More than a fling. Kaitlynn Carter shared personal details about her relationship with Miley Cyrus for the first time.
“This past July, I went on vacation with a female friend; the next thing I knew, I was in love with her,” the 31-year-old blogger began in a personal essay for Elle on Monday, November 4. “It wasn’t quite that simple, of course. But it also wasn’t very complicated, either. Until that trip, it had never crossed my mind that I was even capable of loving a woman the way I loved her. But after reflecting on my romantic history, I realized that I’ve never really had a ‘type.’”
Photos of Cyrus, 26, and Carter packing on the PDA in Italy surfaced in August after both women announced their respective splits. Carter, for her part, called it quits with Brody Jenner a little more than a year after they exchanged vows in Indonesia. (A source confirmed to Us Weekly at the time that the twosome never signed their marriage license in the U.S.)
“Brody Jenner and Kaitlynn Carter have decided to amicably separate,” rep Scott Newman told Us in a statement on August 2. “They love and respect one another, and know that this is the best decision for their relationship moving forward.”
Days later, Cyrus, meanwhile, announced her split from Liam Hemsworth. The pair, who wed in December 2018, dated on and off for nearly a decade before their surprise nuptials.
In Carter’s essay, she wrote about the twosome’s aforementioned trip overseas.
“As my friend and I spent that August traveling through Europe together and trying to move past our respective break-ups, my first and only romance with a woman was born,” she wrote. “I fell just as hard for her as I had the older man so many years before. It was that same familiar force of nature; I didn’t have to think about a thing or overanalyze. It just happened and it felt exactly right. Reflecting back on our three-year friendship, I realized I’d always been drawn to her in a way I wasn’t with other friends, but until that trip it had never crossed my mind to think of her in a romantic sense.”
The Hills: New Beginnings star added that her relationship with Cyrus, which ended in September, wasn’t just a “summer fling” or a “same-sex affair.”
“While it was short-lived, I’ll remain eternally grateful to my most recent relationship for opening my eyes to this unexplored part of myself, and for inspiring a new level of self-discovery and wonder at all the possibilities of life,” she wrote. “I’ve been forced to get to know myself in a far deeper way than ever before, and not just in terms of my sexual preferences. I’ve also been forced to reckon with who I am as a person.”
Carter concluded that she doesn’t feel like she’s “in a place to label [her] sexuality one way or another.”
“I’m still exploring and figuring out. It’s been interesting to watch friends and strangers alike assume I’ll automatically revert to being attracted to men, as if they’re more familiar with my sexuality than I am,” she explained. “Even I don’t entirely understand what my experience this summer means for me going forward—and it’s my experience.”
Cyrus has since moved on with boyfriend Cody Simpson.
