Mark McLeod was arrested in 2009 after showing up on the set of Disney’s ‘The Last Song.’
Larilyn Adair, McLeod’s sister, opens up about his behavior on the ID docuseries Hollywood Demons,.
McLeod followed Miley Cyrus to concerts and book signings, allegedly saying, “Nobody will ever be able to keep us apart.”
The sister of a man accused of stalking Miley Cyrus when she was only 16 is speaking out about his alleged plans for the Disney star, including a marriage proposal.
“I think it’s important to understand how people get into this situation like this,” Larilyn Adair explained on “Stalking the Stars,” the latest episode of Investigation Discovery’s new docuseries Hollywood Demons.
Adair’s brother, Mark McLeod, was arrested in August 2009 when he allegedly followed Cyrus to the set of Disney’s teen romance The Last Song. Officers reported that McLeod, then 53, told them he and the “Party in the U.S.A.” singer “were supposed to be together and we couldn’t stop it.”
He was hit with a misdemeanor charge of criminal attempted stalking. That charge was eventually dropped by prosecutors at trial, and a judge sentenced McLeod — who pleaded guilty to resisting police outside the movie’s set — to two years probation, ordering him to undergo a mental health evaluation as well as keep away from Cyrus and her family.
But Adair claimed her brother’s “infatuation” with the star extended beyond what was reported at the time.
Stephen Morton/Getty
Mark McLeod being arrested on Tybee Island, Ga., in 2009
While living in Appling, Ga. in 2009, Adair said her brother asked if he could have a diamond ring that belonged to their mother. “He says, ‘Well, I’m going to get engaged.’ And I was really kind of excited for him, because he was in his 50s and was finally going to get married,” she recalled.
Adair said McLeod was reluctant to describe his new partner, only referring to her as “Miley.”
“He didn’t want to tell me at all, but I kind of figured it out it was Miley Cyrus,” she continued.
Adair said she discovered that McLeod believed he had been interacting with the Hannah Montana star in a chatroom with other fans.
“I thought that it was just another one of this things that he was excited about, whether it be the UFOs or the mothership. I did not put any red flags, nothing came up in my mind at that point, until he decided that he wanted to marry her,” she said.
Adair said she then learned that McLeod had allegedly followed Cyrus to several concerts, hoping to meet her.
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At one concert where McLeod successfully made eye contact with the 16-year-old, Adair said, “I’m sure he was excited that she did that, so he decides to go and get on the tour bus.” Security was called and McLeod was asked to leave, according to the episode.
Officers who responded to a later incident reported that McLeod told them of the earlier run-in: “‘Our eyes met at her concert and we both knew. I walked straight through security and up to her bus. [Billy Ray Cyrus] was standing there. He shook my hand and said, ‘You’re the good man we’ve been praying for.'”
McLeod then followed Cyrus to a March 2009 book signing in New York City. He told a New York Daily News reporter in an on-camera interview that he’d “kinda been watching everything she does,” that “our eyes met at her concert and we both knew,” and that “nobody will ever be able to keep us apart.”
He was asked to leave by security after presenting flowers to Cyrus and asking for her hand in marriage, according to the docuseries.
Jason Sean Weiss/BFA.com/Shutterstock
Miley Cyrus at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles in 2024
He then followed Cyrus to Georgia’s Tybee Island, where she was to film The Last Song with future husband Liam Hemsworth.
Police arrested McLeod on charges of obstruction and disorderly conduct when he attempted to break past a security perimeter Disney had set up around the set. But he was released from jail the following day due to overcrowding, and he returned to set to find Cyrus, despite being warned to stay away from the island.
“I was at work in the break room at lunch time, all the sudden I see my brother’s picture on the TV screen. ‘I’m like, ‘Whoa, he’s been arrested,'” Adair recalled. “I’ve never known Mark to be violent. I couldn’t believe that he’d gone that far. That was a lot.”
Following the trial in which McLeod’s stalking charge was dropped, Adair said her brother was “diagnosed with delusional disorder, and he didn’t agree with their diagnosis.” Adair instead helped McLeod find his own place in another state. She reported that McLeod has not exhibited any worrying behavior since, and “seems pretty happy by himself.”
McLeod did not respond to requests for comment from the docuseries. Entertainment Weekly has reached out to a representative for Cyrus for comment.
All episodes of Investigation Discovery’s Hollywood Demons are streaming on Max.
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