Billy Ray Cyrus Reveals He Nearly Died After a 2024 Sepsis Battle

Billy Ray Cyrus is opening up about a terrifying health scare that nearly claimed his life in 2024.

In an emotional new cover story for People, Cyrus recalls becoming so sick that he "almost died." At the time, he was in and out of the hospital and seeking answers.

"As I was trying to stay alive, at times they sent me home from the hospital, and I'd be there with [my dog] Tommy Jack. My body was blowing up and there was a toxicity of some type or whatever," the singer recounts (quote via Us Weekly.) "If it would have erupted, I would have died."

What Happened to Billy Ray Cyrus?

The singer's health battle fell two years after his divorce from his wife Tish Cyrus in 2022.

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His health issues landed him in the hospital, and to hear Cyrus tell it, it sounds like he had multiple surgeries. He says the complications were pretty dire, and calls his recovery a "miracle."

"In the last moment, I had a prayer answered," he continues, saying that he went to a "prayer rock" to kneel every day and talk to God about his health battle. "I was like, 'God, please, I need a miracle. I need a miracle,'" Cyrus recounts.

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Then, when he returned to the hospital for "one last surgery," he got incredible news: "They go, 'Mr. Cyrus, it's gone, you're healed,'" he continues. "Love, hope, music, joy, things that I'd really have forgotten, exactly, maybe, what they felt like, and I go, 'Oh!' Even to dream again."

Why Did Billy Ray Cyrus Lose His Voice After His Health Crisis?

After Cyrus' miracle recovery from his near-fatal bout with sepsis, the singer still had a health challenge to deal with: He was diagnosed with vocal paralysis that same year, he tells People.

Cyrus says he leaned on family as he worked his way through that challenge. Specifically, he describes a moment with his 5-year-old grandson Bear.

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"In this very broken moment of my life, my little grandson Bear looked at me and said, 'Try again.' And up until that moment, he had never spoken to me at all," the singer recalls.

"In that moment I thought, 'He's telling you something.' Is it about love? Music? Somehow, I got to try again at both. So I'm learning to try again."