Miley Cyrus opens up about father Billy Ray Cyrus' struggle with sobriety and their complex bond

She has been open about her choice to abstain from drugs and alcohol, but earlier this year, her famous brother, musician Trace Cyrus, who is sober himself, suggested that Billy Ray was perhaps not making that same choice.

Now, Miley is sharing some details about what Billy Ray has been going through.

When asked if she's ever talked to her father about her own experience with sobriety, she said, "I think he has a harder time enjoying being sober. I kind of enjoy it. I think my dad is somebody that's like, 'That would be real nice right now.' He calls it a good bad habit. Things that make you feel good, but you know they're bad."

Miley said they don't "avoid" the subject, "but it's not really something that's our table talk."

"Me and my dad like to talk about music and movies," she explained. "It's not something that's ever been our focus, but it probably should be. We probably should talk about that at some point."

Some viewers were so critical that he issued a statement about his performance the next day, sharing on social media, "I wouldn't have missed the honor of playing this event whether my microphone, guitar and monitors worked or not. I was there because President Donald J. Trump invited me. I had a ball at the Liberty Ball last night, and I've learned through all these years when the producer says, 'You're on,' you go entertain the folks even if the equipment goes to hell."

He added, "I was there for the people, and we had a blast. That's called rock n' roll!!!"

At another point in the letter, he wrote, "I love you Dad. We haven't talked in a while but I'm over a year and half clean from alcohol. Guess what? I feel amazing. I don't know what you're struggling with exactly but I think I have a pretty good idea & I'd love to help you if you would open up and receive the help."

In her new interview, Miley said that she has "a lot of grace" for Billy Ray.

"That has added a level of complexity within my family, for sure," she admitted. "I think it would be hard for anybody with a dream to see somebody else achieving theirs in a way that you see for yourself. But I do think love conquered all. He can still find the pride in me. But it would be delusional for any of us to think that that doesn't add a level of complication to our already complicated dynamic."

When asked if she felt "guilty," she said that therapy has helped her get rid of "my guilt and shame."

"I had a hard time accepting that I could suffer, because of how blessed I am," Miley said. "I don't think that's actually played too much of a part between me and my dad, though, because I have to have the faith that, like any dad, he would want this for me."

She admitted recently to having had "challenges" with Billy Ray over the years, but she told the New York Times that they're no longer estranged.

She continued, "But now that my mom is so in love with my stepdad, who I completely adore, and now that my dad, I see him finding happiness, too - I can love them both as individuals instead of as a parental pairing. I'm being an adult about it."

Miley said that it was "hard" at first, "because the little kid in you reacts before the adult in you can go, 'Yes, that's your dad, but that's just another person that deserves to be in his bliss and to be happy.'"

She added, "My child self has caught up."