Billy Ray Cyrus says he 'almost died' during sepsis battle

Billy Ray Cyrus described a near‑fatal sepsis fight in 2024, saying, "I got really sick and almost died." He recalled being sent home from the hospital and staying with his rescue dog Tommy Jack while his "body was blowing up [with] a toxicity of some type." He said he visited a "prayer rock" multiple times a day and felt a last‑minute answer: "If it had erupted, I would have died...

In the last moment, I had a prayer answered." Doctors prepared a final surgery, but when he arrived they told him, "It's gone. It's healed," a recovery he called a miracle. The illness left him with vocal paralysis and he "couldn't sing or talk." Cyrus credited Noah Cyrus' 2025 track "Don't Put It All On Me," written by his son Braison, with helping him through recovery; he listened to it every day for "a little bit of peace" and said the song "saved me." He also recalled his grandson Bear, then 5, telling him, "Try again," which encouraged him to try again at life and music.

His forthcoming album, "The Hill," is set for release on June 16.

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