Welcome to the family! Billy Ray Cyrus has inducted an honorary member into the Cyrus clan — Lil Nas X.
“I have adopted Lil Nas X,” Cyrus, 58, said in an exclusive interview with Us Weekly on Thursday, January 30, while promoting the revamp of Doritos Cool Ranch. “I feel like I would die for that boy, I really would. I love him so much. I’m so proud of him, and I’ll stand with him till the very end.”
The singer added, “Every member of my family loves Lil Nas and he is family.”
Cyrus continued on to praise Lil Nas X, 20, for bringing something new to the table in the music industry.
“Beyond the love is the respect that you’re looking at a man who used his mind, his human mind, to go somewhere and take down some walls in this music business that had never been taken down before,” Cyrus said.
The country singer teamed up with Lil Nas X for the remix of “Old Town Road,” which earned both musicians their first Grammy award for Best Music Video on Sunday, January 26. Later that night, the pair also took home another Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.
Cyrus told Us that he was on board to collaborate on the track right away. “Within 30 seconds of playing it, I just stood up and said, ‘I’m in,'” he recalled.
The duo — along with Sam Elliott — have teamed up yet again to star in a Super Bowl commercial for Doritos Cool Ranch, which features an epic dance battle.
“It’s two extremely charismatic figures, Sam Elliott facing off with Lil Nas X,” Cyrus described the ad. “It’s just a great example of opposites attract. Then sometimes what you think might be opposite, they actually don’t have so much different at all.”
Cyrus also shared the inspiring advice he gave Lil Nas X — who came out as gay in June 2019 — on how to approach going public with his sexuality.
“There was a moment when Lil Nas actually said, ‘I got to do this, and I got to do that,'” Cyrus said. “And I said, ‘Hey, you’re Lil Nas X. You’re your own person. You do what you got to do when you feel you got to do it. But you don’t do anything. You stand still until you know exactly what you’re going to do and how you want to do it.'”
With reporting by Marc Lupo
