, also explained how she uses weed throughout the day.

"I don't get up and smoke a whole joint," Tish—who tied the knot with Prison Break's Dominic Purcell last year—added, "but I like to get up and take a couple puffs. And then throughout the day, that's what I'll do."

And for Tish, incorporating cannabis into her routine has only helped her. "Everything is better," she said. "My decision making is so much better now that I smoke weed."

She added that for her, weed "has just been the best thing ever."

The episode's guest Wiz Khalifa—who shares son Sebastian, 10, with ex-wife Amber Rose—agreed, noting the positive effect weed's had on his parenting. It definitely gives me a lot of patience," he said. "I'm super chill when it comes to my son."

Tish had told E! News in 2021 that she was initially "so against" marijuana. That all changed after an incident that occurred while accompanying Miley on tour.

"We were going from like, Houston to New Orleans," she recalled, "and I stayed behind to meet up with friends and on the way to New Orleans, our bus caught on fire."

Though everyone inside the bus made it out, the vehicle burned to the ground. And the experience caused Tish to develop sleeping problems, and she turned to the anti-insomnia medication Ambien, which she said she "hated."

And ultimately, Miley—who has also spoken about her marijuana use in the past—suggested her mom try something else.

"That's actually how I started smoking," Tish added. "Miley said, 'Mom, why are you putting a chemical in your body that makes you feel so bad the next day?'"

Check out the most comprehensive guide to Miley's family that you'll ever weed need:

Billy Ray Cyrus married Tish Cyrus (née Leticia Finley) on Dec. 28, 2003.

At the time they already shared 12-month-old daughter Destiny Hope Cyrus—you may know her as Miley Cyrus now—and Tish was pregnant with their son Braison Cyrus, who was born May 9, 1994.

Seven months before Miley was born on Nov. 23, 1992, Billy Ray's ex-girlfriend Kristin Luckey gave birth to their son Christopher Cody Cyrus on April 8.

When the "Achy Breaky Heart" singer married Tish, he adopted her daughter Brandi Cyrus (born May 26, 1987) and son Trace Cyrus (Feb. 24, 1989), whose biological father is their mom's ex-husband Baxter Helson.

Trish and Billy Ray's youngest, daughter Noah Cyrus, was born Jan. 8, 2000.

From 2006 to 2010, Billy Ray played the father of Miley's normal-kid-who-moonlights-as-a-pop-star character in the Disney Channel sitcom Hannah Montana and a 2009 film adaptation.

While the Cyrus family was still based in Nashville, Billy Ray and Miley made the move to L.A. to jumpstart her own entertainment career.

Billy Ray and Tish announced in October 2010 that they were getting divorced, but by the following year were back together.

They filed for divorce again in June 2013 but reconsidered barely a month later, telling E! News at the time that they'd been to couple's counseling and it had done wonders for them.

But before they reconciled, when the news broke that her dad had made the first move in a Nashville court to end his marriage after 19 years, Miley tweeted, "@billyraycyrus since your text and email obviously aren't working would you like to talk like this?"

After a decade of being together off and on, and in the wake of losing their Malibu home in a fire, Miley and her The Last Song co-star Liam Hemsworth married in December 2018.

The decision came "from a place of trauma and just trying to rebuild as quickly as we could," Miley recalled on her "Used to Be Young" TikTok series.

But Liam filed for divorce in August 2019 and they finalized the paperwork in January 2020.

"It's honestly very simple," a source told E! at the time. "They fell in love when they were young and they are just different people now."

Tish and Billy Ray became grandparents in 2021 when their son Braison and his wife Stella welcomed son Bear Chance Cyrus on June 8. 

Tish filed for divorce fo a third time in April 2022, and this time it stuck.

Moreover, her petition citing "irreconcilable differences" noted that she and her husband of almost 30 years hadn't lived together since February 2020. 

"It is after 30 years, five amazing children and a lifetime of memories, we have decided to go our separate ways—not with sadness, but with love in our hearts," Tish and Billy Ray told People in a statement. "We have grown up together, raised a family we can be so proud of, and it is now time to create our own paths."

The exes noted that they hadn't come to the decision to split up for good "lightly or quickly," adding, "We will always be family and look forward to a continued and loving shared experience as friends and parents."

Billy Ray quietly got engaged to Australian singer Firerose, who's 27 years his junior, in August 2022 but waited to confirm the news until that November.

"Growing up in Australia, my love of music was predominant over everything," Firerose told People. "I've known his music since forever."

What started as a friendship turned into more during the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"All of the sudden, the life that I've always known as a touring artist didn't exist anymore," Billy Ray said. "A moment of so much change. And at the same time, Firerose, who had been such a light of positivity, such a best friend. And then when we began sharing the music, it just evolved more into, as musical soulmates, to soulmates, happy, pure love that to me, I didn't know could exist."

Around the time her ex-husband confirmed his engagment in November 2022, Tish went Instagram-official with Prison Break actor Dominic Purcell.

They got engaged in April 2023 and tied the knot that August in Malibu at sunset with Miley, Trace and Brandi all standing by their mom's side.

"Life is unpredictable & always full of changes," Trace captioned a photo of himself and two of his sibling with the bride. "I think the most important thing to do is cherish the past, look forward to the future, & always be happy in the present moment because that’s really all we have."

"To see my mom this happy and in love is very emotional for me," Miley told Vogue last summer ahead of her mom's wedding. "Dom and my mom share the sweetest, most genuine love. It's almost like it's for the first time, which is so fitting for my mom who is such a young soul."

As for her dad's next chapter, however, a source close to Miley told E! News in October 2022 that she wasn't in love with it and didn't have a relationship with her future stepmom.

"The divorce between her parents put a strain on her relationship with her dad and it's been hard to connect with him in the last year," the source said. "She hopes they can eventually work on their relationship."

Billy Ray told People that November, however, that his family had "no hard feelings" about his engagement.

"Everybody's turning the page," he said. "It's been a lot, but everyone knew that it was time for a change."

He and Firerose got married on Oct. 10, 2023, calling it the "beautiful, joyous day that our two souls united as one in holy matrimony."

Whatever rift opened up between Miley and her dad apparently hadn't been repaired by the night of the 2024 Grammys on Feb. 4.

Tish and Brandi were there, as was Miley's boyfriend Maxx Morando, and they all got shout-outs when the "Flowers" singer won Record of the Year.

As Miley concluded her speech, "I don’t think I forgot anyone."