He is of Welsh, English, Irish, and Cherokee descent on his father's side and his mother's ancestors were from Switzerland.

[citation needed] Billy grew up and went to school in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

[citation needed] They have three grown children and live in Kennesaw, Georgia.

[3] In 1986, he was censured by the Senate Ethics Committee for failing to disclose his finances and poor judgment in his business practices.

[6][7][8] He ran as a Congressional candidate in Georgia in 2016, during which time an investigation by FOX 5 found that he had been convicted of having lied on a 1997 loan application, for which he was incarcerated; had bankruptcies; and had a $782,560 judgment from a civil suit.